New Hampshire

New Hampshire has an official state song, My Old New Hampshire, and eight honorary state songs. The official state song is not a waltz nor are any of the honorary state songs (thanks go to Rebecca Stockbridge, Reference Librarian at the New Hampshire State Library, and to Brownie Macintosh, who wrote one of the honorary state songs, for the help in tracking down this information).

In fact, there are very few waltzes celebrating New Hampshire - all the ones that are easy to find are reviewed below.

A YouTube comment by Peter Fischman and Deb O'Hanion suggests that New Hampshire Wind written Tom Smith and his daughter, Mally, should be the state song.  Not a bad idea. It is a charming song, particularly in the animated video version below. The animation was provided by Pell Osborne and the children at Creative Arts at Park, Brookline, Massachusetts. Singing and guitar by Tom Smith.

You can also see Tom sing the song here or buy New Hampshire Wind on Tom's CD, Journey Home available at CDBaby.

Bradley Winfield Parker has a provided a classic, country style waltz with his Waltz Across New Hampshire.  The song is included in Parker's third album, Done Turned On, released on the Albeit label in 2010.  Parker is a multi-instrumentalist, a singer and a song writer from a musical family. He has roots in New Hampshire and was once a member of  the Franconia Notch Band before working as a solo artist.

Adam Boyce, a life time Vermonter currently living in West Windsor, calls himself a Yankee Fiddler and, in the past, spent a fair amount of time traveling in nearby states to play his fiddle for dances.  This included a dance in Wentworth, New Hampshire for which he composed a waltz creatively titled, Wentworth, New Hampshire.  Boyce is a good fiddler as evidenced by that shelf full of fiddle contest trophies in the video below but he is, arguably, even better as a composer.  His has written more than 100 tunes including 21 waltzes which he has collected into a book titled Vermont Waltzes from Boyce Road. Many of these waltzes are available on his YouTube channel. or can be downloaded from his Bandcamp album, Waltzing with You. The waltz this blog is most interested in can be seen below, Wentworth, New Hampshire waltz:

Most biographical snippets for Michael Caduto describe him as an "award-winning author, environmental educator, master storyteller and musician." Putting "musician" at the end of that list does not mean that it is his weakest skill, he is a fine singer/songwriter, but it does correctly suggest that his music is a means to another end.  That end is educating the world, particularly the youth of the world, in the importance of our environment and its preservation.  He is the founder of P.E.A.C.E., Programs for Environmental Awareness and Cultural Exchange.  His writing, story-telling and singing are all in support of that cause. His music has been captured in an award-winning album titled All One Earth: Songs for the Generations which is available on his website. You can listen to all of the songs in that album on YouTube and the most popular one is the waltz, New Hampshire Autumn (White Mountain Waltz):

The waltz was introduced in the United States in the 19th century and many states were celebrated with waltzes written in that century.  But if New Hampshire was the subject of one of those waltzes, it has been lost.  The oldest detected waltz celebrating New Hampshire is An Old Fashioned Home in New Hampshire which was published in 1931 by Shapiro, Bernstein & Company in New York.  The song was written by Sam M. Lewis and Robert A. King. It was recorded in 1932 for the Perfect label by Dave Roberts and His Home Towners. According to The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942: Arthur Lange to Bob Zurke, Dave Roberts and His Home Towners was a pseudonym for Joe Green and his Orchestra. Lew Green, Jr., the grandson of Joe Green, suggests that it was not unusual for contractual arrangements to require the use of a pseudonym during the period. Interestingly, Green, Jr. has recreated the original Green Brothers band as Green's New Novelty Orchestra and traveled to West Orange, New Jersey to record at the Edison National Historic Site.  You can hear their music on their CD, Green's New Novelty Orchestra, which, unfortunately, did not include An Old Fashioned Home in New Hampshire. But, thanks to the Internet Archive, you can hear that waltz in the video below.

Few people know that Mendelsohn wrote a waltz titled The New Hampshire Waltz. Well, perhaps not the Mendelssohn you are thinking of - it was written by Louis Mendelsohn in 1954 not Felix Mendelssohn - and it was arranged for piano by Edward J. Madden. Sheet music may still be available here. The original 1954 copyright referenced lyrics to Mendelsohn's song by Charles Davis Pike.

A search of available copyright records found only one more waltz celebrating New Hampshire:

1959, New Hampshire Waltz, words and music copyrights to Toby Hibbs, also known as Anthony Stanley Hibner

Not included here:

The title suggests it should be high on the list for discussion but The New Hampshire Waltz written by Jim Barnes is not a waltz at all.  It is a ballad about dancing to the tune of New Hampshire Waltz at the Rockingham Ballroom.  It is a good tune and the rules of this blog are going to be broken to bring it to you below:

For those who like to make their own music, a simplified score for the Wentworth, New Hampshire Waltz as provided by the composer, Adam Boyce, can be found below.

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