HISTORY OF MUSIC
4. Early American
Music (1620-1800)
Dr David C F Wright
The origins of American
serious music may be said to date back
to the time of the first English settlers.
The Pilgrim Fathers who set sail on
the Mayflower in 1620 took with them
the 1612 Henry Ainsworth psalter. Another
arrival of English that established
themselves in Boston brought an even
older psalter compiled by Strenhold
and Hopkins and this became the basis
of the Bay Psalm Book printed in Cambridge,
Massachusetts in 1640. Originally the
music was not printed, but this was
rectified in a new edition of 1690.
Of course, all these
English settlers were Puritans and have
been the subject of abuse for centuries
as being too severe and unreasonable.
This attitude was portrayed, for example,
in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.
But they were godly people wanting to
live by the Book and desirous of casting
out all forms of pagan worship including
witchcraft and superstition. There was
respect both for elders and family values
but the majority of people would oppose
such stances today.
It is true that the
Puritans frowned upon secular music
and the use of instruments. All music
was unaccompanied and for the glory
of God.
For evident reasons
the main area of Puritan settlement
was known as New England.
The use of this early
psalmody is vital in historical importance
when we study early American music.
It gave rise to the first American composer
William Billings (1746-1800) but he
was born 126 years after the English
arrived on the Atlantic coast.
Billings was deformed.
His legs were of unequal length, he
had a withered hand and only one eye.
He was something of a rebel. While he
did compose sacred music he also wrote
parodies such as Lamentation over Boston
which is a parody of psalm 137. He composed
the New England Psalm Singer (1770),
The Singing Master's Assistant (1778)
and The Psalm Singer's Amusement (1787).
He also wrote fugue pieces which are
not fugues at all and are poor attempts
at writing counterpoint.
There were other dilettante
composers such as Francis Hopkinson
(1737- 1791) and James Lyon (1735-1794)
who were not good at the art. The anthems
of Daniel Read (1757- 1836) are very
poor.
It was the arrival
of other émigrés in American
that stirred the musical imagination.
Many Germans and Swedish arrived in
the Pennsylvanian region before the
end of the seventeenth century. The
most interesting group was the Moravians
who settled at Bethlehem in the early
eighteenth century. They were a religious
group but did not feel that music was
unacceptable and they brought to America
a new lease of life for music. In Bethlehem,
a Collegium Musicum was founded in 1744
and in 1820 a Philharmonic Society and
it is in this era that the first émigré
composers were established. whether
they can be called American composers
is another matter. There was Johann
Friedrich Peter (1746- 1813) and Daniel
Moritz Michael (1751- 1827) who laid
the foundations for American art music.
Many years ago the Moravian Ensemble
issued a record of the six string quintets
of Johan Friedrich Peter. A label called
New Records under the direction of Karl
Krueger brought out recordings of New
England Psalmody.
J.F. Peter was an interesting
character. He was born of German parents
in Herrendyk, Holland in 1746. He learnt
music, allegedly accompanied by the
discipline of many floggings, later
studying at Barby Seminary in Saxony
but, at the age of 24, emigrated to
the New World. He copied out the works
of other composers and it is to him
that we probably owe the only surviving
copies of works by J.C.F. Bach, J.E.
Bach, Rieple and Haydn's Symphony no.
17. His own quintets are charming enough
and clearly modelled on such composers
as Abel and Stamitz.
Another émigré
was the Italian, Giovanni Gualdo who
was a wine merchant as well as a musician.
He went to London in 1767 and emigrated
to America in 1769 setting up a business
selling both music and wine. He organised
ambitious public concerts in Philadelphia.
He wrote several sonatas for two flutes
and continuo, a violin concerto and
a 'symphony for today's taste'. He became
insane and ended his days in chains
in a Pennsylvanian hospital where he
died in 1772.
Joseph Gehot was born
in Brussels in 1756 and travelled in
France and Germany. It is said that
he came to England in 1784 and he played
the violin in many of the Haydn symphonies.
He arrived in New York in 1792 but it
would appear that all or most of his
compositions were composed in Europe.
