Sunday, September 8, 2024

Seth Weeks: Polka Caprice for Mandolin and Piano

Seth Weeks is an interesting composer for a couple reasons: he composed for the mandolin, and he was black - back in the 19th and early 20th centuries when that was a definite limitation on how musical society would accept him.  Despite that, he was the prime mover in bringing on what is called the mandolin's golden period.  He became prominent enough that he toured in Europe and lived there before World War I and in the 1920s.

It was in Europe that he recorded his music, with Edison Records in London and Gerliner Gramophone in Berlin.

Born on this day in 1868, he lived to the ripe old age of 85.  There are not a lot of performances of his music on Youtube, and this doesn't have a lot of views.  That's a shame - he was an unusually interesting composer.

1 comment:

libertyman said...

A new one for me-- very interesting. I missed you Sunday as I was in Maine, sans computer.
I always appreciate Music with Borepatch 101 on Sundays, thanks for doing this.