Music of the
War of 1812 in America
War of 1812 in America
|
|
Music of the
War of 1812 in America |
|
| Home | Resources | Sheet Music | Performance Schedule | Lectures & Concerts | Contact Us |
General Thomas Pinkney
Maj.-Gen. Thomas Pinckney, served in both the Revolution and War of 1812. Watercolor on paper, private collection 
|
This website offers newly-published sheet music, as well as up-to-date scholarly information. It is intended for the use of teachers, students, fellow scholars and the general public interested in learning about American History through the rich and significant music of the era.
THE WAR OF 1812 spawned a huge variety of songs in America. From the early stirrings of party politics under President Adams, the traumatic effect of Jefferson's Embargo in 1807, the triumph at Fort McHenry to the last battle in New Orleans, Americans took pen to paper to tear at political opponents, to dramatize the great sea battles between huge frigates in full sail and to laud battle heroes like Hull and Perry.
In addition, songs of ridicule, sentimental ballads of love and separation and songs encouraging enlistments were sung at home, on the streets and in theaters.
Just Published Music of the War of 1812 in America by Kate Van Winkle Keller Annapolis: The Colonial Music Institute, 2011 246 pages, COIL-BOUND TO LIE FLAT! 1812-bk*: $30.00. ISBN: 978-0-9818759-8-9 |
"New Yankee Doodle" or
"The Way to Avoid War" courtesy Maryland State Archives |
|
In 1814, a publisher and collector named Isaiah Thomas dropped into a small print shop in Boston to pick up a bundle he had ordered the year before. It contained one copy of every broadside sheet in the shop. The printer specialized in ballads, particularly songs about what was going on in New England: the great successes of Boston's own "iron-sides" ship, the Constitution, the foolishness of privateers firing on one another, and the damage done to New England's commerce by the Embargo Act. A number of these songs are included in this collection.
Sample sheet music from this collection: Music of the War of 1812
|
Illustration from Blanche Cirker, ed.
1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and His School (New York: Dover Publications, 1990) pl. 132, #12. Used with permission. Eagle logo at top of page: Text attributed to Commodore Perry after the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. Woodcuts (Eagle and Naval Battle) from: American Patriotic and Comic Songs (New York: John Low, 1819) |