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Emily Dickinson's Music Book and the Musical Life of an American Poet
About this book
After years of studying piano as a young woman in her family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson curated her music book, a common practice at the time. Now part of the Dickinson Collection in the Houghton Library of Harvard University, this bound volume of 107 pieces of published sheet music includes the poet's favorite instrumental piano music and vocal music, ranging from theme and variation sets to vernacular music, which was also enjoyed by the family's servants.
Offering a fresh historical perspective on a poetic voice that has become canonical in American literature, this original study brings this artifact to life, documenting Dickinson's early years of musical study through the time her music was bound in the early 1850s, which tellingly coincided with the writing of her first poems. Using Dickinson's letters and poems alongside newspapers and other archival sources, George Boziwick explores the various composers, music sellers, and publishers behind this music and Dickinson's attendance at performances, presenting new insights into the multiple layers of meaning that music held for her.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Prelude
- Chapter 1: Childhood
- Chapter 2: School Days
- Chapter 3: The Avid Music Collector
- Chapter 4: The Age of the Virtuosi
- Chapter 5: Home Music-Making
- Chapter 6: Edward Dickinson
- Chapter 7: Music-Making and the Dickinson Family Correspondence
- Chapter 8: The American Political Struggle
- Chapter 9: Fiddle Tunes, Minstrel Music, and Musical Borrowing
- Chapter 10: The Poetry Takes Hold
- Chapter 11: Hymns and Ballads: More Musical Borrowings
- Chapter 12: The White Dress
- Postlude: āMusicians Wrestle Everywhereā
- Appendix A: Contents Listing of Emily Dickinsonās Bound Volume of Sheet Music
- Notes
- Index
- Back Cover