An American Songline

Journeys in Vintage Music with Cecelia Otto

Naughty Marietta

Song of the week sung by yours truly: "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life"

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Can you believe it’s almost April!  Time has flown this month. I’ve been working with a great coach on a demo to sell/market the singing travelogue, and I thought I’d share this track with you today!

Today’s song sung by me is: “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life”.

This song comes from the operetta “Naughty Marietta” by Victor Herbert which first premiered in 1910.  The Utah Historical Archive told me this song appeared on a January 23,

1930 music program for the Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake City.  Seeing the 20 year gap from the premiere to the performance in Utah, you can see the song had wonderful staying power.

For those of us who weren’t alive during at this point in history, I’ve heard various comments from people like: “it sounds like music from a Bugs Bunny cartoon” or “I’ve heard this music before, but didn’t know there were actually words to it!”  Overall, those who have heard me sing this piece really like it, and for me it definitely speaks to the sentiments of the time.

Let me know what you think!

Seek and ye shall find

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Happy Leap Day to all!

In the last month, I’ve been contacting historical societies in various states along the Lincoln Highway not only to let them know about the project, but to also see if they had any concert/recital programs from 1913-1935.  I’ve had some tremendous results thank to the following agencies:

The Wyoming State Historical Society and The Wyoming State Archives came through with flying colors and I now have close to 50 pages of programs from this era.  They also recommended a link I thought I would share with you history buffs, “The Wyoming Newspaper Project”. I spent hours (and could spend more hours) looking at all of the newspapers that were transferred online from microfiche.  You not only can search by keyword, but also by pattern and concept.  You can print anything from this website as well-all free of charge!

Nebraska’s Historical Society also had a few great finds, including a souvenir program that had music for a song called “Let Me Stray” from the Grand Island Capitol Theatre.  I can’t find any modern recordings of this song, so I’m looking forward to debuting it on the road next year.

And last but not least, here’s the fun find for today.  The Utah State Archives found a program from 1930 of the operetta “Naughty Marietta”, and noted two songs were performed: “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” and “My Heart is Back in Napoli” (we know the latter as “Italian Street Song”.  At first I didn’t know these songs, but when I played them back, my first memories of these songs from watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid.  Sad but true.

Today’s video is a hilarious interpretation of “Italian Street Song”.  She even stays in tune while everything falls in around her.  Enjoy!