What was happening in 19th century?

[yoshka]

I enjoy reading history and I'm curious about the scope of the mandolin during the middle 19th century, specifically during the civil war.

I read the book "Cold Mountain" awhile back and recently saw the movie again. Part of the story is of a group of rebel soldiers who desert and seek refuge with the daughter of one of them in the Blue Ridge Mountains. #They play music and one plays a mandolin. #I understood that the book, written by Charles Frazier, and also the movie are exceedingly true to the period.

On the other hand, I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg national battlefield and museum recently. The museum has a good exhibit about music as part of a soldier's life: camp music, military bands and drums but no mention of mandolins. In addition, the CDs available by various groups/individuals performing music of that era do not use mandolins.

Anyone have any info?

I would conjure that mandolins during that period were made in Europe and were brought over by immigrants. I would say that the number of mandolins in the United States at that time would be low, would be found primary in northern cities and originally played by the immigrants themselves and that therefore mandolins would more likely be found being played in the Union armies than among the Confederate forces. Instruments "migrated" south as the main theatre of war took place in the southern states. #

Can anyone recommend books dealing with the history and rise of the mandolin in US music?

Thanks
Yossi

[Neil Gladd]

You might want to see this thread about the mandolin in colonial America, and this one, about early American mandolin publications.

[mrmando]

And this thread about the Civil War.

In short, there is no record, in print, written, or photographic, of mandolins being played by soldiers during the Civil War.

I may be mistaken, but I read Cold Mountain and don't recall any mention of a mandolin. Jack White plays one in the film, but AFAIK that's an embellishment on the book.

[yoshka]

Thanks guys for the links to the threads. Very interesting.
Mrmando, you're probably right about the book. I thought it was also in the book and have since lent my copy to my sister and can't check it out. Thanks again.
Yossi

[allenhopkins]

Mandolin hit the US big-time around 1870, with the well-documented Spanish Students concerts (featuring bandurrias). The next 50 years mandolins were ubiquitous; college mandolin clubs, mandolin orchestras, lots of methods and sheet music (I have some of my grandfather's mandolin books from around 1900-1910).

While there are clearly documented, isolated performances of "classical" mandolin music from the 18th century, there's no evidence of widespread popularity until after the Civil War.

[Jim Garber]

Mandolin hit the US big-time around 1870, with the well-documented Spanish Students concerts (featuring bandurrias).

Don't mean to nitpick, but my sources say the Spanish Students first performed in the US in 1880.

[Eugene]

This topic comes up with some frequency, Yossi. Try a search of the board. Also, here are a few print resources for your perusal:

Hambly, Scott. 1977. Mandolins in the United States since 1880: An Industrial and Sociocultural History of Form. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

Ruppa, Paul. 1988. The Mandolin in America after 1880 and the History of Mandolin Orchestras in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. MM thesis, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Sparks, Paul. 1995. The Classical Mandolin. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

[Lee Callicutt]

Banjo! Seriously, as evidenced in photographs from the time -- homegrown, home-built, sturdier for travel, and really effective against the Northern troops' ears.

[allenhopkins]

Don't mean to nitpick, but my sources say the Spanish Students first performed in the US in 1880.

You are right, and I stand corrected.

"The Neapolitan mandolin came to the U.S. along with the waves of Italian immigration from the late 1870s onwards. European players also toured the U.S. In 1880 a group from Spain called the “Estudiantes espanolas” or Spanish students toured the U.S. and left a lasting impression. Strangely, these players were not playing the mandolin but the Spanish bandurria, a similar instrument, also played tremolo, although it had six courses of gut strings that were tuned differently from the mandolin. The “students” could not read music and played entirely from memory – a situation that was very unusual among professional musicians in those days when reading music was considered a necessity for playing anything but the most simple melodies. They played pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Spanish and Polish dances, in harmony."

Nicola Swinburne, mandolinserenade.com.