An Introduction to America’s Music

CHAPTER 6 | THE SHEET MUSIC INDUSTRY AND PARLOR SONGS 149

date: 1851

performers: Douglas Perry, tenor, and

David Starobin, guitar

genre: parlor song

meter: duple

form: strophic; each stanza in aaba form

Listening Guide 6.3 “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” STEPHEN C. FOSTER

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• supple, expressive melody


• use of aaba form in each stanza


• each stanza closes with quasi-operatic
  rhythmic freedom and a cadenza

timing section text comments

0:00 introduction The guitar establishes the pensive mood

with two bars of single notes and strummed

chords.

0:08 stanza 1 a I dream of Jeanie with the light

brown hair,

Borne like a vapor on the

summer air;

The singer’s fi rst phrase is accompanied by

simple chords, one on each beat. The phrase

ends inconclusively on a half cadence.

0:24 a I see her tripping where the

bright streams play,

Happy as the daisies that

dance on her way.

The melody repeats with new words, as the

accompaniment changes to broken chords,

or arpeggios, in which the notes of the

chord are played one after another. The end

of the phrase modulates to the dominant

key.

0:41 b Many were the wild notes her

merry voice would pour,

Many were the blithe birds that

warbled them o’er:

A new melodic idea occurs, while the guitar

reverts to simple chords and the harmony

returns to the tonic key. On the last word

of the phrase the steady beat momentarily

ceases, with a fermata in the notation

indicating a held chord for the guitar.

0:59 Oh! The singer climbs up the scale in free

rhythm, much like an opera singer’s

cadenza.

1:04 a I dream of Jeanie with the light

brown hair,

Floating, like a vapor, on the

soft summer air.

The opening melody returns, with

arpeggiated accompaniment. In the last

line the tempo slows, and another fermata

on “vapor” again suggests the rhythmic

fl exibility of operatic singing.

1:29 interlude The guitar repeats the introduction between

stanzas.

1:36 stanza 2 I long for Jeanie with the

daydawn smile,

Radiant in gladness, warm with

winning guile;

A literal repeat of the music.

CD 1.19

(continued)

172028_06_132-161_r3_ko.indd 149 23/01/13 8:19 PM