Sheet Music: The Return of the Month of May c. 19th century

Curator: This sheet music, titled "The Return of the Month of May," features a delicate scene. It's unsigned, currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It feels so… idyllic. Like a nostalgic dream of springtime festivities, a group dancing under a tree. Curator: May celebrations are an ancient tradition, linked to fertility and rebirth. The dancing, the music... it's all symbolic of renewal. Look at the print, a relatively inexpensive medium, making this celebration accessible to a wider public. Editor: You can almost feel the paper's texture, the labor involved in its production and printing, conveying a sense of shared cultural experience. Curator: Exactly. It's not just about the image, but about the entire cultural moment captured and circulated. Editor: It's interesting to consider how such a simple image can carry so much cultural weight, from ancient rituals to the rise of print culture.