Harry J. Lincoln/E. T. Paull: "Midnight Fire Alarm" player piano roll

Here is some more descriptive music "march-galop" by Harry J. Lincoln, arranged by E. T. Paull: "Midnight Fire Alarm." This was produced by QRS rolls as # 1357, recorded in 1921.

Like "Napoleon's Last Charge", I suspect this is a 4-hands arrangement. If someone can enlighten us on that matter... I recorded the roll in close-up perspective to more clearly see the arrangement.

E. T. Paull wrote all sorts of descriptive music prior to his death in 1924. One of his most famous is "The Burning of Rome" which has been played to death by theatre organists past and present. The late great George Wright had his wonderfully campy version.

The E. T. Paull sheet music is highly sought after by collectors for its beautiful water color covers.

Piano is a Beckwith (Sears Roebuck and Co.) "garden variety" 88n player with a fair amount of pneumatic expression (though the automatic level control in the camera flattens the sound level to all be the same.)


For more on E. T. Paull, please see:

http://www.parlorsongs.com/bios/etpaull/etpaull.php

http://www.jfeenstra.com/Forward.html

http://www.parlorsongs.com/issues/2001-7/thismonth/featurea.php

Category:

Music

Tags:

• E.
• T.
• Paull
• player
• piano
• silent
• films
• photoplayer
• MBSI
• ATOS
• AMICA
• theatre
• organ
• Wurlitzer
• theatres
• ragtime
• jazz
• pipe

[clariona]

I put a little more speed and razamatazz into my performance of Midnight Fire Alarm. Hope you enjoy my rendition as well. I think my guys are really in a hurry.

[Yaledmot]

@clariona One thing about the player piano, music can be made to run as fast as it can. This does not make it better. Musical clarity is important. E.T. Paull's music is frantic enough as it is. I know musicians who play this and other Paull compositions and they are at a resonable tempo. There are a couple of other E.T. Paull player piano postings--Burning of Rome--and they are taken at break-neck speed and are just taken way too fast. There is a reason for artist's tempos.

[VictrolaJazz]

I was always curious how these other E. T. Paull compositions, listed on the back of our copy of Dawn of the Century sounded! Wonderful! Thanks!

[Yaledmot]

@VictrolaJazz "Burning of Rome," "Midnight Fire Call," "Napoleon's Last Charge" all have a similarity of composition. A and C sections similar with a greatly different B section in the middle of the composition with the melody in the bass. Still great musical fun though. BTW, I got a response from the great piano and orchestrion restorer Art Reblitz last night--He was not aware of any piano rolls of "Dawn of the Century."

[Yaledmot]

@VictrolaJazz With this "Midnight Fire Call," you can almost picture a horse-drawn fire pumper being pulled through the streets.

[RomanticMusikFan]

Is it possible for me to get the sheet music for this?

[Yaledmot]

Keep searching antique stores that deal in "antique" sheet music.

Be prepared--original copies with the water color front page, in good condition, can be quite expensive.

[Grundsau47]

at all costs listen to this as rendered by the Firehouse 5+2!!

[VictrolaJazz]

@Yaledmot I know, very exciting!

[VictrolaJazz]

@Yaledmot Yes I do notice similarities amongst them, which is probably not unusual. I'll bet he would have been a worthy competitor to John Phillip Sousa. I had a Smith & Barnes player from '83 to '97. I corresponded with the last person associated with QRS before it went under (I still have one of the last catalogs)--he sold me his 1918 copy of the Galli Curci Rag for $40, but would not part with Dawn of the Century, so it must have been done by someone.

[organistedejazz]

try lester s levy sheet music site. maybe it's available on it