Hawaii and California Sheet Music
Music celebrated the visit to San Francisco in 1874 of Hawaii's
King Kalakaua (reign 1874-1891). The words of the national anthem, composed by
the king himself, "Hawaii Ponoi" composed by the king himself,
were
set to music by Henry Berger; a photograph of the king in formal
attire is affixed to the sheet music cover. Local
San Franciscan composer Louis Boedecker dedicated his "Kalakaua
March" to King Kalakaua;
a photograph of the king in military garb is affixed in a
printed frame.
In 1884 Queen Liliuokalani's (reign 1891-1895)
famous "Aloha Oe" was published
in Hawaiian, German, and English, with a lithograph of islanders.
An arrangement for chorus with Hawaiian words was issued in San Francisco
and Honolulu in 1893 as part of a series of 23 items entitled "Mele
Hawaii." Unfortunately none of the other titles in the series
was found in the collections
digitized for this project.
Another series of songs in the Hawaiian language, "Songs of Hawaii,"
includes "Mai poina oe la'u," arranged by Hopkins and illustrated
with a beach photograph within a lithographic frame. The series
"Hawaiian Songs" is also represented by "Tomi, Tomi, Hawaiian Hula,"
again in the Hawaiian language.
The nostalgic "Take Me Again to My Island Home," with a lithographic
view of the islands, is the single title printed at Santa Clara.
The blackface minstrel show had its own vision of Hawaii, found in
"My Honolulu Lady" and "Belle of Honolulu" by Lee Johnson,
"My Honolulu Queen" ("her face a dusky shade"), and
"Ma Honolulu Man."