These notes were drafted by Cutch Tuttle after studying a piece taught to me by Tony Triscka and later explored via the score and for one of my music theory projects.

Plantation Symphony
Composed by Paul Eno, 1908.

    Paul Eno’s Plantation Symphony is considered an premier example of the classic 5-string banjo style. The classic 5-string banjo style of music dawned in the early 1800’s, evolving from the popular but primitive American and English minstrel style stage shows to a refined orchestrated showcase of the banjo’s instrumental virtuosity and its almost unlimited capacity for playing two parts on one instrument simultaneously. Eno and other composers of the classic style of banjo sought to elevate the public’s perception of the instrument as a crude folk instrument and reintroduce the banjo as an musical device just as relevant and capable of advanced playing as the piano and violin. Banjo orchestras consisting of numerous banjos of different pitches and ranges became all the rage in 19th century music halls, universities, and public concerts across America and England. (Weidlich 216)
    Classic style banjo reached its zenith in popularity during the 1880’s and declined rapidly before World War I, disappearing completely in the early 1930’s. Thousands of pieces were composed and published for the classic style banjo orchestras in complete scores and for solo banjo, yet sadly there is very little that remains of these published scores. What literature exists is hidden in libraries and music archives around the world. In some cases only one existing score is known, in others only the publication records of the score and not the actual score itself. The most complete modern source for information on this brief lived music fad is carried on today by the American Banjo Fraternity: a society of banjoists and historians whose objectives are the preservation of classic style banjo of playing, as well as maintaining a vast and ever-growing archive of the notated scores and recordings of the classic 5-string banjo era. (Carlin 14)
    Though very little is known about Paul Eno himself, some information can be gleaned from his surviving compositions as well as from publication records during his career. Eno was American born in 1869 and composed about two dozen known works between 1901 and 1924, the year of his death. These compositions were for both multipart banjo orchestras and the solo banjo performance. Paul Eno lived in New York and taught banjo and directed several successful banjo orchestras, much like his contemporaries A.J. Weidt and Sylvester L. Ossman. (Gura 97) All three composers dedicated their compositions to expanding the repertoire and range of the 5-string banjo. Paul Eno primarily composed marches, gavottes, gigs and other dance pieces, as well as rollicking banjo showcases. Paul Eno also is known for several transcriptions of light operas and classical pieces, and his compositional style is characterized by the use of intricate picking techniques as well as syncopated driving rhythms and blazing triplet feels. (Gura 122)
    The Plantation Symphony’s only known score is for solo banjo and showcases the 5-string banjo’s ability to play both melody and a rhythmic bass harmony simultaneously. One can certainly surmise that Eno may have composed an orchestral version for his Plantation Symphony for multiple banjos, as most of his other compositions contained both a solo and orchestral version. In this version of Plantation Symphony for solo banjo, all the virtuosic flair of the banjo is on full display. When played one time through, the composition clocks in at just under two minutes, yet in two minutes the piece changes rapidly from classical style melodic runs to marches to restatements of popular melodies to jig feel triplets and back again, complete with theme and variation in the later movements. In total, Plantation Symphony has seven distinct movements, or musical sections.
    The seven main sections of the Plantation Symphony each have their own signature component, whether it be a triplet based variation or a new theme entirely. The four measure introduction is a happy sounding descending single note line - 9 quarter notes starting at high G and moving quirkily down to an A note, the last two measures switch to a syncopated eighth note feel, toggling between Bb and B notes, creating a little tonal ambiguity to whether the piece indeed is in G major. After the short intro in common time, 16 measures of highly syncopated three note runs almost a pseudo gig type melody. The tonal center of G is still ambiguous, but one G note per triplet per measure for the entirety of the second section begins to plant roots of the tonic key. This section alternates every two measures between two strange implied cluster chords, one chord accenting the leading tone of F#, the other of an implied whole tone chord: G-A-B in rapid fire succession. The end of the second section is marked with a descending quarter note run landing on a strong B note.
