Thursday, December 18, 2014

Orchestra of The Longfellow Chorus in "Great American Shoo Fly Galop" on March 21, 2015, "Music From the Gilded Age: Boston Theatre Orchestra" Concert.

Longfellow Chorus

Jerome Wright, Cellist

Herb Smith, Trumpeter
http://www.herbtrumpet.com
(Photo: Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, http://www.rpo.org)

Here is further information from Charles Kaufmann of The Longfellow Chorus, 

Another thing your readers might be interested in concerning my March 21 concert is this:

The Great American Shoo Fly Galop was composed by Charles Koppitz (1830–1873), music director of Selwyn's Theatre in Boston, and first played as the overture to a performance of Hamlet on April 2, 1870. It is one of the earliest examples of an American can-can in the style of Offenbach, but using an American minstrel tune, "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" (attributed to T. Brigham Bishop), as its melodic basis. I made the virtual orchestra sound realization (below) of the original manuscript score using Finale 2009. The Orchestra of The Longfellow Chorus will perform Great American Shoo Fly Galop, and many other such pieces, on our March 21, 2015, "Music From the Gilded Age: Boston Theatre Orchestra" concert. 
[Original score: Harvard Theatre Collection, MS Thr 554, Box 11. Selwyn's Theatre Playbill, April 2, 1870, Box 94, Item 697, Theatrical Scrapbook Collection, 1791-1967 (Scrapbook Collection). Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University]


Charles


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