Opera Parody Songs of Blackface Minstrels (1844-1860)
Expected to ship in about a week.
- Editor: Renee Lapp Norris
- Instrumentation: Piano, Voice
- Work Language: English
- Size: 8.9 x 12.0 inches
Description
During the American antebellum period, minstrelsy was a ubiquitous form of theatrical entertainment. Typically performed by white men in blackface makeup, minstrelsy was based in oppressive misrepresentation of people of color, and it created enduring stereotypes.
Beginning in the mid-1840s, minstrels burlesqued various types of popular non-blackface entertainments, including Shakespeare's plays, touring European concert musicians, and opera, which often was performed in the United States in English-language adaptations. Minstrels' burlesques were advertised on playbills and mentioned in the press, but there are few sources for their actual music and lyrics. The thirty-eight pieces of this edition survive as complete, discrete songs published as musical sources.
Minstrels' opera parody songs typically recast operatic characters as slaves who are happy, childishly reliant on their paternalistic masters, and primitively agrarian. Such portrayals supported the so-called "happy darkey" caricature that was central to mid-century political ideology. Minstrels used this imagery to parody up and down social hierarchies, exploiting people of color and debasing opera's ostensibly elevated aesthetics.
Alongside minstrelsy's racial politics, the parodies demonstrate creative musical adaptation. Each of the thirty-eight songs parodies opera differently, suggesting minstrels' inventiveness. The songs are rare and specific examples of the widespread practice of inter-genre borrowing and musical arrangement that was fundamental to minstrelsy.
Content Warning: The scores in this edition are intended for research rather than performance. Performance of these scores is discouraged. The original song titles and lyrics in this edition are evidence of and tools for racial oppression and are maintained here to present an accurate and reliable account of minstrelsy.
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Opera Parody Songs of Blackface Minstrels (1844-1860)
