Los californios®

Spanish-Language Social Music
of 19th Century Southern California

Historic Culture Preservation
Resources


loscalifornios.info — Site Map
Spanish-Language Social Music
of 19th-Century Southern California
     Charles Lummis’ Spanish
     Language Music Recordings
     Historic Casa de Adobe
     Fiesta Programs and Photographs
     Historic Resources for
     Spanish-Language Social Music
     of 19th-Century Southern California

loscalifornios.com — Site Map
Home Page for Los californios®
      Upcoming events
The Museum Gift Shop
      Recordings:
          Flowers of Our Lost Romance
      Sheet Music Transcriptions
            Music of Early California:
            NEW in 2007: Volume 9
            Music of Early California:
            Volumes 1 — 9 bound together
            El ciego Melquíades:
            A tejano fiddler of yesterday
      Folk Arts Books & Wares
Order Form

loscalifornios.org — Site Map
Home Page for Padua Hills Theatre:
The Mexican Players
     The Historic Physical Setting
     The People — Los paduanos
     The Musicians — Los músicos
     The Dancers — Los bailadores
     Padua Hills Plays
     Las Posadas
     “California Romance”
     Behind the Scenes
     The Vera Family Account
     The Physical Setting Today
     Other Padua Hills Resources
     Related Padua Hills Links

San Diego Friends
of Old-Time Music, Inc.

William J. McCoy

William J. McCoy Song Folio - Los Californios® Collection

Folksongs of the Spanish Californians, by William J. McCoy.
Los Californios® Collection.

William J. McCoy’s song folio was first printed in 1895,
and was reissued in 1926.



One early popular folio featuring secular music specifically from Mexican California was that done by William J. McCoy in 1895 and published under various titles over time, including Canciones del pais de California and Folksongs of the Spanish Californians. The pieces included are:

Me mue …
Tus ojos
Crepúsculo de amor
Ángel divino
Mitad de mi vida
El trovador
Te adoro yo
La indita
La culpa
El tormento de amor

With the release of Volume 9 of the Music of Early California (2007 Supplement), all of these pieces are again available, and in arrangements friendly to folk guitarists.

(See Web map at left.)




Eleanor Hague

Another popular collector and promoter of this heritage was Eleanor Hague. Her work was often published in magazines and academic articles, and she collected many pieces together in larger publications. She was a contributor to the publication Masterkey, published by the Southwest Museum.

Spanish-American Folk-Songs, by Eleanor Hague.

Spanish-American Folk-Songs, by Eleanor Hague
Los Californios® Collection.

In Spanish-American Folk-Songs, published in 1917 by the American Folk-Lore Society, she included melody lines for a good number of pieces from California, such as:

A la luz de la luna
¡Ay! vienen los yanquis
Las blancas flores
No me mates (Version of El capotín)
Carmela (Carmen, Carmela)
Los celos de Carolina
Dime, mujer adorada
Entré [a] un jardín
Levántese, niña
María, María
Media noche
Nadie me quiere
O blanca virgen, a tu ventana
¿Quieres que te ponga? (Version of Sombrero blanco)
Serenata (Era medio de la noche)
Si formas tuvieran mis pensamientos (Los pensamientos)
Todo tiene su hasta aquí (El termino)
El tormento (El tormento de amor)
El trovador
Vivo penando
Yo no sé si me quieres
Yo pienso en ti

Eleanor Hague’s music folio, Early Spanish-Californian Folk-Songs, published in 1922 with piano arrangements, was influential in preserving this music for performing musicians.

Carmela (Carmen, Carmela)
Nadie me quiere
El trovador
Un pajarito
Serenata (Era medio de la noche)
Yo no sé si me quieres

Early Spanish-Californian Folk-Songs, by Eleanor 
Hague.

Early Spanish-Californian Folk-Songs, by Eleanor Hague
Los Californios® Collection.



The collection of the Braun Research Library at the Southwest Museum includes some additional pieces collected and transcribed by Eleanor Hague, previously unpublished. Some of these reflect her own transcriptions of pieces from the Edison wax cylinder recordings made by Charles Lummis.

Arrangements of these pieces with lead lines and guitar chords, and often harmony lines, are available to musicians in the Music of Early California. (See Web Map at top left corner of page.)


Aurelio M. Espinosa

Folklore de California by Aurelio M. Espinosa. Los 
californios® Collection.

Folklore de California, by Aurelio M. Espinosa
Los Californios® Collection.


Aurelio M. Espinosa, who was also a noted linguist in the Spanish-language field, applied his highly developed academic methodology and resources to the collection of folk lore in New Mexico and California, including documention of the words to many songs from both areas. Las Romances Tradicionales en California was printed in 1925 as part of a collection of essays, Homenaje a Menéndez Pidal, Tomo 1. It is the only source I have encountered to document any appreciable tradition of romances in California. Published in an edition of only 1000 copies, this publication is not currently readily available. One original copy is housed at the Geisel Library at the University of California at San Diego in Special Collections.

Another point of interest in this publication, mentioned in passing, was Espinosa’s observation of similarities between Spanish as spoken in New Mexico and as spoken in historic California. And since Espinosa is the primary authority on the specifics of how Spanish in New Mexico is different from Spanish spoken elsewhere, we can be assured that this is not just idle speculation.

Folklore de California, a pamphlet published in 1930, includes words to a number of songs. This work is more available than the previous document, but has not yet been re-printed for modern use.

Unfortunately, because his interest was in the poetry, Espinosa’s work does not include tunes.


Historic Disk Recordings

Folk Songs of California and The Old West, Bowmar 
Records, Los Californios® Collection

Song folio cover. Los Californios® Collection.

This album of 78 rpm records from Bowmar Records came out in 1953. It includes the
English-language versions of a number of songs included in Charles Lummis’ folio.


Decca presents Songs of Old California, Sung by Frank 
Luther & Zora Layman with the Century Quartet, Los Californios® Collection

Song folio cover. Los Californios® Collection.

This 1950s album of 78 RPM records from Decca also includes the English-language
versions of a number of songs included in Charles Lummis’ folio.


Find further information about this type of music at:

Californios and Spanish-speaking Californians in Sheet Music


Where to find this music currently in print and recordings

A CD of this music is available from San Diego Friends of Old Time Music:

Flowers of Our Lost Romance.

Sheet music of this music is also available from San Diego Friends of Old Time Music:

Music of Early California: Volumes 1 — 9 bound together.

Contact Los californios® at info@loscalifornios.com

Los californios® is a registered service mark belonging to San Diego Friends of Old-Time Music, Inc.,
a California non-profit corporation.

© San Diego Friends of Old-Time Music, Inc., 2007
All rights reserved.