With James Hewitt he set up concerts
in Philadelphia and at Carre's Hotel
on 21 September 1792. There was a performance
of his Overture in 12 movements telling
of his voyage from Gravesend, London
to America. The title of some movements
are:
Parting from friends
Preparation for sailing
A storm at sea and
the calm that followed
Dancing of passengers
Sighting of land and
rejoicing at safe arrival
There was a vogue for
writing historical and biographical
symphonies including battle symphonies.
Many years ago, the
Delmé Quartet recorded Gehot's
six String trios Op 1 and the six String
Quartets Op 2, galante works of charm,
if nothing else.
John Christopher Moller
(1750-1803) is thought to have been
German and resided in London for a while
before going to Philadelphia in 1790
where he performed in public with his
gifted daughter Lucy who then was not
quite ten years old. He established
a music publishing business and a music
school in Philadelphia where Jefferson's
step-daughter was one of his pupils.
He was a fine organist and glass harmonic
player. I only know his six string quartets
Of personal interest
is Alexander Reinagle whose organ music
I used to play many years ago and because
he was born only five miles away from
me in Portsmouth but of Austrian parents.
He studied in Edinburgh under Raynor
Taylor before moving to London where
he became a well known figure in society.
Like many he was drawn to the music
of the greatest of the Bachs, Johann
Christian, known as the English Bach.
Reinagle was addicted to travel, the
greatest adventure of the age, and visited
Hamburg in 1785 and formed a friendship
with C.P.E. Bach. He continued to correspond
with him until he died in 1788. Reinagle
emigrated to America in 1786 settling
first in New York and then in Philadelphia
where he was elected to be the manager
of the Wignell Theatre in 1792 and holding
a similar post in Baltimore. He gave
concerts and introduced Americans to
much European music. Sadly he seems
only to be remembered today by four
piano sonatas and sets of keyboard variations,
one set being on a Scots tune. He also
played sonatas by James Hewitt and a
Rondo by Raynor Taylor.
Of Taylor the only
pieces which are known are six sonatas
for cello and continuo but they do not
raise much enthusiasm. He was born in
England in 1747 and became one of the
children of the Chapel Royal and was
a fellow chorister of Samuel Arnold.
Taylor's claim to fame is that he attended
the funeral of Handel in 1759 and while
bending over the grave his hat fell
off and was buried with the great man.
Taylor went on to be an organist at
Chelmsford and music director of Sadler's
Wells when only eighteen. He composed
anthems, glees and theatre music. His
emigration to Baltimore in 1792 was
motivated by Reinagle's success and
he latterly became the organist at St
Peter's Church, Philadelphia and died
in 1825. Taylor wrote at least one opera
The Ethiop. Another early opera written
in America was The Indian Princess by
John Bray.
Another émigré
was Chevalier Marie Robert de Leaumont,
a French aristocrat who fled the Terror
in 1790 and settled in Charleston, South
Carolina where he died in 1812. The
only work of his that I know is the
brilliant Duo Concertante for cello
and fortepiano dating from 1787. Then
there was the Italian, Gaetano Franceschini
who was active in America for the last
three decades of the 18th century. The
delicate galante style that died in
the French Revolution is retained in
some of Franceschini's Trio Sonatas.
America did eventually
produce some native-born composers and
one of importance is John Antes who
was born in Frederick, Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania in 1740. His father held
a significant post in the Reformed Moravian
Church and John's upbringing in a Moravian
boy's school at Bethlehem led to his
becoming an expert craftsman as well
as a musician. A violin which he made
in 1759 is still preserved in the museum
of Moravian History Society at Nazareth.
He also made a viola and a cello which
have disappeared. These were among the
first instruments made by an American.
Antes travelled to Europe as an apprentice
watchmaker and then when ordained as
a missionary in the Moravian Church
was sent to Egypt. Here he was subjected
to ruthless extortion by a Turkish bey
and thrown into prison. While recovering
from this ordeal he began to compose
and there are three string trios Op
3 ... while we cannot find any reference
to opus 1 or 2. Antes moved to England
where he spent the rest of his life,
dying in 1811. These trios can be said
to be the first concerted chamber music
to have been written by an American.
He enjoyed some success
as a musician. He was also an inventor
perfecting a weaver's loom and experimented
with improved designs for piano hammers
and violin tuning. He even made an automatic
page turner. He became acquainted with
Haydn and was clearly influenced by
him as shown in the extended string
trios which are very well written.
Antes ended his days
in Bristol.
©Dr David C F Wright
