[American Performances]. Johnson, James C.

The Feast of Roses. Floral Concert. Under the Direction of James C. Johnson. 1847 . . . [caption title].

[N.p., but Boston: n. p., 1847]. First edition. Unbound pamphlet, stitched as issued, 7.5 x 4.63 inches, 11, [1] pages. A little foxed; a very good copy. Item #19864

A detailed program with the lyrics to 21 songs, all from a two-part vocal concert extravaganza that Johnson had mounted in Boston in 1847; a puff in the Boston Musical Gazette of July 19, 1847 goes into detail about the June floral concert at the Tremont Temple, which involved decking out the hall in flowers, shrubbery, stuffed birds and stuffed squirrels, young girls draped in flowers, and performances of songs like, “Ha ha! I am a Fairy King!” (which was a duet of two girls hidden in the pipe organ itself)—all of which, when taken together, the editors suggest are superior to the concurrent performances by the touring Austrian troupe of “Viennoise Children” under the direction of Josephine Wiess. (Wiess would be criticized in other venues for swearing and raging at her young charges; the Viennoise Children’s tour was cut short in 1848 after charges of immorality. The suggestion that Johnson’s American children were a wholesome alternative is explicitly noted in the Musical Gazette article.) The tight constraints of an extravaganza such as this Feast of Roses is suggested by program, which notes the audience “are respectfully requested to abstain from all expressions of applause,” and asks that at the conclusion of the concert, “Friends of the singers will please wait for them *in the house;* any other course must produce confusion.” This program not found on OCLC; a number of Johnson’s other pieces (including a Pestalozzian School Song Book published in Boston in 1852) suggest his involvement in juvenile choral education.

Price: $250.00