Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker

Subject: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 05:48 AM

Could anyone help me to find an 1890s song called At My Window - a big hit at the time - by Thomas Parker or Henry Parker? Looking for words and/or music, and/or a recording.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 06:03 AM

Found a piece about this Parker here.

He apparently also wrote an anthem, Jerusalem,

Quote from the piece about him:

Some of Mr. Parker's vocal works have enjoyed exceptionally large sales; as, for instance, "Close to the Threshold," with 140,000 copies, "Jerusalem," 80,000 copies, "At My Window," with a number almost incalculable, etc. Mr. Parker is, moreover, entitled to the distinction of having written the vocal duet which has had, and is still having, the largest sale in the world of any similar composition. This is the charming and perenially popular "In the Dusk of the Twilight." I

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 06:29 AM

A trace...
Click here

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 06:32 AM

Thanks, Martin - can't get in there, though!
He seems to have been the Bono of his day; the huge sales quoted above are only for Britain, and don't include immense American sales.
In fact, I posted before realising that he composed the music, not the words. Wonder what his music was like. And who Nella was (the librettist/lyricist).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 06:36 AM

Yes - can't find an online copy at the moment . Popular guy alright - a few mentions of him in antipodean newspapers of the day!

Looks like some of the sources might be available if you can operate through a library. Good luck.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 10:45 AM

The British Library says they have a copy of it. I found this reference at the webpage headed "Explore the British Library" Thompson, I think you can get them to send you a copy of it.

At my Window. Song, words by Nella.
Henry Parker, 1845-
London : J. B. Cramer & Co, [1889]

By the way, the BL has 130,000 pieces of music of all ages. The hard part is using their catalog.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 10:45 AM

Thanks, Martin, I'll have a look.

Meanwhile, if anyone's got the words of any of these, and can give an idea of the music…

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 02:04 PM

Aha, found another article about Henry Parker in 1907, which says Nella (the lyricist) was his wife. Apparently he started as a musician in the very high church All Saints in Margaret Street, London. Then when his voice broke he played violin and organ in every orchestra in London, before going to Leipzig to study "in the Conservatory there, giving his attention specially to the piano and harmony, under Plaidy, Moscheles and Richter" (who?) Back in London he "studied singing with such masters as Jules Lefort, Caravoglia and Wallworth" (who?)
In 1879, after Mr. Parker had made a secure position in London musical life, he accepted a connection with the publishing house of J. B. Cramer & Co., which he held until 1888. During this period his pen was active, and a number of his pieces were extremely well received. In 1888 he gave up his work with Cramer & Co., as he "did not like to sit in judgment on works of others, perhaps friends, who were not so fortunate as to please the public."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,#
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 02:10 PM

Click here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 03:05 PM

I don't think I will, Guest.# - I'm (for some reason) a little nervous of such instructions. But thank you.

----------It's quite safe, Thompson! Just a clickified (my fault) link to one of the Australian library references. Mudelf.------------------

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,#
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 07:37 AM

As you will, Thompson.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Stewart
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 12:38 PM

Try this link (a pdf file) and scroll down to the bottom for the first verse, part of the chorus, and the first four measures of the music.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Stewart
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 12:56 PM

from above ...

At My Window
words by Nella, music by Henry Parker

When the golden morn is breaking
Thro' the mists that veil the lake,
Ere the daisy stars awake;
Through my casement, flower surrounded,
Comes a cadence, clear and strong.
'Tis a bird that breaks the silence
With a sudden burst of song.

Oh! happy bird, sing on for aye,
Thy carol blithe and free,
Thy music speaks of love and home,
Then sing, oh! sing to me!

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 02:28 AM

http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/content/FI/SI/00/00/90/00001/Cobb%20Back%20to%20the%20Army%20Again.pdf

Last page on the site that opens.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 02:52 AM

Thanks very much, Stewart and GUEST.# (Sorry to be so edgy, GUEST, if you'd been posting from an accredited account I would have been less so.
This Henry Parker was… well, in the immortal words of Dan Leno in his most famous soliloquy about his family, "Follow me closely, now, this is rather intricate" - Parker's grandfather was my great-grandmother's father (by his second marriage), and I've just found out about him.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 02:57 AM

Incidentally, can anyone who plays music tell me what it sounds like? (It seems that another song, In the Dusk of the Twilight, had in its time the largest sales in the world of any song. Any trace of that?)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 10:53 AM

No problem with us, Thompson. I'm edgy like that myself.

