Over some twenty years of performing music and making many contacts along the way, I called a fantastic piano player to see if she could help me out. I gave her a copy of this music and after a couple of evenings rehearsing this piece of music she was ready to record it. I called round her house and took my Sony minidisc recorder to get this directly from her Yamaha Clavinova.
She did this in one take and the result can be heard by clicking on the link further down this page.
By her own admission, she was not happy with the result as there are a couple of "bum notes" in there, but considering the complexity of the piece I think she did extremely well!.
There is limited information about this composer, but my research unveiled the following:
Samuel William BASSFORD was born on 29th Feb 1816 in Georgetown, Washington DC, spent most of his life in New York City and died in Camp Scott, Alexandria, VA, on 9 Jul 1861. (Cause of Death: Dysentery).
By the time he was fifteen, he was a professional musician, performing regularly at Hanington's Phosphorama at 360 Broadway. Throughout the 1830s, he was billed as "Professor at the Piano-forte" at the City Saloon on Broadway opposite St. Paul's Church. He also gave piano lessons.
In 1834 he moved out of the family home on Pearl St., and took a room on Fifth Ave. After his marriage to Almira, the newlyweds moved to rooms at 307 South 6th St. in Brooklyn. Samuel continued to give piano lessons and to perform in various venues. They later moved back in with his father Abraham. In 1837, they were able to move out on their own again, this time to 53 Mott St. They moved frequently. In 1838 they moved to Greenwich Village at 127 Sullivan St. In 1839, they moved to 32 City-Hall Place, not far from Abraham and Abby. In 1840 they moved to 57 Franklin St, and in 1841 to 134 Waverly Place.
On 20 Apr 1861, he enlisted in the Civil War at the age of 45. He served as a private in Co. E of the 38th New York Volunteers. Later, he was transferred to Co. K. On the same day, his half-brother Abram enlisted in Co. F of the 8th New York Militia. Samuel died a few months later of dysentery on 9 Jul 1861 at Camp Scott in Alexandria, VA, a few days before the First Battle of Bull Run.
Source: http://www.basford.org/genealogy
In July 1839 Samuel William BASSFORD provided the piano forte at PEALE'S MUSEUM AND PORTRAIT GALLERY ( Broadway, opposite City Hall, New York City).
He provided music to accompany an exhibition of "Exhibition of the AFRICAN CAPTIVES, on board the Spanish schooner Amistad, July
1839.
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