The Virginia Minstrels provided their share of popular songs by employing the creative and performing talents of Frank Bower, William Whitlock, Dick Pelham and Daniel Emmett. Two famous minstrel shows that had sizeable followings and extensive repertoires were the Virginia Minstrels and Christy's Minstrels. The antebellum minstrel show was a complete musical and theatrical show whose songs were performed and accompanied by the banjo, tambourine, violin, and bones. The minstrel show tradition was influential in the development of popular music because it reached wide audiences. The eventual result of this change was the creation of a new kind of song. With the development of the plantation song the style and content of minstrel songs changed. These songs reached their audiences through performances and sheet music sales. Minstrel songs represented a sizeable chunk of American popular song during the antebellum period. The popular songs of the civil War were also indebted to the minstrel show songs. Russell's songs represented the sentimental ballad tradition which provided a model for the songs of the Civil War. More significantly these songs helped create the popular song. Numerous copies of sheet music were sold. In addition to being popular Russell's songs were widely performed. Sentimental lyrics were one characteristic of Russel's songs which insured their popularity. His first song was Wind of the Winter's Night, Whence Comest Thou? Other similar songs included The Maniac, The Old Arm Chair, My Mother's Bible and Woodman, Spare That Tree. In 1835 he decided to compose descriptive songs which reflected the influences of Italian opera and such composers as Bellini.
He was not very successful in Canada, so he came to New York. With his solid background in European music Russell decided to come to North America and establish his career. In Italy he absorbed the music of Italian opera. As a young man he broadened his musical horizons by travelling to Italy where he met Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti. He was a member of a juvenile opera troupe in London. Russell received his musical training and education in England and Italy. The most famous of these composers was the British-born Henry Russell. Many of the composers who wrote these songs were Europeans who had come to America. The ties between American songs and European music could be seen in these sentimental songs. One model for the popular song grew out of these ballads. The songs of the Civil War were indebted to the traditional, often sentimental ballads written and published during the 1830's, 1840's and 1850's. Hamm's observation could serve as the theme for this paper. Indeed, this music was so intimately involved with the events of the time that it became part of them. The Civil War has left a heritage of music that reflects those times in the most vivid way. Charles Hamm in Yesterdays: Popular Song in America acknowledges that: As reflections of this conflict these songs provide a more human approach to and understanding of the Civil War era. These songs expressed or came to express a multitude of emotions associated with this great conflict: patriotism, martial pride, death, homesickness, loneliness, love, and hope. The songs of the Civil War contain distinct echoes of that era. POPULAR SONGS OF THE CIVIL WAR By Ramona Garcia, Fairfield, Ct., USA
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