"Sing, Cello Sing": Jane M. Mattingly's "The Cello"

In the early 1920s the Willis Music Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, published A Happy Journey for Little Fingers, a set of six Practical Piano Pieces by Jane M. Mattingly, part of a larger series of pedagogical piano miniatures by women composers. No. 6 of Mattingly’s set is “The ’Cello,” a waltz-like piece in G Major with lyrics (presumably by the composer) serving as a rhythmic aid. The words are printed above the melody in the left hand:

Sing, Cello sing

Sweet music bring

Sing, Cello sing

Each bass note ring

All thru the day

Each string must play

Sing, Cello sing.

Sing, Cello sing low

Sing, Cello sing low.

Sing, Cello sing oh

Sing, Cello sing low.

The Cello sings a song to me,

Each string I hear,

Each tone so clear.