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Albany, New York: Albany Morning Express Office, corner of State & Green Streets; H. D. Stone, Printer, 1848. Broadside on wove paper, 20.5” x 9.5”. Time and place of performance penciled in.

An unrecorded broadside advertising a performance in Wells, New York given by a talented blind musician and singer who also found work tuning pianos.

This broadside announces the performance of blind musician H. S. Spencer who gave a concert of vocal and instrumental music on the evening of 4 Dec. 1848 at J. B. Smith’s Inn in Wells, New York. Referencing Spencer’s previous engagements at various museums in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the broadside details the three parts of Spencer’s performance. The first part includes a variety of “splendid pieces” on violin “with variations on one string, imitating several instruments.” This, however, was not all Spencer could do. He could also play his violin “to imitate distinctly a conversation between two drunken loafers in the gutter huzzaing for their respective political leaders.” (Less than a month prior to Spencer’s performance, General Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party defeated Senator Lewis Cass of the Democratic Party in the 1848 U.S. presidential election.) The second part of Spencer’s performance consists of songs: The May Queen; The Merry Castanet; Remember Me; The Blind Boy; The Mountain Maid; The Old Arm Chair; My Own Native Land, and When the Moon o’er the Lake is Beaming. The act concluded with a recitation. The exhibition commenced at 7 PM, and admittance was 12.5 cts. Also advertised are Spencer’s services tuning piano fortes “on reasonable terms.”

CONDITION: Light wear to lower portion, light creasing and old folds; no losses to the text.

Item #6688

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