Hiawatha

• American Parlour Orchestra
• Lambert Concert No. 5090
• Circa 1902
• 2 minutes

Recommended playing speed 144 rpm

Hiawatha, sometimes referred to as A Summer Idyll, was written by Charles N. Daniels, under the pseudonym of Neil Moret, in 1901.

The version Vulcan offers here has been transferred from a Lambert Concert cylinder, number 5090,  played by the American Parlour Orchestra.  It was first released in 1902, just at a time when there was an increasing demand for material about the American Indian, and for music in the intermezzo style.

In 1902, the Whitney-Warner Publishing Company of Detroit paid Daniel’s $10,000 for the rights to the tune and engaged lyricist James O’Dea to add an appropriate and evocative text to it.