A letter was included with the book:
June 16 - ’33 / Mrs Anna Heuermann Hamilton / Dear Lady - / Among certain of my collections which / I will send you soon, as a gift, you will find / that the Introduction to the Dance Music of / Ireland includes most, if not all you want to / know - of Jigs there are 3 varieties - classified / as you will see - All lively tunes were originally / called Jigs indiscriminately - and were of the / nature of quadrilles, sets, and figure dances./ Not until the decline of the picturesque Long Dance / and the Hey, or Round Dance, did Step Dances come to / be reduced to a system of fundamental movements / from which were developed innumerable steps / suitable to the different kinds of Dance Music. / This was in the latter half of the 18th century and / the early part of the 19th. Preeminent of the / Dancing masters were the “Great O'Keerin” of Kerry / and (Teig Rua O’Scanlan) of Limerick. Under their / skillful tuition step dancing attained method and precision. //
I trust you will find the chapter on Development of / Irish Music interesting in Irish Minstrels + Musicians. / (Neuritis) and 85 years of age, render writing no / longer a pleasure. With Best Wishes I am / Yours most cordially, / Francis O’Neill //
Biography:Anna Heuermann Hamilton was a prolific music theorist, composer, teacher and writer. She was born on September 16th, 1867 in Cook County, Illinois. She married George Wilson Hamilton on April 29th, 1896 and in 1889 received her diploma and degree of the American College of Musicians. In the years 1889-90, she taught at Hamilton College in Lexington, KY.
Among her many accomplishments and publications:
1890 Originator of Nationwide plan of Junior Clubs of MO.
1890-93 Director of Music, William Woods College, Fulton, MO.
1893-96 Christian College, Columbia, MO.
1896 Private teaching for several years at William Woods College.
1898
The art of hymn-tune playing: consisting of preparatory exercises and studies and familiar hymn-tunes with fingering and suggestions
1914
Child Life. A set of duets, etc.
1914
First Piano Lessons at Home, consisting of two writing books & two piano books.
1916
Keyboard harmony and transposition; a practical course of keyboard work for every piano and organ student.
1919
My first Solos in the treble and bass clefs.
1920
Music foundation; a system of ear-training, sight-singing, and part-singing, for public school and private music classes and junior music clubs.
1922
Composition for beginners: a practical course in original composition from the simplest possible beginning consisting of one hundred eight lessons and examinations.
1922
Point of View (Successor to
the Clef) Junior Club Department periodical.
1924
Comprehensive music writing book : a thorough course in notation.
1927 Chair of music Missouri State Fair.
1932
Program of American music from Mayflower days to the present. 1934
Saint Patrick's day celebration : featuring the history of Irish music, arranged for the use of Progressive series members in 1934.
1956 Editor of The Pi Mu a Non-secret national musical society periodical, as opposed to the PI MU ALPHA, a secret, all-male, musical society.
1959 - Died: 9 Jul 1959 Marshall, Saline, Missouri, and is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago
[Transcription and biography by Virginia Stewart]
Obituary, 1959 June 11
Chicago Tribune, p.14:
Provenance:Washington University in St. Louis. University Libraries. Gaylord Music Library Special Collections. Special collections librarian Brad Short adds that "Our O'Neill volumes were part of the
Ernst C. Krohn musicological library that came to the University in 1966."
