Upstate New York’s Anti-Rent Movement is considered the last struggle over feudalism in the United States. Tenant farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk region engaged in organized protest throughout the 1840s to contest monopoly ownership of the land they worked. Arguing their cause in newspapers, on broadsides, and at rallies, their aspirations also took shape in poetry and song. More than twenty sets of lyrics (and one instrumental composition) were written at various stages of the conflict. Some of their musical sources, such as ‘Old Dan Tucker’ and ‘Bruce’s Address, ‘ are still well known. Each fully contextualized song offers insight into the role vernacular music played in one of the nineteenth century’s major social reform movements.
This is the first book to gather the poetry and corresponding tunes into one publication. It provides detailed analysis of the repertory, followed by new musical scores of the songs, reconstructed from contemporary historical sources for study and performance. It also examines the movement’s later dramatization in novels, film, and public commemorations as successive generations grapple with its meaning.
Содержание
List of Illustrations
Land Acknowledgment
Acknowledgments
Prelude
Introduction: Down with the Rent!
Part 1: Critical Perspectives
1. Tin Horn Rebellion
2. A Movement Takes Shape, 1839–1844
3. Climax and Denouement, 1845–1846
4. Living Memory and Legacy
Part 2: Musical and Lyrical Works
List of Works
Gallery
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Об авторе
Nancy Newman is Associate Professor of Music at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She is the author of
Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Musical Society in Nineteenth-Century America.