Sentimental ballad

Sentimental ballads, sometimes called "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads", had their origins in the early "Tin Pan Alley" music industry of the later 19th century. They were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera, descendants perhaps of broadside ballads.

As new genres of music, such as ragtime, blues and jazz, began to emerge in the early 20th century the popularity of this genre faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards. Today, sentimental ballads are primarily known as pop ballads or power ballads, and they often deal with romantic and sexual relationships.

History

By the Victorian era, ballad had come to mean any sentimental popular song, especially so-called "royalty ballads". Some of Stephen Foster's songs exemplify this genre. By the 1920s, composers of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway used ballad to signify a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form. Jazz musicians sometimes broaden the term still further to embrace all slow-tempo pieces.