The Parlour Piano: American Popular Songs of the 1800's

Listening to this album is tantamount to pulling back the drapery and looking through a window into nineteenth-century middle-class America. Compiled and performed by mezzo-soprano Dorothy Mesney with music from accomplished pianist Mynon McPherson, the album captures the feeling with which the songs were originally performed around the parlour piano or in the music hallfrom the gentle humor of “The Old Bachelor” to the touching beauty of “The Ship on Fire.”
Each track has been chosen with loving interest; such is Mesney’s fascination with music of this era. Mesney was a founder of The American Experience, a group dedicated to performing American music of all periods. Her first recording for Folkways, Patchwork and Powderhorn: Songs and Ballads of the American Revolutionary Era (FW05278), is available here.
Track Listing
101
|
Oh Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 2:13 | |
102
|
If You've Only Got a Moustache | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 1:33 | |
103
|
The Washing Day | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 1:56 | |
104
|
The Watchman | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 1:45 | |
105
|
He Was Such a Nice Man | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 3:57 | |
106
|
Love and Duty | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 2:57 | |
107
|
I'm a Quiet Family Man | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 1:51 | |
201
|
Home, Sweet Home | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 3:01 | |
202
|
Mama, or Why Don't the Men Propose? | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 2:51 | |
203
|
The Old Bachelor | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 3:12 | |
204
|
Woodman, Spare That Tree | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 2:42 | |
205
|
The Ship on Fire | Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson | 5:52 |