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62 Youth's Golden Gleam
2.
To the back stage of the Melodeon and the National Theaters Stephen found his way with manuscript copies of the Ethiopian melodies he had composed. We know of at least six performers who "played Cincinnati" between 1846 and 1850 to whom Stephen gave his songs with permission to sing them.
Two of these were recipients of the same song, "Oh! Susanna." In time order the first was probably M. J. Tichenor,15 a member of the Sable Harmonists who presented their "White and Ethiopian concerts" at the Melodeon in March and again in April 1847. His name, as a well known minstrel, was used by W. C. Peters (who misspelled it) in the December 30, 1848, edition of the song, along with that of the composer. With blissful impartiality Stephen gave a manuscript copy also to a performer in a rival company, Christy's Minstrels. He was George N. Christy advertised as "Professor of the Bone Castanets." To "honor" him, the minstrels remained in Cincinnati an extra night, August 25, 1847, for a benefit performance.16 When the Holt edition of "Oh! Susanna" came out (the earliest known copyright), it proclaimed "Sung by G. N. Christy of the Christy Minstrels," but omitted the composer's name.17
A third recipient of Stephen's early work was a resident of Cincinnati, William Roark, "bones" with the Sable Harmonists.18 To |
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