The 49ers represents American Music – old and new. There are is an original theme – the “49er” theme opens the piece. Fragments of this theme also serve as the glue which ties the piece together. The other musical material in The 49ers consists of American folk songs and minstrel songs heard and sung around the time of the California Gold Rush, which began in Sacramento in 1849.
Four folk songs are given large-scale treatment. Sweet Betsy from Pike is the first, and is reprised near the end. It tells the tale of Betsy and her beau, Ike, crossing the Rockies, fighting “Injuns,” getting married and divorced, and reaching California “spite of hell and high water,” singing “too-ral-i-oo-ral-i-oo-ral-i-ay.”
Old Dan Tucker is featured as the centerpiece. A Minstrel song written in 1830 by Dan Emmet, it tells the story of “a mighty man, who washed his face in a frying pan, combed his head with a wagon wheel, and died with a toothache in his heel.” Interjected in the middle is a chorus from “Turkey in the Straw,” which dates from 1834. Both are still very popular square dance tunes.
“The Days of 49 ” is a traditional American folk and minstrel ballad that romanticizes the California Gold Rush. The song follows a grizzled, destitute miner named “Old Tom Moore” who wanders from town to town, reminiscing about his reckless, ill-fated comrades who lost their lives in the camps.
Shenandoah dates from an earlier time. It is a ballad about a trader who courted the daughter of an Indian chief, then left her “on the shores of the wide Missouri.” Taken to sea, it became a popular and melancholy sea shanty, and was probably sung by those who came to California the long way, by boat around the tip of South America.
Aside from those large-scale settings, The 49ers is a “where’s Waldo” of snippets and themes from a wide variety of other folk songs. See how many you can find!
The 49ers was composed, arranged, and otherwise assembled for the 2003 season of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, and is dedicated collectively and individually to the conductor, players, and staff, who are wonderful students and good friends. This version for winds was created in 2019 and updated in 2026.