Edward Mack, prolific composer of Civil War marches
Of the 412 marches related to the Civil War in the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection, 26 are by E. Mack. I never suspected that 6% of the collection would be written by someone I had never heard of. I was not surprised to see so many unfamiliar names among march composers, but I never thought the composer of the most marches would be such a cipher, and I never thought one man would write more than twice as much as second most prolific composer.
George Root’s 12 contributions (mostly arrangements and not original compositions) include three different editions of “How It Marches The Flag Of The Union”. In third place, Septimus Winner composed seven marches and arranged three more. There are two editions of his “Col. Ellsworth’s Funeral March.” These composers may not be household names now, but they both had national reputations during their lifetimes.
Among Mack’s marches in the collection, there are three editions of “General Grant’s Grand March,” two of “Major General Sheridan’s Grand Victory March,” and an arrangement of Henry Clay Work’s “Marching Thro’ Georgia.” That still leaves 22 original marches. Who is this person?
According to the Keffer Collection of Sheet Music at the University of Pennsylvania, his full name is Edward Mack. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1826) and his parents emigrated to the United States when he was 5. At some point, he became blind. In 1844 he entered the Philadelphia Institute for the Blind. Except for a brief stay in New London, Connecticut, he remained in Philadelphia until his death in 1882. I have located no other biographical references at all.
As a composer, he mainly wrote dance music and marches for the piano. He must have been very prolific. The Library of Congress copyright deposits include 711 pieces by Mack. I notice from looking at the selection on the University of Pennsylvania’s web site and the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection that nearly all of Mack’s pieces were published in Philadelphia. At the time, most composers of popular music had little more than local reputation. Mack’s music must have been pleasing enough and novel enough to keep Philadelphia families buying enough of it for the publishers (mostly Lee & Walker) to keep issuing more of it.
The picture shows an edition of “Gen. Grant’s Grand March” published by Oliver Ditson of Boston in 1889, seven years after Mack’s death and four years after Grant’s. It is part of a series of pieces written in Grant’s honor that Ditson republished. No fewer than three of Mack’s pieces appeared in the set with this same cover. Surely Grant received many more musical tributes than Ditson chose to reissue. Edward Mack might not be a big name in American popular music, but he must have had something more than just a local reputation.
Photo from the Library of Congress Civil War Sheet Music Collection.
What history do you know about E.Mack’s “Maryland My Maryland
Polka Finale (published 1862)?
Not much, really. I’m poking around and will send you an email.
It�s really a nice and helpful piece of info. I�m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
That’s what I’m here for. I hope you’re reading my other posts and finding them helpful, too. Thanks for commenting.
thanks for posting this. i had no idea how prolific e. mack was. he wrote general buell’s grand quick step. don carlos buell was an ancestor of mine.
And thank you for leaving your comment.
On Sun, Sep 6, 2015 at 4:47 PM, Gretchen Markov wrote:
I found E. Mack, composer, on your Musicology for Everyone site. Thank you. I love playing General Grant’s Grand March.
Do you have any information on a 19th century composer named E. Holst who lived and worked in NYC and wrote a waltz called either The Demon’s Waltz or The Devil’s Waltz? I’d like to find more of his pieces.
Thank you.
Suzanne Markov (amateur pianist who plays strictly for fun)
sugrem@aol.com
I found it, thank you. It’s called The Demon’s Dance and it’s described as a galop. What is a galop?
A galop is a very fast dance, sort of like a circus march. Think about a horse at full speed. I think the appropriate metronome setting would be about 180, although I haven’t looked it up. Let your fingers fly!
Where is Mr. Mack buried?
I suppose he was buried in Philadelphia, since that’s where he lived until his death. If you want to know a specific cemetery, I suggest you ask the Historical Society of Pennsylvania http://hsp.org/collections/library-services/research-by-mail. There’s a number on that page for questions that can be answered in 10 minutes or less. If it’s more complicated than that, there will be a charge.
Thanks for reading.
Found him. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Philadelphia. Just put up a Find-a-grave memorial for him. Confirmed it was him via Ancestry.com. That said, the cemetery was dug up to make room for a housing development. You would need to contact Lawnview Cemetery, in Rockledge, PA to find out where those folks went.
Thanks for looking it up and commenting about it here.
I’m playing a nice waltz from my Monster Imperial Album called Mary’s Pet, by E. Mack. I’m wondering if this wb Edward Mack or Eugene Mack, both piano composers. Can you help?
Eugene Mack lived a couple of generations later than Edward Mack. I had never heard of him until I looked for him in response to your question. I found reference to a collection called Monster Imperial, published in about 1943. The specific pieces I found by him were published in 1910. I would guess that Eugene is the more likely composer than someone publishing in the 1860s.
Do you know much about the piece titled, “Laughing Jenny Schottisch”? I have a friend that has a framed copy of it and was wanting more information on it.
Sorry, no. It’s hard to find much about specific pieces by obscure composers. Maybe the sheet music collection I link to in the post will have some information. Or find a history of music in Philadelphia written during his lifetime.
Do you know if Edward Mack wrote a waltz named “Dad’s Waltz” or “Daddy’s Waltz”? I’ve got a copy of a certain “A Valsa do Papai” (in portuguese) from him, and I’d like to confirm the original name of this Waltz.
No, I do not know. You can look to see if the Library of Congress sheet music collection has it. If so, you’ll be able to look at the notation and compare it with what you have. I understand, though, that there was at least one other composer who published as E. mack.
Hi, Thanks for this helpful information. I recently stumbled across a 1908 reprint of General Grant’s March. It set me back $ 1.67 (three for $ 5 batch.) This sadly reflects that state of things for vintage sheet music. A quick search showed many more reissues. Ebay is a remarkable source. Wikipedia currentlyhas an inaccurate entry for this piece of music, crediting it to the World War I period, I suppose because that Wikipedia author found a later copy. Perhaps someone who has Wikipedia editor status could fix this situation. Michael A. Green
And thank you. Wikipedia has lots of inaccuracies. It is very useful, but it’s also sad that so many people think research means nothing more than looking in Wikipedia!