Hearing Periodicals, Part 2: "The Cricket Fiddler" by Bates and Eichberg

By Julie Wilson

During a class field trip to Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Notre Dame, I encountered an exciting thing: music scores in periodicals!

This particular instance comes from Atalanta, a British periodical for girls that was published monthly from 1887 to 1898 ("Atalanta (magazine)"). As seen on the title page to the right, this example of magazine music comes from volume II, number 5 (February 1889), early on in Atalanta's run. The issue begins with a mixed poem and musical score called "The Cricket Fiddler" (see images to right and below). The text of the poem was written by the American poet Clara Doty Bates (1838-1895), while the music was written by the German-American composer Julius Eichberg (1824-1893). The identity of the artist who drew the illustrations that accompany this piece is currently unknown. The title and subtitle of this piece make it clear that both poem and music were intended to be performed.

So, how do I go about performing this piece?

Unlike Gibson's "The Dancing Seal" (see my previous post on "Hearing Periodicals, Part 1"), "The Cricket Fiddler" already comes with accompanying musical notes. The subtitle of the piece states that this is "A RECITATION FOR YOUNG VIOLINISTS" (Bates and Eichberg 307); I interpret the plural "violinists" as a reference to the group of intended performers rather than as a suggestion that this piece be performed collectively. The piece can be performed by a single violinist/reciter, and it is my personal opinion that this piece was indeed composed with the intention that it would be performed as a solo. With this in mind, I decided to not add an orchestral background for this piece. I no longer have the violin that I played from 3rd to 7th grade, so, once again, I returned to Noteflight to produce the violin score (shown below):

But something felt wrong as I listened to my Noteflight score. I had correctly transcribed all of Eichberg's notes into Noteflight, yet the key in which Noteflight played back the music sounded higher than it should. I headed to my musical keyboard and confirmed my suspicions: the "D" that the Noteflight violin played was the same pitch as the "D" on my keyboard. In other words, Noteflight was showing and reproducing the violin notes in concert D minor. "But, Julie," you may be asking, "isn't that a good thing? After all, the notes on the Noteflight score look just like the ones in Atalanta." ("And," those of you who read music may add, "the score in Atalanta is indeed written in D minor.") To these valid questions, I respond, "Yes, it would be...if a violin score in D minor were in the same key as a violin score in concert D minor."

Permit me to explain (and if you already know the answer, then please humor me). Let's pretend that I am conducting a musical group that includes a flute, a clarinet, a trumpet, a trombone, a violin, an alto saxophone, a tenor saxophone, and a piano. As we are warming up, I ask all of my musicians, "Please play a B flat." The result is a cacophony of mismatched notes. Why is that so? This is because, for whatever reason, different instruments' scores use different written notes to represent the same sound. (Wikipedia's "Transposing instrument" article [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposing_instrument] argues that different musical instruments have different note ranges and therefore needed different key configurations in order to more easily represent those notes. As a musician myself, this seems like a reasonable explanation to me.) Some instruments use the same types of written notes to represent the same sounds, but others do not. The result is, well, musical chaos (see Table 1 below).

Table 1: "Please play a B flat."

Instrument	Asked to play...	Note on page is...	Note sounds like...
Flute	B flat	B flat	B flat
Clarinet	B flat	B flat	C
Trumpet	B flat	B flat	C
Trombone	B flat	B flat	B flat
Violin	B flat	B flat	D
Alto Saxophone	B flat	B flat	G
Tenor Saxophone	B flat	B flat	C
Piano	B flat	B flat	B flat

To prevent such auditory discord, musicians and composers use something called a "concert key," which identifies notes based on sound rather than on how the notes appear on the page. So, after clearing my throat several times and motioning for all the musicians to stop playing, let's say that I rephrase my request as "Please play a concert B flat." The ensuing sound, as shown in Table 2 below, is a beautiful B flat from all instruments.

Table 2: "Please play a concert B flat."

Instrument	Asked to play...	Note on page is...	Note sounds like...
Flute	concert B flat	B flat	B flat
Clarinet	concert B flat	C	B flat
Trumpet	concert B flat	C	B flat
Trombone	concert B flat	B flat	B flat
Violin	concert B flat	D	B flat
Alo Saxophone	concert B flat	G	B flat
Tenor Saxophone	concert B flat	C	B flat
Piano	concert B flat	B flat	B flat

Let's return to "The Cricket Fiddler." The score is written for a violin, which means that a written "D" note will actually sound like a B flat when played by a violin. Noteflight, however, currently interprets the violin score as if it is written in concert D minor, and thus it plays a D (rather than a B flat) whenever it sees a "D" on the page. To compensate, I need to rewrite the Noteflight score so that it is no longer in concert D minor but is instead in concert B flat minor (shown below):

After readjusting the violin's key on Noteflight, I exported the score as an MP3, pulled it into Audacity, and mixed the score with recordings of myself reading the poem in between each musical interlude. Rather than use my normal voice (which is very low in register), I decided to opt for a higher, more girlish tone when recording my recitation of the poem. My inspiration for this high tone came from the voice I use when playing an innocent, sixteen-year-old girl named Alia in one of my DnD campaigns. Enjoy listening to the results below!

Works Cited

"Atalanta (magazine)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, last edited 21 Dec. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalanta_(magazine). Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.

Bates, Clara Doty (poet) and Julius Eichberg (composer). "The Cricket Fiddler." Atalanta vol. II, no. 5, February 1889, pp. 307-9. In Atalanta vol. 2: 1888 October-1889 September (London: Hatchards’, 1887-1898). Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. Call number: Special Collections Rare Books Large PN 5124 .A75 A85 Non-Circulating.

"Transposing instrument." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, last edited 27 Oct. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposing_instrument. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.