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The First Public Performances of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Extract

The first public performance of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, the national anthem of the United States, was in the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, October 19, 1814. The performance came on the fifth night of a twenty-four performance season that extended between October 12 and November 21, 1814. The theatrical season paralleled the conclusion of the War of 1812. And in many ways, William Wood and William Warren, managers of the acting company, complemented the war with plays having military themes – Point of Honour, He Would Be A Soldier, and The Soldier's Daughter. The acting troupe that performed in Baltimore during this fall made the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia its headquarters. The Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser lists only the following performers as appearing in Baltimore during this season – Miss Abercrombie, Mrs Mason, Mrs Seymour, Mrs Greene, Joseph Jefferson, Ferdinand Durang, Charles Durang, William Francis, J. Hardinge, Francis Blissett, and Mr and Mrs Waring who were making their first appearance in Baltimore. Available playbills add to the list of performers Mr Duff, Mr Harris, Mr Barrett, Mr Abercrombie, Mr T. Jefferson, Miss Jefferson, Mrs Francis, and Miss White.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1976

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References

Notes

1. Filby, P. W. and Howard, Edward G. (compilers), Star-Spangled Books (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1972).Google Scholar This volume contains an excellent history of the writing of the lyrics of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, a history of the melody to which those words were set, and a refutation of the legend that Ferdinand Durang suggested that the words and music did indeed ‘fit’.

2. This list of players is compiled from advertisements in The Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, 10 12–11 21, 1814Google Scholar, and playbills found in the Maryland Historical Society.

3. Ibid., October 21–November 11, 1814.

4. Filby, and Howard, , pp. 60–3.Google Scholar

5. James, Reese D., Old Drury of Philadelphia, A History of the Philadelphia Stage, 1800–1835. Including the Diary or Daily Account Book of William Burke Wood, Co-Manager With William Warren of the Chestnut Street Theatre familiarly known as Old Drury (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1932) p. 161.Google Scholar

6. Pollock, Thomas Clark, The Philadelphia Theatre in the Eighteenth Century (New York: Greenwood Press, 1968) p. 349.Google Scholar

7. Baltimore Telegraph, 05 22, 1798.Google Scholar

8. Pollock, , p. 349.Google Scholar

9. Durang, Charles, ‘History of the American Stage’Google Scholar in the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, 01 21, 1855.Google Scholar Never reprinted, from copy in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (This section from the collection of The Maryland Historical Society.)

10. Dunlap, William, A History of the American Theatre (NewYork: J. & J.Harper, 1833) p. 191.Google Scholar

11. Dunlap, William, Diary of William Dunlap (1766–1839) (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1969) II, p. 421.Google Scholar

12. Ibid., p. 444.

13. Maryland Historical Society, playbill, Oxtober 19, 1814. A reproduction of this playbill may be found in Filby, and Howard's, Star-Spangled Books, p. 58.Google Scholar The newspaper announcement appeared in The Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, 10 19, 1814.Google Scholar

14. The Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, 11 14, 1814.Google Scholar Also, the Maryland Historical Society has the playbill for this performance.

15. James, , p. 161.Google Scholar

16. Ibid., p. 159.

17. Ibid., p. 160.

18. Ibid.