    The third section begins main motif of Plantation Symphony. Here the banjo’s capabilities for playing the bass notes with the thumb while playing the melody with the fingers becomes the foundation for the next 16 measures: a march like progression firmly in G major. The progression is diatonic with a few chromatic surprises: G-G7-C-C-G-A-D7-D#7-B-Bb-B-C-G-G7-C-C-G-A-D7-G.
    At measure 36, the fourth movement begins. This fourth section is essentially an ingenious variation of the preceding chord progression: Same chord progression, yet now the chords are implied by the tonic note of each chord and its’ respective 6th- with the third and fifth note of each chord omitted and replaced with the 6th or octave, suddenly the main theme becomes a bit more melancholy and captivating. The third and fourth sections are 16 measures each, and the end of the fourth section we return to the beginning of the third section for a full repeat of both sections.
    The fifth section begins with a quotation of another popular piece at the time, The Washington Post March, composed by John Phillip Sousa in 1889, and the entire piece modulates a fourth higher to the key of C to accommodate Eno’s clever interpretation of Sousa’s popular melody. Only the main theme of the march is reproduced here, but for 32 measures, giving even the listener ample time to catch Eno’s musical quoting of Sousa, the late 19th century’s “Master of the March.” (Linn 122)
    The short 12 measure sixth movement is a transitional section - the Key of  E & D major is introduced, but quickly abandoned in a chromatic return to the key of C. It is notable in the sixth movement that another popular American melody is used as the main compositional element in this section: the first few bars of Yankee Doodle repeats three times: First in E, then again in D, then a descending melodic run into C major.
    The seventh and final movement continues the C major tonality. The finale is a blistering display of syncopated eighth notes. The original motif of the third and fourth sections is restated in C major, here the chords are implied not with 6th’s and octaves like the previous G version, but with closely knit major thirds. The earlier G progression shifts to C, the march like feel is replaced with a double-time treatment, and the song completely and joyously embraces a major tonality. The resolution leaves the listener diatonically satisfied, the earlier chromaticism forgotten and the consonance of the primary chords in C gallops forward for 32 measures before ending in the first fully voiced chord of the song: A gallant C major chord.
    Since there are no original recorded versions of this piece from the early 1900’s, there is some controversy to the actual keys used. According to some historians, relying on the key signature may be wildly inaccurate. Tom Briggs, one of the most predominant and earliest notators of banjo in his 1855 manual Banjo Instructor, states thusly: “All banjo music is written in the key of G...yet can be pitched correctly in the key of D or F by lowering the pitch of the strings.” (Carlin 45)
    From around 1880 to the early 1900’s banjos were undergoing serious and continual changes in timbre and voicing. Early banjos were often crudely constructed of sensitive and fragile materials, namely wood, gourds, and animal parts. The five stings of the early banjos were known to be tuned very low in pitch: F-c-e-g-c or D-a-d-f#-a are the pitches mentioned in the earliest known instructional manual: Gumbo Chaff’s Complete Preceptor for the Banjo, published in 1851. Also note that the F-c-e-g-c tuning is the same tuning noted in Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia published in the 1780’s. (Weidlich 5-7) By 1880, banjo makers were taking full advantage of the industrial revolution, churning out metal and wood based banjos with precision and durability, These “pre-war” style banjos were fully capable to tune to higher pitches, usually G or A major- a full fourth or fifth higher than the old handmade gourd and minstrel style 5-string banjos. (Weidlich 17)
    Paul Eno’s original notation suggests the key of G major with the F sharp notated on the key signature. For all intensive purposes, most performances and recordings of this piece are solidly in G major. The piece begins in G, becomes interspersed with a few teasingly chromatic parts that insinuate a more daring key change, but lead to the rather predictable modulation to C major for the finale.
    Paul Eno’s Plantation Symphony is a rare glimpse into the compositional styles of the classic 5-string banjo styles of the Late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The thousands of classic 5-string banjo style compositions, though extremely popular in their time, have largely disappeared in the veils of history. Banjoists would move away from this elevated attempt at refining the banjo for orchestral use, and by the 1930’s a new style would radically change the banjo’s role in American music. The banjo would become a driving force in an entirely new genre based in blues and folk, destined to become an instantly recognizable and infectious brand of wholly American music: Bluegrass.

