Novelty Fox Trot
Roy Bargy (1894-1974), composer
Will Rossiter (Chicago IL) 1923
The following comments by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com depart from what is usually written about a piece of vintage sheet music because this is not a typical vintage sheet music vocal solo work. Sweet and Tender is a piano solo.
Sweet and Tender by Roy Bargy on this vintage sheet music front cover is named as a Professional Piano Solo. This solo is noted in Rags and Ragtime: A Music History as having been published April 17, 1923, by Will Rossiter, Chicago. I have read the book Rags and Ragtime. If you are interest in know this genre, I recommend the economically priced edition from Dover Publications that can be accessed through the link above
There is a professional pianist from whose main site his other internet web locations can be accessed, where I believe the answer is to what a professional piano solo is. Frederick Hodges has many audio recordings under his belt. Hodges has played for silent film festivals as well as recorded the music for remastered silent films. You will find the defining answer for professional piano solo by CLICKING HERE in Mr. Hodges Kitten on the Keys liner notes.
If you are interested in performing this genre of music professionally, I strongly recommend visiting Hodges site or another that is similar and reading about the necessary technic on his blog, and hearing his recordings, reading about how improvisation from an original composition was the norm and is expected in performance. Musician work in any genre is a hands-on, passed down from person to another art.
Roy Bargy, who began piano lessons at a young age, was an aspiring classical pianist. Several sites note that his desire was to travel to Europe to gain the necessary experience and reputation which would make him a viable concert pianist in the U.S.A., however his wishes were rebuffed. For what reason, however, I don't know--he might have been rebuffed by family who felt a concert pianist career was not a good option for a man, or perhaps because there wasn't sufficient money for him to go and no one who would back him, or maybe even because though talented the teaching he received left him technically insufficient, or his teacher had no pedigree as a descendant of reputed teachers--who was a student of, who was a student of, etc., etc., etc. So here we have another unanswered question.
What ever that reason for letting go of a classical musical career, it may have been to his benefit in the long run. Bargy produced piano roll arrangements, jazz music that was performed by others, and went on to work many years for Jimmy Durante.
Sweet and Tender is a great piano piece that fits a normal size hand very well. The reason I make this comment is because some jazz pieces, such as those by Fats Waller or Eubie Blake, for example, require a fairly large handspan to reach blocked intervals of a tenth or more. It also a little less difficult. Looking at Sweet and Tender from a piano teacher point of view and having read through it with my fingers, I would judge the difficulty level to be late intermediate or early advanced. As noted through the link above to the information on a site operated by Frederick Hodges, playing what is on the page would have been the norm for the home pianist which is most likely why this piece is not very difficult. The professional player, as in Professional Piano Solo, would have used the notes on the score as the starting point and improvised.
I wonder what the relationship was between the format of the solo to his classical aspirations. Sweet and Tender has definitely defined movements that appear to be in the tradition of a clasical minuet form, but with no D.C. suggested after the trio.
1. Allegro Moderato, F Major
2. Trio, B flat Major
The book Rags and Ragtime notes the form as follows: AA BB Trio-Intro CC Intro A.
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