'In a Persian Garden' 1905/1920 A Song Cycle for Four Solo Voices Program and Songbook, Observations by Elliott Smith

#83 in the Dr. Sigurd H. Peterson Memorial Collection at Oregon State is two items: A 1920 copyright songbook for a quartet rendition of In a Persian Garden, and a programme for the performance of In a Persian Garden from 1905. What do these pieces add to a collection of mostly illustrated gift books? Why are these two items together, and how did they end up here?

Images in this Exhibit

Edition Description: In a Persian Garden

In a Persian Garden Sheet Music 1920 by Liza Lehmann cover with Illustration

In a Persian Garden Sheet Music 1920 pg 10

In A Persian Garden Programme 1905 with inscription

His Master's Voice – 04168, In A Persian Garden. Recording of this composition. There are no digital recordings of the 1905 performance, so this sample record is from EMGColonel's personal collection of pre-WWII records. Bass Vocals by George Baker, Contralto Vocals by Edna Thornton, Soprano Vocals by…

Gift Books and Orientalism

Copyright page for In a Persian Garden Song Cycle, dedicated 'to my husbad'

A crop of the first and second page of the 1905 performance Programme

A crop of the second page of the 1905 performance Programme

Barbara Black’s On Exhibit: Victorians and Their Museums speaks at length about the influence of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as gift books, and their appearance extravagant, exotic, and worth as much to own as to read. Black argues that this has roots in Orientalism, citing the Victorian obsession with misrepresentation of ‘The East’ for Imperial values as “the poem’s problematic status in a museum culture”(60). For Black, the gilding and pocket-sizing of the Rubaiyat demonstrate its objectification in many ways. It is valued as a pretty physical object to own, rather…

Close Reading of Song + Text

In a Persian Garden: The Life of Liza Lehmann: Unveiled Voices

Soprano - Carl Alexander Contralto - Matthew Truss Tenor - Henry Pleas III Bass - Vince Wallace Pianoforte - Charles Thomas Hayes

This stanza, in the middle of the first No. of Liza Lehmann’s composition, centers around the image of ‘the cup,’ seasonal change, and the passage of time. Unlike other formats of the Rubáiyát, there are no…

How This Edition Was Made

In order to publish and distribute In a Persian Garden, three names in publishing had to come together: G Shirmer INC, Metzler & Co. LTD, and Macmillian and Co. Known as one of the big five publishers in English and international publishing, Macmillian Publishing house was started in 1843, in London by Daniel Macmillian (1). In 1890, The Macmillian company published it’s own edition of the FitzGerald translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (2). It was from this edition the lyrics to In a Persian Garden were taken, and so, where the making of this edition…

To Alice Regan, Piano: An Archival Speculation

A picture of the bottom half of a programme, listing the singers of a quartette. The accompanist is handwritten in as Alice Regan.

Text from the font cover, G. Schirmer Inc. New York, Composed by Liza Lehmann, listed price

Text from the copyright page. Metzler & CO (1920) LTD London

From the back cover, a list of songs available in Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics

From the programme: half a page of verses from In A Persian Garden

From the University of Wisconsin Catalogue 1904-1905 a half page describing School of Music Instructor Staff

My Miss Alice (1),

You will never guess what I have found at the Shirmer (2) music store today. Enclosed here is a little treat from our University Teaching days in Madison. Don’t you remember that concert in 1905 (1), where you were able to play for the most beautiful vocalists? Can you believe it’s been 15 years (1,3)?

Merry Christmas to you, I hope your family is having a great holiday. When we were in younger, I used to grow so sick of playing the same carols over and over…

Exhibit Tags

In a Persian Garden