A Bibliography of Early Secular American Music

Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore; Upton, William Treat

doi:10.2307/779810

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“…Multiple mounted portraits have been identified, along with a copy where the illustration was inked onto the sheet (1a). Upton has suggested that a more widely available variant, which features a mounted portrait of Adams, was Carr's initial product (1b), 42 but it seems more likely that Figure 1a represents Carr's original design. In another surviving copy a mounted portrait was removed, leaving a wax residue (1c).…”

Section: The Politics Of "Hail Columbia"mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Partisan National Song: The Politics of "Hail Columbia" Reconsidered

Gray¹

2017

Music and Politics

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It has been a century since Oscar Sonneck established the prevailing wisdom on America's first national song. His account of the composition, first performances, and initial publication of "Hail Columbia" remains unassailable, even though he worked without the benefit of sources, including the first edition of the song, that have since come to light. But despite Sonneck's reliability in matters of historical fact, his interpretation of "Hail Columbia" as "a non-partisan song" needs revision. 1 Later writers have tended to agree, if only tacitly, with William Treat Upton, who when updating Sonneck's work thirty years on saw no reason to amend this point. Arguing that it "contains no party allusions whatsoever," Upton maintained that "Hail Columbia" originated "as a patriotic and not as a political song." 2 This is a dubious distinction, although on the first point Upton cannot be questioned. "Hail Columbia" is rightly regarded as the preeminent musical example of the rise of patriotic feeling in pre-Jeffersonian America and as a precursor to "The Star-Spangled Banner." But in the deeply divided political climate of the late-1790s United States, no song could have hoped to inspire the kind of solidarity that has since become associated with the American national anthem. Although historians generally recognize that "Hail Columbia" trumpeted the values of John Adams's Federalist administration, something of the partisan atmosphere in which the song first circulated is obscured if "Hail Columbia" is invoked merely as a symbol of emergent nationalism. The central contention of this essay is that the patriotism associated with "Hail Columbia" was in fact political-that it was partisan by virtue of its failure to represent a true consensus on national issues. When this anthem first resounded in theaters on the northeastern seaboard of the United States in April 1798, the nation's leaders had for years been locked in a bitter dispute concerning American relations with Europe's two leading powers, England and France. Federalists favored ties with the British at the expense of the French, Republicans the opposite, and a sour turn in Franco-American relations had lately given Federalists an edge. France's reaction to the Anglo-friendly shipping policies established by the Jay Treaty had triggered an undeclared state of naval hostilities known as the Quasi-War. Efforts to resolve this conflict ground to a halt when, in a Parisian diplomatic scandal known as the XYZ Affair, French

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Section: The Politics Of "Hail Columbia"mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Partisan National Song: The Politics of "Hail Columbia" Reconsidered

Gray¹

2017

Music and Politics

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Early American Imprint Bibliography and Its Stories: An Introductory Course in Bibliographical Civics

Krummel¹

2005

Libraries & the Cultural Record

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Weeping and Mourning: Funeral Dirges in Honor of General Washington

Murray¹

1978

Journal of the American Musicological Society

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON died on the morning of December 14, I799 at Mount Vernon.' News of his death traveled slowly, and it was not until the end of the following week that black-bordered obituaries began to appear in American newspapers. On December 28 the Courier of New Hampshire recorded a sentiment which was to be echoed in many other newspapers and broadsides during the following weeks:How shall we express our grief on this distressing event; with what language shall we give vent to the full feelings of our hearts ... we are overwhelmed with grief.Yet the American people did find words and actions to express the depth of their sorrow, and the outpofiring of public sentiment which followed the official announcement was both swift and intense. In the two months following the General's death, memorial tributes of various sorts appeared in a seemingly endless flow, quickly plunging the young republic into an orgy of weeping and mourning.Over three hundred eulogies were published in separate editions and those considered most inspiring were then reprinted in special memorial collections.2 : Scribner, 1957), pp. 617-34. This same source includes an interesting "Comparative Critique of Washington's Last Illness" printed as Appendix VII-2, pp. 637-47 and a short discussion of memorials held in Washington's honor as Appendix VII-3, pp. 648-53. WEEPING AND MOURNING 283 testimonial broadsides were printed, including a special group of "Lady Washington Laments." Most of these were relatively short strophic poems fashioned as highly stylized laments or apotheoses to death.8 Some cursed the "cruel and relentless" death that deprived them of "Columbia's favorite son," while others assumed a more metaphysical posture. Although generally strained in style, some of the Washington memorial lyrics managed to rise above cliche and achieved poetic originality of a rather lofty order.' Memorial hymns and odes crowded American newspapers and dozens of 'A detailed account of the final days of Washington can be found in John Alexander Caroll and Mary White Ashworth, First in Peace, Vol. VII of Douglass Southall Freeman's George Washington (New YorkThe most prolific poet of memorial lyrics was the Reverend George Richards of Portsmouth, who published three books of memorial poems, the largest of which was printed by Charles Peirce in January, I8oo.5 Peirce also printed a miscellaneous collection of twelve elegies under the title Hymns and Odes composed on the Death of Gen. George Washington,6 which served as the poetic source for several musical compositions, including works

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A Bibliography of Early Secular American Music

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

A Partisan National Song: The Politics of "Hail Columbia" Reconsidered

A Partisan National Song: The Politics of "Hail Columbia" Reconsidered

Early American Imprint Bibliography and Its Stories: An Introductory Course in Bibliographical Civics

Weeping and Mourning: Funeral Dirges in Honor of General Washington

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