Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-12-14

sung by all the romantic maidens in the country.
 It is fact not generally known that Marguerite" was written while the author was suffering from cerebral troubles superinduced by overwork. The original text and melody he con ceived while confined to his home and lying at deaths door. Forbidden by his family physician the use of paper and pencil. the veteran com poser scratched with his finger nails, upon the paint of the window sill, the rough outlines of the melody of his famous song, and on his recovery he had it transcribed and arranged. For long time ''Marguer- ite" lay upon the shelves and failed to strike popular chord, but within the past six months the song has com mended itself so universally that it is difficult to supply the demand
 It seems that the name "Marguerite'' is a prolific theme with poets and musical composere. There are no fewer than six different 'Marguerite'' songs upon the market to-day. In the more classic vein, Helmud's German love ditty, "Margaritha, is eminently favorite, while Farewell, Marguer- ite," by Boardman, is an exceedingly popular song of to-day, and Whites latest effort, My Marguerite of Long Ago." bids fair to rival his better known Ol llke cnaraCCCr.
 Monroe II. Rosenfelds, with All Her Faults l Love Her Still,' has at tained the enormous circulation of 1eo,- 00o copies. This song is another indi- cation that love furnishes an almost ineXhaustible theme for the composer of sentimental music, and, if the theme Is welded to 9 catching melody. the production is sure to and it's way to tho attention of thousands of appreciaJive ci baS ol of great public curiosity to learn the average sale of famous musical com positions. A careful estimate shows the following results attained by some recent successes in the sentime ntal vein. This estimate can only be ap- proximately made, as publishers are very chary about giving accurate in formation on this subject.
 "Marguerite" (White, ................. eoa,oeo w :tn All Her Faults Love
 Farewell, Marguerite IBoartiman) =. 4O,ooo hers Can the Wanderer
 The Exiis's Lament" tMaiiitcieiD ...... so,eoS "Mottess on the Wall'' (Mui4al,) ..... 10. 900 Here He L.s an Actor (Dresser) s,ooo The last three ''Mottoes on the Wall, ''Here Lies an Actor" and "Only Picture,' are fast winning their way into popular favor. These songs in clude the elements which appeal most strongly to lovers of tuneful melody and sentimentality. Their safes within the next six months will probably be reckoned by six figures. Upon the last named song, "Only Picture,' which tells in sympathetic strains a story of maternal love,
 He was Ter pride,
 Ani ever at her side,''
 and which has scarcely been on the market six months. the relentless hand of the parodist has already been at work, to wit:
 "Only a pitcher, only pitcher,
 Only pitcher full of beer;
 For it was her pride. and ever at her side, Only pitcher fall of beer" Comic songs as a rule, are short lived. This is because they depend mainly for their popula ity upon single | phrases which catch the eye of the puD- lie and are repeated Ill daily conversa- tion until they become antiquities. | With the decay of tne phrases which form the keynote to success, the song dies. Sometimes the most mediocre comic songs attain large circula ton merely on the strength of a popular idiom, although they may be full of 1 grammatical and harmonic crudities. 1 Nothwithst tanding this, some of the 1 compositions attain to enormous sales. | The list given below will furnish fair | idea of the ballads of this character at present in the market, and the esti- mated sales thereof:
 Copies. Where Did You Get That Hat ?' (sul- "weve Both Been There Before -0''''' ..Rszss issf pazz,; SoSSS | "Down Went McGinty,'' (Flynn)...... 10000 Let Me Shake the Hand of Sullivan
 Pad thHssHlsi'' iy shsy'" iiNitmarkj ooo souo Slide, Kelly, Slide" Ifiardingj. ....... 5000 | "Near It." (Hitchc ock) .....,............ 3,oCO
 Popular songs are not always written by successful musical composers, as is generally supposed. The ratio of comic songs which live and arc sung by the people is not more than one in two hun dred songs which find their way to the counters of the music stores. It is pre- eminently quest on of the survival of the tittest in song writing, as in any other production of human gen us. Some of the most successful comic songs have been originated in the brains of variety actors. These men have possessed no knowledge whatever of musical theory, but their nightly ap- pearance before a cosmopolitan public l has ena abled them to become keen judges of popular likes and dislikes. This knowledge has afforded them opportu- mites which more able musicians have not possessed. These men catch a strain of melody or rhythmic phrase. and by turning it over in their minds for along time, t hey crystalize around it other phrases and a little more har- mony, Then they buy a sheet of music paper, and laboriously pick out on the keys of piano. with one finger, the skeleton of a melody which, perhaps, is destined to be sung from the pines of Maine to the slopes of the Pacific. The work of arrangement, of fixing up the poetry or of getting this nebulous ma- terial into concrete form, is turned over to experts in musical composition and ln the rhyming of words.
 But after the song is created, it is not by any means before the public. The publisher must be found. Tho public is so cratic in it's likes and dislikes. that the publisher always assumes con siderable risk in publishing song. Ii is a veritahle lottery It may prove tc be Golconda of wealth to the publish CTS, or most lamentable ''Jonah.'
 Twenty five dollars is about the limit paid for those compositions by publish