Hugo Keesing collection on Jacoba Feenstra's sheet music
Collection
0336-SCPA
The Hugo Keesing collection on Jacoba Feenstra’s sheet music consists of a single bound collection of sheet music. This sheet music was bound in the early-mid twentieth century and covers the period 1881–1911. The collection is organized in a single series.
This collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Contact the curator for an appointment: http://www.lib.umd.edu/scpa/contact
Copyright was not transferred with the donation of the materials; all rights remain with the creators and rights holders.
50 Items
The Hugo Keesing collection on Jacoba Feenstra's sheet music includes fifty pieces of sheet music in a bound folio. Materials cover the period 1881–1911. The collection contains amateur piano pieces, popular songs, children’s songs, and dance tunes. Original order has been maintained.
[See finding aid for the Hugo Keesing collection on popular music and culture for information on Hugo Keesing]
Home music-making was among the Netherlands’ most popular national pastimes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nearly every Dutch town had local singing societies for members of all social strata, from the laboring to upper classes. In the evening, families or groups of friends would typically gather to play and sing music from their Liedboek, or songbook. The music they sang ranged from Dutch folk songs and drinking songs to religious meditations on death. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, traditional Dutch music waned in popularity, to be replaced by French, Italian, German, and American songs. These popular songs were typically published in the form of sheet music, rather than in songbooks. It was not uncommon for amateur musicians to bind their collections of sheet music for easier storage and transportation.
This bound collection of sheet music was compiled in the Netherlands by Jacoba Feenstra (1902–1986). Feenstra included music of Dutch, German, French, and American origin: including amateur piano pieces, popular songs, children’s songs, and dance tunes. Her song selection suggests that this music was intended for home performance, to be played with friends, and possibly for children. All of the sheet music in this collection was published in Amsterdam and Leipzig.
Gift of Hugo Keesing received in 2016. Dr. Keesing received these materials from his aunt, as Jacoba Feenstra is a long-past relative from Netherlands.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library