Arle and Ulrich,
Your discussion of the Hurdy Gurdy Girls is intriguing -- my work is on North
American theaters 1750-1860 broadly speaking -- focus on the Ohio Valley before
the Civil War. I haven't come across this phenomenon yet although Turnverein
Halls were very common and could have easily facilitated something like the
HGG. There was a Gold Rush in Colorado in 1858 that may have included
something like this -- along with the minstrel shows entertainment had few
limitations. And the demand for prostitutes on the frontier was perpetually
sky high. I'll definitely be on the lookout and any source material you come
across is of interest to me. Of course I'd be happy to share anything I find
with the group --
Thanks,
Doug
Dr. Douglas Harvey
Assistant Professor of History
Fort Hays State University
www.RowanCelticMusic.com
www.DougHarvey.org
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
John F. Kennedy
----- Original Message -----
From: Ulrich Joosten
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:54 AM
Subject: AW: [HG-new] Hurdy-gurdy girls [Was Tone problems]
Hi Arle,
thank you for your thoughts on the topic. You name Kurt Reichmann and his
article on hurdy-gurdy girls was the initial point for me to ask Doug if he
came across the hurdy-gurdy-girls.
As I wrote off-line to Doug, some years ago I did an interview for Folker!
Magazine with Kurt Reichman to get backhground information on his
hurdy-gurdy-girls photography book. He told me that he did a lot of research on
the hurdy-gurdy-girls of his home region Hessen.
We also published an article by Kurt Reichmann in Folker! The article says,
that the hurdy-gurdy-girls were known as “Rhinelander” on the Californian gold
fields. In England they were called “Hessian Broom Girls”. These Girls
travelled even to Australia, Cuba and North America. Reichmann provided a
facsimile of a contract between a white-slaver called Peter Sänger and a
hurdy-girl stipulating that the girl “agreed on February 30th to go with Peter
Sänger to France to play music (…) I will get 105 fr cash money, free pass
(passport?) – free shoes. One shirt or 2 fr instead. A linen blue gown. On 14
days illness no deductions to be made. Free strings on the instruments.
Decamtment on March 1943 and arrival in November of the same year. Witnesses:
Franz Schneider, amen curler, Friedrich Datz, Johannes Lux.”
Futhermore, Reichmann quotes a petition by clergyman Schellenberg of the town
Kleeberg directed to the German National assembly. The petition’s title was
“Seelenverkäuferei im Ausalnd betreffend” (“Concerning soul selling abroad”) In
1860, another clergyman, named Ottokar Schupp, published a novel called
“Hurdy-Gurdy” dealing with the state of things in the townships of “Landgänger”
(home towns of the travelling broom and fly whisk makers). A novel, certainly
and romanticising maybe as well.
There is at least one source for the hurdy-gurdy girl in America I know from
the Reichmann collection. I saw the facsimile of a program booklet of the
Boston Tremont theatre from July, 29th 1907. They were showing “The Hurdy-Gurdy
Girl” (Book by Richard Carle; Music by H.L Heartz). In the cast the character
of Lola, the hurdy-gurdy girl was played by Miss Mae Botti. Yes, for sure no
proof of HG girls on the Californian gold fields. And also there the HG might
have been mixed with a barrel organ.
Maybe to know more of the sources one should ask Kurt Reichmann himself. I
will send him an email and ask if he can name sources.
Best regards,
Ulrich
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Im
Auftrag von Arle Lommel
Gesendet: Montag, 2. März 2009 15:12
An: [email protected]
Betreff: [HG-new] Hurdy-gurdy girls [Was Tone problems]
Hi Ulrich,
Doug may have other ideas than I do, and I'm not a particular expert on
American folk music (I work on Hungarian music primarily), but I do try to keep
abreast of scholarship about hurdy-gurdies, including semi-regular searches of
academic databases. From what I've found, this topic just isn't one that's been
covered in English-language scholarship (I don't check German scholarship as
regularly). It's also one that isn't likely to be taken up by
ethnomusicologists or folklorists (my area of specialty) right now because,
unlike in Europe, the idea of looking for "survivals" and origins (in a
temporo-spatial sense) is completely out if fashion, having been replaced
starting in the 1960s with scholarly methods that look more at current practice
and performance techniques. That's not to say that questions of origins aren't
interesting, but rather that scholars just don't focus on them in my
discipline. You might find more from musical historians (but again, I've not
seen anything published in my searches) or from enthusiastic amateurs (who
probably don't publish...). So this is a long way of saying that, unless Doug
knows differently, I just don't think you'll find what you're looking for.
On a slightly different topic, I doubt that looking at folkloristic music
(rather than, say, historical sources) is likely to find much for you in
general. It seems that what little scholarship has been done on the hurdy-gurdy
girls is pretty ambiguous on whether vielle-type instruments (rather than
barrel organs) were even used. Given the general lack of evidence for the
vielle in an American context versus the comparatively abundant evidence of
barrel organs, my default assumption would be skeptical about the vielle in
California gold-rush days, unless I see particular evidence otherwise. I know
that Kurt Reichmann has argued in favor of the vielle, but I've not seen his
exhibition and so really can't assess his argument. Assuming that he is
correct, however, it is likely that the girls were called upon to play popular
American tunes of the period, rather than "authentic" German Bauernleier
repertoire. So the likelihood of any recognizable trace in American folk music
(as distinct from later folklorizing compositions that might decide to evoke
the HG girls) is pretty slim. (I'd love to be proven wrong, though.)
-Arle
And now to something (not really) completely different: I saw on your
website you are dealing with History through Music. I wonder if during your
studies you ever came along the tracks of the so called “Hurdy-Gurdy Girls”. It
is know by historians that many girls from the German province Hessen during
the 19th century were “hired” by conscienceless agents to immigrate to USA
playing music in the music halls. It is reported that even in some Gold rush
towns hurdy-gurdy girls were playing their music, but mostly forced to
prostitution. For me it would be exciting to find if there are any tracks in
the American folklore music basing on the traditional dance music that was
brought by the hurdy-gurdy girls to America. I’m not sure if this is a topic to
be discussed here on the list – if you wish you can send me a PN to discuss –
if you are interested on that topic or if you have any information.
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