Supplemental Lecture Stuff

Gilded Age YouTube Playlist
I created this list to supplement your Gilded Age experience. Some examples are mentioned in my presentation, and some are here solely to illustrate popular music of the time. Follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIyyc3utEKazif61lTqqsNOIF_CSSoD2

“The Jewel Song” from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod, 1859

Charles Gounod’s Faust opened the new Metropolitan Opera house in New York in 1883. Edith Wharton’s fictional characters often attended the opera and Faust is one that is mentioned specifically.

“Gypsy Love Song” by Victor Herbert and HB Smith, 1898

This song is from the operetta The Fortune Teller.

“All I Want is More Champagne” from the operetta Der Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II, 1874

Operetta was popular during the Gilded Age. Although there were many American composers composing in this genre, operettas from Europe were probably most popular. Der Fledermaus was composed by the famous Waltz King.

     “The Bowery” by Percy Hoyt and Charles H. Gaunt, 1891
     “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” by Irving Berlin, 1911
     “In the Good Old Summer Time” by George Evans and Ren Shields, 1902
     “A Lemon in the Garden of Love” by Richard Carle and ME Rourke, 1907

Oliver Belmont used to sing this to Alva Vanderbilt Belmont when he was annoyed with her!

Four Character Pieces from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Op. 41 by Arthur Foote, 1898

The Rubáiyát was a book of Persian poetry popular during the Gilded Age. Lily Bart, protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, always traveled with her Rubáiyát.

     “After the Ball” by Charles K. Harris, 1892
     “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin, 1899
     “On the Banks of the Wabash” by Paul Dresser, 1897
     “I Love You Truly” by Carrie Jacobs Bond, 1901
     “Streets of Cairo” by James Thornton, 1895
     “The Strenuous Life” by Scott Joplin, 1902

This rag was inspired by Theodore Roosevelt’s historic and controversial dinner at the White House with Booker T. Washington.