The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #157376   Message #3713897
Posted By: GUEST,Phil
02-Jun-15 - 05:56 AM
Thread Name: Folklore: How did 19th century Americ sound?
Subject: RE: Folklore: How did 19th century Americ sound?
At the intersection of politics and entertainment:

One of the earliest drafts of the Declaration of Independence was in German (Philadelphia, Steiner & Cist, 1776.) Which is where most of my father's side is from (Austria & Prussia.)

The patriarch of America's first great entertainment dynasty, John Durang (1768–1822,) was the son of a Prussian officer who served in the French army.

His son Richard (1796-?) was alleged to have set the verse of Francis Scott Key's poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" to the melody of "Anacreon in Heaven" but it's never been validated. Certainly one of the first public performances anyway.

The current gen can be found in Christopher F. Durang (1949) the playwright of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" (2013 Tony Award for Best Play.)

"Nieder mit der Britischen!" had already sorta faded from common usage before Hollywood came along though.