Vaudevilles, which took melodies from well-known operas, were popular tunes incorporated into works performed at venues such as the Comédie-Italienne in Paris. The vaudeville – taken from voix de ville, ‘voice of the town’, had its own identifiable pattern. Its title was the same as the first line of the melody: this, in turn, was the ...
in other types of music have come to characterize the country strain. One of the earliest and most enduring of these is the banjo – that homely mainstay of early vaudeville that is one of the most recognizable sounds in country recording. It has survived and been given a new lease of life in the talented hands of The Dixie Chicks. ...
and can play vibrato and glissandi. Its origins are obscure, but it may have originated from rural North America in the late-nineteenth century. It was a popular musical-hall and vaudeville instrument around the turn of the twentieth century, and Shostakovich included it in his opera The Nose (1927–28). Flexatone The musical saw is similar to the flexatone, which ...
probably an early banjo, which had come to the Americas along with the shiploads of slaves transported from north-west Africa. Banjos were often used in early twentieth-century minstrel and vaudeville shows, but more as a comic prop than a serious musical instrument. The banjo’s most distinguishing features are its circular vellum or skin – a bit like a snare ...
in 1912. By the 1920s, rural African-Americans had migrated to the big cities in search of work, bringing their music with them. Mamie Smith, a New York vaudeville singer, made the first known blues recording, ‘Crazy Blues’, with Okeh Records in 1920. Its success convinced singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey to follow suit. ...
British folk balladry, protestant hymns, rural black blues and string band music to the Tin Pan Alley proto-pop tunes heard on the stages of the travelling minstrel, vaudeville and medicine shows that were popular throughout the south in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the past century, country music has gone through countless permutations, ...
tradition of Jewish-American humour. On the other side of the Atlantic, the vibrant London art college scene spawned the inimitable Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Performing a mixture of traditional vaudeville songs, musical parodies and surreal rock compositions, the Bonzos achieved a cult following. Their legendary stage shows involved exploding robots, dancing dummies and other such silliness, ...
‘The Sleepwalker’ Vincenzo Bellini’s two-act opera La sonnambula, which had a pastoral background, was first produced at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 6 March 1831. The story derived from a comédie-vaudeville of 1819 and a ballet-pantomime of 1827, both part-written by the French dramatist Eugène Scribe. The title role, Amina, was created by Giuditta Pasta ...
an anthem of the Great Depression, ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out’, are still considered classics in both jazz and blues circles. Bessie worked for years in vaudeville and tent shows, and her versions of popular songs such as ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’, as well as her potential as a swing artist evident in the sides from her ...
(Guitar, bass, harmonica, b. 1940) Rush’s mix of vaudeville stage antics and soul-blues grooves has made him the king of the modern chitlin circuit. Born in Homer, Louisiana, Rush moved with his family to Chicago in 1953, already mesmerized by Muddy Waters and Louis Jordan. He emerged from the West Side blues scene in the ...
, 1917–87) Bernard ‘Buddy’ Rich was a powerhouse drummer with a phenomenal technique, but he was also capable of great delicacy when required. He grew up in the family vaudeville act before joining Joe Marsala’s band in 1937. It was the beginning of a series of associations with major swing era bandleaders such as Harry James, Artie Shaw, ...
respect. The realism of the later opéra comique owed much to Favart’s writing. Introduction | Classical Era | Opera Personalities | Adriana Ferrarese | Classical Era | Opera Techniques | Vaudeville | Classical Era | Opera ...
that kicks off with a chiming stop-time intro before plunging into a proto-boogie-woogie theme. Davenport recorded over 30 sides for various labels, and he worked in venues ranging from vaudeville theatres to house rent parties. Although slowed by a stroke in 1938, he continued to perform sporadically (sometimes as just a vocalist) until his death almost 20 years later. ...
native started out playing piano in sporting houses and with travelling medicine shows in the early 1900s. He also worked with bandleader-composer James Reese Europe before teaming up on the vaudeville circuit with lyricist Noble Sissle in 1915 – they were billed as ‘The Dixie Duo’. In 1921 they collaborated on the first all-black musical, Shuffle Along, which produced ...
, 1896–1967) An important figure in the so-called ‘classic blues’ genre, Ida Cox (née Prather) performed in minstrel and tent shows as a teenager. She had already become a vaudeville star when she began to record for the Paramount label in 1923. Apart from her gifts as a vocalist, she was an independent spirit who wrote much of her ...
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