Desktop clearing time. What to file and what to bin. Some stuff has been sitting there way too long. Such as Herr Grobe ... I was lured into investigating him by a couple of very pretty music covers ...
It's getting into E T Paull country, where the rule is mostly 'the prettier the cover, the more trivial the music'. I like these covers very much better than the Paull ones ...
So I let myself be hooked into investigating. Well, Grobe came to America from Saxony (born c 1815), 27 May 1839, described as a 'bookseller'. He got a teaching job in Wilmington and apparently ran a music shop. And he composed. Endlessly. He reminds me of Britain's Ezra Read, in his outpourings of sheet music, often tenuously linked to national events, such as the two pieces above, patriotic moments, buzzwords, or arrangements of other people's popular songs. At his death it was said he had published 2,000 pieces ... that was supposed to be to his credit. Quantity. I don't know about the quality, but I ha'e me doots.
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