The line 'In the dusk of the twilight' appears in the song 'Whispering Hope' although I don't know that there's any connection there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Stewart
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 12:09 PM

Here's a manuscript of Jerusalem by Henry Parker
from Florida International University
but that's the only Henry Parker MS they have

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 15 Nov 14 - 10:05 AM

Thompson, are you British? I think your best hope for finding 'At my window' is through the British Library. Once you find it, you will need a rather skilled musician to play it for you, because apparently it is in a hard key.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Nov 14 - 12:03 PM

I'm not British, though by coincidence I was in the British Library last month looking for something else entirely. Wonderful place, lovely staff, incredibly helpful and very nice.
I have a friend who plays lots of Bach, could ask her to give it an oul' tinkle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Nov 14 - 01:23 PM

Hm.

Brought the sheet music with At My Window down to my Bach-loving friend. As predicted, she bit her lip and said "Mmm, difficult enough key", but then started picking it out thoughtfully. Then she stopped, and said "No, this can't be all of it, there's only four bars." I thought (being ignorant of music) that perhaps this meant that the songs at the bottom of the sheet were just a taster, but she shook her head and pointed to the next one, saying "Look, there are 14 bars in this one."

So that's me stymied, unless anyone can come up with anything further.

I'm going to bring her down Jerusalem now and see what she can make of it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 14 - 03:10 AM

I tried buying At My Window from Trove, but the links don't work.

Incidentally, WorldCat identifies In the Dusk of the Twilight as:

In the dusk of the twilight : Tyrolienne duet for soprano and contralto

Author:        Jacques Offenbach; Nella.; Henry Parker
Publisher:        London : J.B. Cramer & Co., [1879]
Edition/Format:           Musical score : English
Database:        WorldCat
Rating:        
(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.
Subjects        
Vocal duets with piano.
Operas -- Excerpts -- Vocal scores with piano.

which suggests that Henry Parker was ganging up with Offenbach as arranger.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Nov 14 - 10:49 PM

Bad luck about the too-short song - so near and yet so far!

I'm intrigued by that Offenbach-Parker piece. Does it have yodeling, I wonder. (Be still, my heart!) I love yodeling.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Nov 14 - 02:50 AM

Good question. When did yodelling become a thing? I would have assumed in the 1920s or 1930s, but perhaps I'm wrong and even Marie Antoinette and her court were yodelling "Let them eat cake-o-hoodle-hoo".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Nov 14 - 10:00 AM

You underestimate the age of the noble art of yodeling.

"In his book 'Kühreichen oder Kühreigen: Yodeling and Yodeling Song in Appenzell' (1890), the scholar Alfred Tobler reports that the first documented reference to yodeling in Europe was as early as 1545. But yodeling can be heard in Persian classical music, African Pygmy music, Scandinavian music, the Mexican son huasteco and other musical traditions. Such a range suggests it originated millennia ago and in an indeterminable place."

Daniel Sheehy
Director and Curator, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
==============
I thought I was onto the Offenbach composition whe IMSLP offered to show me the entire score for 'Madame Favart', the play in which the song appeared. Sad to say, the critical pages, esp. p 192, were nothing but a blur.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 17 Nov 14 - 10:14 AM

The British Library has 'In the Dusk of the Twilight' too.

Send to
Title: In the dusk of the twilight. Tyrolienne duet ... Words by Nella ... Adapted ... by H. Parker. [In G.]

Author: Jacques Offenbach, 1819-1880


Contributor: Henry Parker 1845-
Publication Details: London : J. B. Cramer & Co, [1879]

Language: Unspecified

Uniform Title: Madame Favart. Tyroliens de naissance

Identifier: System number 004560414
Physical Description: fol.
Shelfmark(s): Music Collections H.2673.d.(5.)
UIN: BLL01004560414

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At My Window (1890s) by Parker
From: Thompson
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 08:58 AM

I'm not at all disputing the antiquity of yodelling, more its burst into popular consciousness from its sylvan homelands.
(Whatever happened to whistling, by the way? When I was a kid workmen whistled liquidly and beautifully, warbling like birds. All is silence now.)