Quadrille, De Contredanses suivi d’une Valse pour le Piano Forte. Composé & Arrangé sur des motifs de l’Opéra de Bellini La Sonnambula.
Philadelphia: Firth, Meignen & Co., Publishers & Importers of Music and Musical Instruments, No. 41 Chestnut Street, [c. 1837]. Seven pages, complete, including dance figures. Folio sheet music. Very good with scattered foxing and light edge wear. Item #List3613
A rare early American operatic dance arrangement by Francis Johnson (1792–1844), widely regarded as the first published Black composer in the United States. Issued circa 1837, this work adapts themes from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula (1831) into a set of quadrilles with concluding waltz, arranged for piano forte and structured for social dancing. The internal headings (“Pantalon,” “Ladies Chain,” etc.) retain the formal quadrille sequence, reflecting the popularity of European ballroom forms in Philadelphia during the period.
Johnson, a Philadelphia bandleader, composer, and virtuoso keyed bugle player, published approximately seventy compositions over nearly three decades. Active in Philadelphia from at least the 1810s, he became one of the city’s most sought-after musicians, leading ensembles for cotillions, public balls, military functions, and civic celebrations. In 1818 became the first African-American composer known to have sheet music published in the United States. His band performed for elite social events and public commemorations, including celebrations for the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit to Philadelphia. In 1838 he toured Europe with his ensemble, performing in England and reportedly receiving a silver trumpet from Queen Victoria. This piece was composed a year earlier, per the Johnson page at Musicalgeography.com, six years after Bellini’s work. Operatic paraphrases and dance adaptations of fashionable European works were central to Johnson’s output.
Overall a quite scarce early title from an important composer. We find two copies in OCLC (692295106), at AAS and the William Clements Library.
See “Francis Johnson’s Compositions - With Sheet Music,” https://musicalgeography.org/francis-johnsons-compositions/.
Price: $1,250.00