It has been suggested that it would be interesting to discuss Titanic’s passenger accounts and compare and contrast those who went down with the ship (and survived) with those who witnessed the event from lifeboats. Two reports in particular launched what would become the great mystery of Titanic’s final number. The first was Carlos Hurd’s…… Continue reading Carlos Hurd: Nearer, My God, To Thee

How reliable is eyewitness memory? Can it be assumed that everything an eyewitness remembers about an event is true to a letter simply because they were there? What about details that don’t match up between accounts when compared side-by-side? Because the current topic on Titanic Piano has been the music played on board Titanic, most…… Continue reading Titanic, 9/11 and the Science of Memory

Healing power of music The hymn Nearer, My God, To Thee is inexorably connected with the legend of the sinking of the Titanic. In 1912 the idea that friends or relatives had died a needless death within the comfort of uplifting music gave solace to many on land. So much time has passed now that…… Continue reading Titanic’s Nearer, My God, To Thee: Healing music

Speaking of acoustics*, there is one more reason I believe my Three Note Theory* has a good chance of explaining the question of Titanic’s final number. This point depends on the accuracy of the arrangements of Songe d’automne. In present-day arrangements it is the cello, in its upper register, that plays the melody of the introduction.…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Cello penetrates other sounds

For a moment let us dwell on this question: how clearly would those in Titanic’s lifeboats have heard the band’s music? Most movies depict the band performing on the outer deck. Within that scenario it is easy to believe the music was heard in full phrases and melodies from the lifeboats. But for several reasons, which shall be…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Grand Staircase Acoustics

After a century, is it possible to discover anything new about the final piece that was played by Titanic’s band? The unanswered question of the last piece is well documented. Most people who know the story of the Titanic are aware that experts cannot agree on whether it was Nearer, My God, To Thee or…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Three Note Theory

The Hartley Solo Theory is an interesting one. Perhaps there is additional evidence somewhere to support it, another survivor on board who witnessed the performance up close. Is it wise to base a theory on just one witness? Once again this theory falls into question, this time based on Thomas Patrick (Paddy) Dillon’s own eyewitness account.…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Paddy Dillon’s testimony

With only moments to spare did Wallace Hartley have time to play a solo of Nearer, My God, To Thee? Keep in mind that at around 2:17 a.m. Harold Bride, Marconi operator, washed free of Titanic on a collapsible lifeboat. At the time he heard strains of a piece of music (that was not a…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Hartley’s violin

Nearer, My God, To Thee received so much attention after the sinking of Titanic that it deserves special consideration as the final number. In my last post* I discussed that the band would have needed a printed arrangement to have performed the hymn. But what if the band did not have one? Was there still a chance…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Hartley Solo Theory

Hymn Arrangement Nearer, My God, To Thee was not listed in the White Star Line songbook. However, under the category “Suites, Fantasias, etc.” the songbook did have the general line, “National Anthems, Hymns &c., of all Nations”. This is one of those subjects that is open to question – could Nearer, My God, To Thee have…… Continue reading Music Sheets, hymnbook or by heart? – Nearer, My God, To Thee