The Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Sheet Music contains a number of pieces characterized as “dramatic music.” These pieces, written for light operas (or comedic opera) and musicals, often deal with the topic of love. The theatrical nature of this music lends itself well to exploring the variety of forms love can take on, from a romantic attachment to another person, to an idolization of an inanimate object. It also acknowledges the range of emotions that love can elicit.
“What is love?
Is it gladness?
Or a form of sadness?
Or a sign of madness?
Should we meet face to face
Will it frighten me?
Kindly enlighten me, what is love?”
Irving Berlin grappled with the concept of love in his 1914 song “What is Love” from the musical Watch Your Step. Berlin pondered the possible outcomes of love, and the answers can be found throughout sheet music collection.
“The Call of Love” by Harold Orlob from the musical The Red Canary describes feeling of love’s irresistible pull. “You feel it calling soft and low/ You feel it’s spell begin to grow/ You’re helpless to resist it/ It calls and you must go.” It goes on to address the universality of love with: “It grips us all/ Both the great, the small/ It’s the call of love.”
The most common form of love represented in the collection is romantic yearning. Dreamy Eyes from the musical The Runaways speaks to this with the lyrics “‘Tis of you I’m always thinking, Dreamy Eyes.”
Love needn’t be limited to living things, as shown by this song from the musical Nobody Home. It expresses a deep fondness for the safety and security of one’s bed and urges listeners not to leave it. An anthem for Monday mornings: “Always be kind to it/ Give your whole mind to it…’Round the world carry it!/ Worship it!/ Marry it!/ Beautiful, beautiful bed!”
Why so serious? “The Amorous Goldfish” from the musical The Geisha tells the story of a fish’s unrequited love for her owner. The ditty, while lighthearted, covers a gamut of emotions as the goldfish realizes that her love has eyes for another. Give it a listen here:
Love Found
The most common form of love found in the dramatic sheet music is a blissful, romantic love. These pieces exaggerate the euphoric feelings associated with the “honeymoon phase,” at times to the point of silliness.
They begin with feelings of disbelief at being so happy, as seen in the piece “I’m in Love.” “I stand as in a dream/ I’m in love with the one girl for me/ I’m as happy as a man e’er can be.”
They can also be quite demanding, as the lover seeks assurances in the hopes that the feeling will last.
Here the lyrics go: “Won’t you tell me once more/ As you told me before/ For I love you, I love you/ There’s no one above you/ I love you, I love you/ My own.”
The inevitable next step is planning a future together.
The song argues that “To be together is the main thing/ The only sensible and sane thing/ No matter where or how/ To be the same as now/ Like little birdies on the wing/ So in the summer or the winter/ And in the fall or and in the spring/ We may be basking in a bungalow beside a baby river.”
A bungalow also plays into the lovers’ plans in the song “When We’re All Alone in Our Bungalow” from the musical A Regular Girl. Here a lover dreams up a blissful married life in a home of their own.
This can be compared to the less realistic vision of the future that is presented in “Two Little Love Bees” from the operetta Spring Maid. In this cloyingly sweet piece where lovers talk about their plans for the future by comparing themselves to bees.
You can listen to it here:
Love Lost
Just as the presence of love brings forth a series of emotions, so too does the absence of it. Light operas and musicals offer plenty of obstacles for their love interests, which give us songs where characters confront the loss of love. Dealing with the absence of love is a process, from heart break, to moving on, and finally yearning for a new love to fill the void.
Not all love is meant to last. “Good Bye, Good Bye My Sweetheart” tells of the pain of parting ways as a cherished relationship is reduced to memories. “Goodbye, goodbye my sweetheart/ The dream is past/ My love in dear remembrance/ Oh keep till the last.”
“When You Love a Little Girl” from the satirical musical Baroness Fiddlesticks tells of a man who poured his heart (and his savings) into a girl who did not reciprocate his feelings. The lyrics express his state of grief:
When you love a little girl who won’t love you,
All the world is dark and dreary,
Ev’ry thing looks blue,|
Your young heart lies trampled, dying,
With your life you’re through,
Just because the girl you love, won’t love you.
By comparison, Irving Berlin’s “You Can Have Him” from the musical Miss Liberty is sung by a jilted lover whose beau left her for another woman. Here she convinces the other woman (and tries to convince herself) that she is over him. “You can have him/ I don’t want him/ He’s not worth fighting for/ Besides there’s plenty more where he came from.” Armed with a bit of spite, she is determined to move on, but as the song continues, it is clear that she put a great deal of effort into building the relationship which makes it difficult to reconcile the loss. This song has been interpreted differently by different artists. Ella Fitzgerald sang it in a quick and lively tempo giving it a lighthearted feel, while Nina Simone’s slower rendition brought out the heartbreak in the lyrics. Compare the two versions here:
Once a character is over the heartbreak, they long to find love again. This brings us to songs of longing for love. In “A Corner of My Heart” by Phil Schwartz, a would-be lover expresses a desire to find someone to fill that place in his life. “I’ve got a cozy little corner waiting for you/ A comfy spot that’s built for two/ Be my sweetheart, just come and stay there and I’ll promise you to play fair/ If you will move into a corner of my heart.”
Similar sentiments are expressed in “I’m Looking for a Sweetheart” where the a broken hearted girl sings “I’m looking for a sweetheart/ Where can the fellow be?/ I need him ev’ry hour/ I’m lonesome don’t you see.”
Text and curation by Evangeline Eilers
SOURCES CITED BY SECTION
Section One
Item courtesy Youtube via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBsW-gyfsCo
Section Two
Item courtesy Youtube via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5eApsC1f6U
Item courtesy Youtube via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2TngvNavC4
Item courtesy Youtube via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldJ4bhN_PaU