Apr 21, 2025HTBS

Photo Essay 3: Vintage Sheet Music Covers

21 April 2025

By Bill Miller

Here is a photo essay showing the popularity of rowing in the 19th Century and spilling into the 20th. The sheet music industry thrived and rowing was often featured. The covers that follow feature rowing graphics or titles that relate to rowing or dedications to rowing clubs/associations. Both Tom Weil (TW) and I (BM) took a keen interest in collecting these fun pieces.

Enjoy…

1831 – My Bark is my Courser – TW
respectfully dedicated to the Gentlemen of the New York Boat Club
1836 – Hark, Brothers Hark! – A Regatta Song & Chorus – TW
Music Composed & Dedicated to the Boat Clubs of the United States
1836 – Light may the Boat row – TW
composed and respectfully dedicated to the New York Boat Clubs
1837 – The Corsair Glee
Row onward row my brave Corsairs
Composed and most respectfully dedicated to the
Gentlemen of the Corsair Boat Club
1838 – Our Boat Sets Lightly On The Wave – TW
Respectfully dedicated to the New York Boat Clubs
1840 – Arouse Ye Gay Comrades – BM
Dedicated to the Tiger Boat Club
1840 ca. – Mahopac Lake Waltz – TW
Club Boat Gazelle
Composed and respectfully dedicated to The Amateur Cornet Club
1840 – Old Rosin The Beau – TW
Dedicated with much respect to members of the Falcon Barge (Phila)
1842 ca. – Schuylkill Boat Song
Atalanta Barge Club
1852 ca. – American Star Waltz – TW
(The American Star was the famous Whitehall crew that defeated the British frigate crew in New York Harbor in 1824)
1858 – Rippling Wave Waltz – TW
Composed & Respectfully Dedicated To The Union Boat Club
1858 – Rippling Wave Waltz – TW
Composed & Respectfully Dedicated To The Union Boat Club
1859 – The Sylvie Mazurka – TW
The Members of the Sylvie Boat Club of Rochester NY
1860 – Hip, boys, dip the oar, Boat Song and Chorus – TW
1865 ca. – The Boat Race Song (Oxford-Cambridge)
Pull Slow And Steady,
Never Dip Your Oars Too Deep
1865 – Waverley Galop de Concert – TW
Composed And Dedicated To Messrs…
of the Waverley Boat Club of New York City
1867 ca. – The Rowing Club Or Tyneside – BM
Most Respectfully Dedicated…
The Members of the Tynemouth Rowing Club
1869 – International Boat Race Galop – BM
Dedicated to the Gallant Harvard Crew
1869 – Chawlps of the H-Oxford’s – TW
(caricature of an 1869 Harvard-Oxford oarsman)
1870 ca. – The Oarsman’s March – TW
Dedicated To The Twickenham Rowing Club
1874 – Boat Song
Reminiscences of Saratoga Lake
1874 – Boating On The Cam
Dedicated To The C.U.B.C.
1875 ca. – Regatta Galop
To the College Crews of America
1875 ca. – Neptune Mazurka
To the St John Rowing Club, New Orleans
1875 – Triton March – TW
To Commodore, Triton Boat Club, Newark NJ
1877 – The Mercantile Rowing Club Galop
Composed and Dedicated to the Mercantile Rowing Club Sydney
1878 – Hanlan Galop – BM
(In 1878 Edward Hanlan was Champion of America)
1879 – Schuylkill Rowing Song
1880 – Boating On The Cam – TW
1880 ca. – Galop Des Régates – TW
1882 – Magic Boatman – TW
Composed expressly for and Respectfully inscribed to
Mr. Edward Hanlan of Toronto Ont. (King of the Oar)
1883 – Columbia Boat Club
1883 – Schuylkill Navy Glee – BM
Inscribed… Officers and Members of the Schuylkill Navy, Phila. Pa.
1885 ca. – The Eton Boat Song Waltz
1890 ca. – Good Old A.B.C. – TW
Dedicated To The Arlington Boat Club
1890 – Rowing Club Le Regate Album
To the Meritorious Committee Rowing Club
1893 – Minnesota Boat Club March
To The Minnesota Boat Club, St. Paul, Minn.
1896 ca. – The Cornell Crew March – TW
1896 – Harvard Waltz – BM
1897 ca. – The Wachusett March – TW
Respectfully Dedicated To Edward H. Ten Eyck
1898 – Varsity Eight
1899 – Cornell Rowing Song – BM
1899 – “Hit Her Along” For Old Cornell! – TW
1900 ca. – Rowing Down The River – BM
1901 – Mandy Mandy
1902 – On The Race Course – TW
1905 ca. – Over The Waves Waltz – TW
1906 – When Love Is Young – TW
1907 – Hip! Hip! Hooray! – TW
1914 – The Red And Blue At Race – BM
1922 – Hoover, Put It Over – TW
(Walter Hoover – National Champion & Henley Royal Regatta Diamonds Champion)

4 comments

  1. This is an excellent piece and be good to have some played again. It prompts the question of whether there are any punting tunes/songs?

    Reply

  3. Hi! Just wanted to note that the Columbia Boat Club Song is about the former club in Washington, DC, not Columbia University. It was founded in 1880, expanded to encompass a broad range of sports and changed its name to Columbia Athletic Club in 1887, and ceased rowing in 1901. Its composer also wrote the Columbia Boat Club Polka.

    Another piece of sheet music to add to your collection is the Analostan Waltz, dedicated to another sadly defunct DC rowing club, the Analostan Boat Club.

    For many years, CAC, ABC, and Potomac Boat Club were the dominant rowing clubs in DC; PBC is the only club that survives from that time. Hoping one day I’ll come across a song dedicated to PBC to complete the set!

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.