Lot 154
1st successful song written by an American woman

Estimate: $80 - $120

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About this Lot
Description

Sheet music: the first commercially successful song written by an American woman

Mrs. Marion Dix SULLIVAN (1802-1860, words & melody).

Title: The Blue Juniata, words & melody by … Sullivan, arranged for the piano by E.L. White.

Publication: Boston: published by Oliver Ditson, 115 Washington St., ‘1844’. Folio (12 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches). Lithographed title printed by Bufford & Son with integral vignette of a native American girl on the banks of the ‘Blue Juniata’ (verso blank), pp.3-5 music and lyrics. The final 6th page left blank (as published).

Condition: removed from an album, light spotting.

A first or early issue: NB.“Music historians consider the ballad the first commercially successful song written by an American woman, so popular by the 1860s, that it was sung by soldiers on both sides during the Civil War. The lyrics tell a romantic tale of an American Indian girl, ‘Bright Alfarata,’ and her love, a gentle yet courageous Indian warrior. The song is set along the wild Juniata River of old, based, according to Mrs. Sullivan, upon her vivid recollections of the river valley.”


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