Sources Cited:

Carlin, Bob.
    The Birth of the Banjo. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. 2007.

Gura, Philip F. and James F. Bollman.
    America’s Instrument: the Banjo in the Nineteenth Century. Chapel Hill:     University of North Carolina Press. 1999.

Linn, Karen.
    That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture. Urbana:     University of Illinois Press. 1991.

Weidlich, Joseph.
    The Early Minstrel Banjo : Technique and Repertoire. Anaheim Hills, CA; S.l.:     Centerstream Pub. 2004

3 comments on “Paul Eno and the Classic Banjo Compostitions of the early 19th Century”

MrManners Says:
Sunday, November 9, 2014 @7:02:35 PM

i still wonder about why it fizzled out,maybe just caught in the ever changing music business along with radio coming on, early big band,vaudeville dying,maybe overkill of some kind.Seems Tin Pan Alley wanted something easier for amateurs to cover.One thing for sure music sophistication in banjo music is not something just now coming along.

sneergrass Says:
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 @3:08:58 PM

True enough Mr. Manners... I think a big part of the decline was the introduction of radio as a common household medium. Suddenly if a household wanted music it could be procured at the touch of a button, so less emphasis was placed on family members knowing how to play for their own amusement. This is only one part of my hypothesis, and I am sure there was a culmination of many factors at the turn of the century. You are absolutely correct that banjo pieces composed to showcase virtuosity have been around almost since the banjo itself- and who knows, maybe these kind of pieces showcasing the classic style will make a comeback :-)

Joel Hooks Says:
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 @7:03:52 AM

Nice article!

A few of corrections.

Eno was in Philadelphia, PA, not NYC. I don't know if he moved to NYC later, but most of his active time with teaching and composing was in PA. Thomas Armstrong wrote that Eno stopped composing when sales of new banjo music slowed and was no longer profitable.

Eno was not trying to "elevate" the banjo, the banjo had already become a popular and common instrument (and not just associated with the minstrel show) by the time Eno was composing and teaching banjo. Eno did not have to change anyone's opinion. Most of that "elevating the banjo" stuff was advertisement copy anyway.

There was comparably very few arrangements published for banjo clubs or the so called "orchestra". I wish there were more. Most club leaders wrote their own arrangements in manuscript form which were not published. While there were countless numbers of banjo solos published, only a fraction (and only for a short time) were complete for clubs.

While I just now saw this blog, even as of 2014 classic banjo music could easily be found for free on the internet. Since this blog was posted, the number of easily available scores has increased significantly. Anyone with an internet connection has access to thousands and thousands of banjo solos-- all in public domain.

There is no controversy regarding keys and pitch. By the mid 1880s professional banjoists (and amateurs) had raised pitch to C (4th string-- banjo pitch was always indicated by the note of the 4th string). The notation (in North America) remained written as if the banjo was pitch in the key of A. The banjo was treated as a transposing instrument.

Pitch of the banjo, and the systems of notation, were well documented. The real controversy was the fact that publishers and teachers (in NA) kept using "A notation" long after the pitch had been raised to C.

Plantation Symphony is a composition that fits well with bluegrass players. Since it was written in "bass elevated" (the 4th string raised one step) it is played using the normal intervals used by bluegrass banjoists. I think that because of that it has become a favorite of people dipping their toes into classic banjo (which is okay by me-- hopefully they will go a little deeper).

Could you post some titles of the light operas and classical pieces he transcribed? I have not seen any of those and would be interested in having a look at them.

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