Life and Times of William Christopher O'Hare

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  • Washington, D.C.
    • Formative Years
    • DC Family >
      • Early Ancestors
      • Paternal Grandparents
      • Ancestral Home: Linden Grove
      • Parents
      • Siblings
  • Shreveport
    • City Background & O'Hare Activities
    • Music Director >
      • Grand Opera House
      • Choral Societies
      • Community Productions
      • Churches
    • Music Teacher
    • Composer--Before Levee Revels
    • Composer-- Levee Revels and after
    • Changes & Problems at the Opera House
  • Marriage & Sons
    • Lottie Slater
    • Wm. Crockett O'Hare
    • Vincent Slater O'Hare
  • NYC
    • Arrival & Background
    • Arranger >
      • Rags & Other Instrumentals
      • Pop/Patriotic Songs 1901-1908
      • Pop/Patriotic Songs, 1909-1931
      • Medleys
      • Misc. Shows, 1902-1905
      • Misc. Shows, 1906-1909
      • Misc. Shows, 1910-1914
      • Hippodrome Background & O'Hare's First Tunes
      • Hippodrome Shows
      • Vocal Arrangements, Secular and Sacred
      • Misc. Arrangements
      • An Orchestrator's Prank
    • Composer >
      • Instrumentals, 1901-1902
      • Instrumentals, 1903-1909
      • Early NY Songs
      • Sacred Music/Organist
      • Silent Films
      • Misc Compositions, 1905-1914
      • Misc Compositions, 1917-1934
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Death
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Home
  • Washington, D.C.
    • Formative Years
    • DC Family >
      • Early Ancestors
      • Paternal Grandparents
      • Ancestral Home: Linden Grove
      • Parents
      • Siblings
  • Shreveport
    • City Background & O'Hare Activities
    • Music Director >
      • Grand Opera House
      • Choral Societies
      • Community Productions
      • Churches
    • Music Teacher
    • Composer--Before Levee Revels
    • Composer-- Levee Revels and after
    • Changes & Problems at the Opera House
  • Marriage & Sons
    • Lottie Slater
    • Wm. Crockett O'Hare
    • Vincent Slater O'Hare
  • NYC
    • Arrival & Background
    • Arranger >
      • Rags & Other Instrumentals
      • Pop/Patriotic Songs 1901-1908
      • Pop/Patriotic Songs, 1909-1931
      • Medleys
      • Misc. Shows, 1902-1905
      • Misc. Shows, 1906-1909
      • Misc. Shows, 1910-1914
      • Hippodrome Background & O'Hare's First Tunes
      • Hippodrome Shows
      • Vocal Arrangements, Secular and Sacred
      • Misc. Arrangements
      • An Orchestrator's Prank
    • Composer >
      • Instrumentals, 1901-1902
      • Instrumentals, 1903-1909
      • Early NY Songs
      • Sacred Music/Organist
      • Silent Films
      • Misc Compositions, 1905-1914
      • Misc Compositions, 1917-1934
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Death
  • Blog
  • Contact Me

Medley Overtures,
Lancers, Rolls

If individual popular songs made people sing or dance, medleys were also sure to do the trick.  Music lovers could purchase several favorite tunes of the year on one piano roll, one record, one piece of sheet music.  Bands and orchestras could entertain audiences and dancers with the same set of tunes. One man behind many popular medleys of Witmark tunes was Wm. Christopher O'Hare:
O'Hare specialized in medley arrangements of popular songs for orchestra and band.  --Isidore Witmark and Isaac Goldberg, The Story of the House of Witmark (1939)
Medley overtures could be played as concert, theater, or dance pieces whereas medley lancers were for dancing, and lancers recordings included spoken dance calls.  This popular quadrille style featured four couples performing a series of set steps/formations. Common in Europe and in early America through the Civil War era, the dance remained popular into the early twentieth century and is still performed by vintage dance groups.

When O'Hare selected a tune for inclusion in a medley overture, he generally chose from among those he had previously arranged for orchestra and/or band. Some of the individual song titles listed below appear on the previous Pop Songs page or on the later Miscellaneous Shows page.

