 |  | From the late 1760s on, patriotic songs became the vogue. Possibly the earliest American patriotic song was published in 1768 in a Boston newspaper. It was called The Liberty Song, written by John Dickinson to an English tune, Hearts of Oak, by William Boyce. There are just four patriotic pieces that were sung in America extensively before 1840: Hail Columbia, Yankee Doodle, The Star Spangled Banner, and My Country ‘tis of Thee or America. The melody of America is, of course, that of God Save the King, written in England in the 17th century. The words were written by a young minister named Samuel Francis Smith and were first sung at a children’s celebration in a Boston church on July 4, 1831. At the same time the tune of Yankee Doodle was introduced to American ears, with as many variations of the words as of the origin of the music, which is most likely not American. Most American music sheets of the 1790s were American reproductions of the songs that had proved so popular in England. But within a few years, America was adding her own music, which expressed not only our own sentimental feelings but our patriotic fervor as well. | In the 17th and 18th centuries, most music heard in the United States was of European origin, principally English or French. Many early pieces of sheet music printed in America were piano compositions of Haydn and Mozart, as well as a few other familiar composers. The earliest American songs, save for hymns, were written to English tunes. Francis Hopkinson of Pennsylvania was the first native-born American to compose a song, My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free. In 1788 Hopkinson also wrote ‘Seven Songs for the Harpsichord,’ which were offered for sale by a Philadelphia publisher. They were sentimental ballads, with titles like: "Beneath a weeping willow’s shade," "The trav’ler benighted and lost," and "My love has gone to sea."
The tune of the Anacreontic song used by Francis Scott Key for his Star Spangled Banner(below) in 1814 was the 69th American song written to the music of "Anacreon in Heaven." |  | |  |  | 
|  | The first patriotic sheet music published in the United States was a march composed at the time George Washington took over the presidency in the then capital, New York, in 1789. Reportedly, during Washington’s journey on horseback from Philadelphia to New York, a piece written by Pfiel, an American of German extraction, was played for the general as he passed through Trenton, New Jersey. Pfiel called his composition "Washington’s March" (box 003, item 140), and it became popular immediately. With no copyright laws in effect then, the song could be purchased in any of the larger cities over the imprint of eight or ten early publishers. In 1798 Joseph Hopkinson, son of Francis, supplied the tune with new verses, which began "Hail Columbia, Happy Land." "Hail Columbia’"(box 001, item 002) is now recognized as the earliest patriotic song with both words and music of indisputable American origin.
| The Carr family arrived from England about 1793. The father, Joseph, took his younger son, Thomas, to Baltimore where they established a music publishing house that issued copies of the favorite songs and instrumental pieces of the time, including their own compositions. Another son, Benjamin, engaged in the same sort of business in Philadelphia. As a musician he was far more prolific than his father and brother, writing and publishing copiously from his own works as well as those of others and arranging many pieces whose melodies were supplied elsewhere. One of his works, entitled "Dead March and Monody’" (box 003, item 021), was written after the death of George Washington. Thomas Carr was the first man to print the words and music of "The Star Spangled Banner’" in September 1814, the most highly sought after piece by any sheet music collector. |
The tour continues on the next page. | | |
|
|
