Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Celebrated Marseilles Hymn


(I was going through some of the "treasures" I bought at a local thrift store, when I came across this piece of sheet music. I had picked it up because the writing on it looked old. It is in relatively poor shape; the edges are slightly ragged, there are stains throughout, and the writing on the front has begun to fade. It appears that there used to be a cover of some kind, which has been removed)

This is what it says on the front:

The Celebrated
MARSEILLES HYMN
words and music by
Mons. Rouge' de Lille
Officiere du genie, dans l'armie Francaise
Arranged for the Piano Forte by
H.N. GILLES.
The original English words with additional
Verses by a
GENTLEMAN OF BALTIMORE

Published by John Cole, Baltimore

Across the bottom is the following statement:

Entered According to Act of Congress Sept. 11th, 1830, by John Cole of the State of Maryland
432

(There are a total of 3 pages - including the front - 2 are not pictured)
I was curious about this sheet music, and found this Wikipedia Entry. Apparently this song is the National Anthem of France!

Then I did an image search to see if I could find another copy of this sheet music ...
The only one I found (that appears to be identical!) is located
in the Levy Sheet Music Collection

I have no idea if this is an historically significant piece of ephemera or not.
It seems like it may be so!

I'm just not sure where to go from here. If it is a historically significant document, then it should be placed with someone who can preserve it as such. I hear the University of Oregon has our state's largest sheet music collection. I am contemplating contacting them to see if they would know what I should do. 

What do YOU think I should do???



3 comments:

Beth Niquette said...

Oh, my word. This is stunning. Sissy--this may actually be historically important. I've written to my brother and sister-in-law who live in France.

They may be able to add to what you know so far.

I will be so stunned and amazed, should this turn out to be the actual real thing. Wow!

Beth Niquette said...

I'm SO excited about what this could mean, Honey. ((hugs))

Unknown said...

I remember a website linked to a particular magazine that answers questions such as this - but I am headed off to work right now and cannot remember the name. So sorry. You might want to try Yahoo answers...