White Mountain Music

White Mountain Music

      Orchestra at the Mt. Kearsarge House, c.1875, Pease  

                                          stereoview

As early as 1858, music was written specifically for the Grand Hotels in the White Mountains.  Three pieces were written for the Crawford House, one for the Glen House, two for the Mount Pleasant, one for the Kearsarge House, etc.  Music was also written about the scenic gems of the region: the Old Man of the Mountain, the Glen, Franconia Notch, Mt. Washington, etc.

This music was performed at the hotels by resident orchestras hired by hotel managers.  The orchestras were an important part of life at the hotels and were heavily advertised at the time.

We have about two dozen pieces of White Mountain music and have uploaded a representative sample. Each is played in its entirety, as it was written.

Much of this music probably hasn't been heard for the last 100 years.   Some was written specifically for brass bands-wouldn't it be interesting to hear it played that way?

The pianist is Betty Nicholson.  It was recorded and prepared for uploading by Forrest Seavey.  The music is from  the collections of Douglas Philbrook, Bryant Tolles and Dartmouth College.

Editor's note:  At the bottom of this page is a video of

Hello Bluebird playing on an Edison cylinder phonograph.  The foxtrot was written for the opening of the Bluebird Pavilion in Colebrook, NH, c.1927. The band was known as Kaplan's Melodists.  We thank Roger Daniels, a collector of Edison cylinder phonographs and cylinder records for allowing us to share this bit of history.   (We know that this video does not exactly fit our Mission Statement but we think it's worth sharing in this day of digital music.)  The video recording was done by Forrest Seavey.