Robert A. Fremont

The idea of this book is pretty simple: Copies of the sheet music of many of the most popular songs of the 1890s. Nothing else. No information about the songs except what is in the sheet music, no scholarly apparatus, nothing. Just the songs (plus a short, relatively uninformative introduction by Max Morath).

That leaves just two things to judge the book by: The quality of the reproductions, and the choice of the songs. And this book does well on both counts. The reproductions aren't perfect, but they're quite good -- none of this cheap scan-and-print stuff. And the selection of songs really does include most of the most important songs of the Nineties. Do I wish there were more information about the songs? Absolutely. I can't really give it five stars in the absence of that. But if I just want to see the songs, this is an ideal book.… (altro)