[SHEET MUSIC] Australia March

A$185 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

/ Composed for the piano by John W. Lewis. Boston : Oliver Ditson, 1854. First edition. Folio bifolium (330 x 250 mm), disbound; 2 pp music notation (arrangement for piano), the first page with decorative title; as issued, with plain front and rear sides; on this copy, the original owner has annotated the front with the title in pencil Australia March , and in ink No. 5 (the music would have been bound into the owner s personal album); the bifolium has separated neatly along its fold, but a very clean example. Although he is a relatively obscure figure in the landscape of nineteenth-century American classical music, at least some biographical facts about John William Lewis (1836-1898), composer of Australia March , are known . A member of a wealthy and religious New England family, he demonstrated a prodigious musical talent from an early age. He was still only 17 or 18 years old when Australia March was published by Oliver Ditson of Boston in 1854. The title of this instrumental piece a 4/4 march in the key of B♭ major was, we presume, inspired by newspaper reports of the Australian gold rushes. (Although, it must be noted, Lewis s sheet music was published before the Eureka Rebellion, so the inspiration was romantic rather than political). The following is an extract from a Lewis family history, published in 1932: John William [Lewis] born July 28, 1836, died Dec. 31, 1898, married June 19, 1861, Mary Emma Crowell of Norwich, Conn. John was engaged in music and painting fro

• Binding: Hardcover

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