Music: The Battle of Trenton

Most patriotic of early U. S. composers was an Englishman. In 1792 James Hewitt settled in Manhattan, where he conducted concerts for the peruked and crinolined promenaders at Delacroix's Vaux Hall Gardens. So fervent became Britisher Hewitt's Americanism that he deplored the British alehouse origin of The Star-Spangled Banner,* wrote himself a brand-new musical setting for Francis Scott Key's words.

For the piano, Composer Hewitt wrote a piece called The Fourth of July—A Grand Military Sonata. For the harpsichord he wrote a second "military sonata" called The Battle of Trenton, which he dedicated...

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