The writing of “Glad Refrains” meant delving into Eleanor Porter’s fifteen-year career as a singer/pianist and her circumstances of performance. To hear the latest tunes or enjoy old favorites (before the advent of mechanical sound reproduction), you had to hire somebody to perform them; that was the job of musicians like Eleanor. In Miss Billy’s Decision we are immersed in parlor music, those informal occasions of intimate performance.
With the easy sureness of the trained musician his fingers dropped to the keys and slid into preliminary chords and arpeggios to test the touch of the piano; then, with a sweetness and purity that made every listener turn in amazed delight, a well-trained tenor began the "Thro' the leaves the night winds moving," of Schubert's Serenade.
When Billy introduces MJ Arkwright, to the Henshaw brothers in Chapter VII, he and Billy perform together.
"Oh, but, Mr. Arkwright, don't stop," objected Billy, springing to her feet and going to her music cabinet by the piano. "There's a little song of Nevin's I want you to sing. There, here it is. Just let me play it for you." And she slipped into the place the singer had just left.
(Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (November 25, 1862 – February 17, 1901))
"It was the beginning of the end. After Nevin came De Koven, and afterDe Koven, Gounod. Then came Nevin again, Billy still playing the accompaniment. Next followed a duet. Billy did not consider herself much of a singer, but her voice was sweet and true, and not without training. It blended very prettily with the clear, pure tenor.”
“After Nevin came De Koven…”
Reginald De Koven (April 3, 1859 – January 16, 1920) was an American music critic and prolific composer.
“…and after De Koven, Gounod.”
Charles-François Gounod (7 June 1818 – 18 October 1893)
“Then came Nevin again…”
In Chapter XV Billy jokes with MJ Arkwright.
"Yes, yes, I know; that was bad--and I won't again, truly," promisedBilly. But her eyes danced, and the next moment she had whirled about on the piano stool and dashed into a Chopin waltz. The room itself, then, seemed to be full of the twinkling feet of elves.
Frédéric François Chopin[ (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer who wrote primarily for solo piano.
This writer was interested to explore the contemporary songs that Eleanor may have sung and accompaniments she may have played. There were a slew of composers alive when she was pursuing this career, and, someday soon the Beldingsville Beacon will identify and present a parlor concert by Eleanor Hodgman Porter, including songs with New Hampshire origins.
BUT, it is time to leave Billy Neilson in Boston, Massachusetts and visit Pollyanna in Beldingsville, Vermont for our next “Glad Tidings!”