Sheet Music
- Place of origin:
London, England (probably, written)
- Date:
ca. mid 19th century to early 20th century (written)
- Artist/Maker:
Smith, M (composer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink on score paper
- Museum number:
S.293J-1981
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Original music manuscript for bass part, second copy for unidentified song. Initialled 'M.S.' and signed (possibly) 'MSmith'. Object from a box with manuscript music related to Cooper Family.
This music comes from a collection of manuscript music relating to the 'Cooper Family', one of whom, Alfred Edward Cooper (1840-1901) worked as a 'Chef d'Orchestre'/Master of Music at the City of London Theatre and playhouses in South East England. Throughout his career Cooper collected and composed 'melos' to provide incidental music for Melodramas.
This piece, though not composed by Cooper, is likely to have provided incidental music for one of these Melodramas which were popular in the nineteenth century. Such dramas often featured a limited number of 'stock' characters: the hero, the villain, the heroine, an aged parent and a comic man engaged in a sensational plot featuring themes of love and murder.
In the melodramas produced in Paris, London music supplanted dialogue or, more often, augmented stage language, actors' gestures, and dramatic action, to evoke an emotional response or provide an aural signal of the true nature of a character.
