
The 1919 London musical farce, The Eclipse, features music by Melville Gideon, words by Adrian Ross, and relies upon an eclipse as a plot point. “I Never Realised” from The Eclipse, by Melville Gideon and Adrian Ross. These works have no lyrics or dedications specifically relating the music to an eclipse titles, however, served as marketing tools to appeal to trends and interests of the day – in this case, an eclipse. Kunz’s 1854 “ The Eclipse Waltz,” and more. Pettee’s 1885 “ Eclipse Quickstep,” Julis Metz’s 1853 “ Eclipse Polka,” G. Bernhard Stern published his “Eclipse March and Two-Step” in 1898, marketing the music as “the latest instrumental success.” The Library of Congress has digitized tens of thousands of pieces of 19 th-century sheet music registered for copyright where you can also find eclipse-related sheet music, including W.E.M. (The complete piano music for Bistolfi’s polka can be viewed and downloaded on the University of Missouri-Kansas City Digital Special Collections website). In 1889 Giuseppe Bistolfi’s “Eclipse Polka” was published by J.W. Mack and publisher Lee & Walker were not the only ones to draw upon the eclipse as a marketing tool. Music Division, Library of Congress.Ĭomposer E. “Eclipse March and Two-Step” by Bernhard Stern. Though the music itself is less than significant (to say the least), I have to say that it offers my absolute favorite eclipse-themed sheet music cover art in the collections! Over the course of his career Sinclair created lithographs for a variety of media: maps, political cartoons, book illustrations, landscape views, and yes – sheet music covers.

After immigrating from Scotland around 1830, Sinclair settled in Philadelphia where he worked in lithograph shops before managing his own business. Sinclair & Son, a premier 19 th-century lithographer. Levy Sheet Music Collection at Johns Hopkins University.) The sheet music covers for each piece feature a wonderful lithograph by Thomas Sinclair of T. (The complete music for the galop can be downloaded from The Lester S.


Mack’s “Total Eclipse,” a set of four piano works named after the event: Total Eclipse Waltz, Total Eclipse Galop, Total Eclipse Mazurka, and Total Eclipse Polka. On August 7, 1869, North America saw another total solar eclipse, one that the Philadelphia publisher Lee & Walker decided to commemorate when publishing E. Let’s start with a piece of total eclipse history.