The World Beater, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1902)

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Witmark catalog listing
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Opening of 1st violin part; orchestra copyright March 31, 1902; military band copyright May 26, 1902
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Listen to Billy Murray sing Pretty Molly Shannon
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Listen to Arthur Collins sing Moon Moon
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The Record Breaker, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1902)

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Washington, D. C., 1903
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Fifty-Fourth Regiment Band concert, Rochester, NY (1904)
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Record Breaker, song list; 1902 Walla Walla, WA band concert
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Swing Partners, Medley Lancers (Witmark, 1903)

The title derives from lancers steps in which partners swing each other.
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Orchestration copyright
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Witmark catalog listing
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Listen to Arthur Collins sing I'm a Jonah Man
Download O'Hare's Jonah Man band score from the Library of Congress
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Listen to Harry Macdonough sing Tessie
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 Download O'Hare's Glory band score from North Royalton (OH) Community Band; a patriotic song

The Climax, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1903)

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Listen to a shortened version of O'Hare's band arrangement of The Climax Medley Overture played by Arthur Pryor's Band
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Band copyright
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Pianola piano roll catalog listing, Aeolian company
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Opening of cornet part for military band
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View/print O'Hare's full 1903 Climax band score from the Library of Congress

Popular Minstrel Medley (Jos. W. Stern, 1903)

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Opening of violin part for orchestra
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Listen to Dan J.Sullivan sing You're As Welcome As the Flowers in May
Listen to Collins and Harlan sing Moriarity.
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He May Get Over It, But He'll Never Look the Same
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Bemidji, Minnesota (1907)
Piano roll arrangement of Popular Minstrel Medley (Connorized 8238)

The Leader, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1904)

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Witmark catalog listing
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Listen to Will Oakland sing "Just for To-Night"
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Listen to Harry MacDonough sing Follow the Crowd on a Sunday
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Listen to Billy Murray sing I'm on the Water Wagon Now
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Listen to Harry MacDonough sing My Little Love-Bird
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Listen to J. W. Myers sing Because You Were an Old Sweetheart of Mine

The Star, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1904)

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Witmark orchestration advertisement
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Listen to Harry MacDonough sing Kate Kearney
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Listen to the Haydn Quartet sing Sweet Adeline
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Listen to W. H. Thompson sing Good-Bye, Little Girl, Good-Bye
O'Hare's piano roll arrangement of The Star
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Tacoma, WA (1908)

The Chief, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1905)

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Witmark advertisement
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Anaconda, MT (1906)
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Listen to song Star of My Life
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Opening of The Chief
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Salt Lake City concert including O'Hare's medley overtures The Chief and The Record Breaker as well as his arrangement of the Three Twins Selection (1912)
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Advertisement for Connorized piano roll #8267.

Balance Corners, Medley Lancers (Witmark, 1905)

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Witmark catalog listing
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Victor recordings
Listen to the Victor Dance Orchestra's fifth figure recording of Balance Corners, medley lancers, including the fifth figure dance calls.

Forward and Salute, Medley Lancers (Witmark, 1905)

This medley title refers to another standard lancers step in which couples step forward to salute each other, the men bowing and the women curtsying.
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Listen to Ada Jones sing He's Me Pal
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Listen to Billy Murray sing In My Merry Oldsmobile
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Listen to Harlan and Stanley sing You're My Heart's Desire, I Love You, Nellie Dean

The Monarch, Medley Overture (Witmark, 1906)

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Opening of The Monarch
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O'Hare's arrangement of The Monarch as Connorized piano roll
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Listen to the Edison Military Band play On the Rocky Road to Dublin
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The Monarch in Indianapolis (1906}
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The Monarch in Anaconda, MT (1913)

Form Sets, Medley Lancers (Witmark,1906)

This medley takes its name from the practice of forming a square (or "set") in preparation for the lancer/quadrille figures.
Medley Selections
Only a Message from Home Sweet Home, When Love Is Young, Smile on Me, On the Rocky Road to Dublin, Take Me to Your Heart Again, Bill Simmons, and Moon Dear
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Click here to go to Medley Overtures, Lancers, and Rolls, Part 2

Background graphic, top of page: Witmark building, c. 1903
                                                                    2018  copyright on research content,  Sue Attalla