USA, 1835–1930
Americana
Stephen Foster, shape-note hymns, fiddle tunes, parlour songs and Sousa marches.
This room is being written.
Its tunes are being read from the original printed collections now, checked note by note against the scans. They will appear here as soon as each one is checked.
Why everything here is free to use
The rule
A piece is free here only when both are true:
- India: every author died before 1 January 1966.
- USA: it was first published in 1930 or earlier.
We read from original period printings only. Melody and chords, or the book's own parts (shape-note tunes are read in all their printed parts). Words appear only when the words themselves pass the rule.
Sources
- Stephen Foster (d. 1864). We use first-edition sheet music from library scans.
- The Southern Harmony (William Walker; first source in use: the 1847 edition, Princeton Theological Seminary copy, archive.org `southernharmonym00walk`; Walker died 1875). Also the 1835 and 1854 printings. Scans are linked from CPDL's Southern Harmony page, including the 1835 Oberlin copy.
- The Sacred Harp (White and King, 1844). An 1844 scan exists (archive.org `sacred-harp-1844-ki`, public-domain mark) but it is only 1400 px wide, too small to read safely. The 1911 James edition is usable tune by tune, but only when the tune's composer died before 1966.
- Fiddle tunes, parlour songs, and band and oompah music (Sousa marches, German and Bohemian polkas). Each one comes from a printing dated 1930 or earlier, by a composer who died before 1966. John Philip Sousa died in 1932.
Not allowed
Modern fake books, modern shape-note revisions (for example the 1991 Denson edition), and any recording.