John Hill Hewitt
John Hill Hewitt (July 11, 1801, New York City — October 7, 1890, Baltimore) was an American composer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for his songs about the American South, including "A Minstrel's Return from the War", "The Soldier's Farewell", "The Stonewall Quickstep", and "Somebody's Darling". His output during the American Civil War earned him the epithets "Bard of the Stars and Bars"[1] and "Bard of the Confederacy".[2]
Over his career, Hewitt wrote over 300 songs, a number of
Early life and career
Hewitt was born in New York City, into a musical family. His father,
Nevertheless, Hewitt's father tried to steer his son away from the music business, apprenticing him in a number of other fields. In 1818, Hewitt entered West Point. His grades were bad overall, but the school provided his first formal musical training. By 1822, Hewitt did not have the grades to graduate, and his military career ended when he challenged a school officer to a duel.
Hewitt in the South
Hewitt moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1823 to join his father's theatrical troupe. Their theatre burned down soon after his arrival, but Hewitt decided to stay in Augusta and open a music store where he could give private lessons for flute and piano. He became enamored of the South and its genteel traditions, and he enjoyed the attention paid to him by the wealthy parents of his pupils. However, Hewitt grew disillusioned as he realized that his dinner invitations came because his hosts wanted live music, not his company.
Still, Hewitt took a permanent teaching position at the Baptist Female Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1824, tutoring on the side. When a rival intimated that Hewitt was in fact a mulatto, Hewitt's private students quit him. He eventually had John C. Calhoun write a letter attesting to the allegation's falsity.
Bard of the Confederacy
In 1825, Hewitt wrote The Minstrel's Return from the War and published it through his brother in Boston. The song eventually became a success internationally, making him the first American-born composer whose fame reached both sides of the Atlantic.[2] He married Estelle Mangin in 1827. In 1833 Hewitt was editor of the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. His composition "Garde Vous" was written for the 1838 operetta The Prisoner of Rochelle. By 1840, Hewitt was pursuing writing as a profession. That year, he moved to Washington, D.C., to start and edit a newspaper. In 1844, when yodeling had become fashionable in entertainment, he wrote "The Alpine Horn." Over the next few years, he moved again and again, eventually ending up in Hampton, Virginia. There he took a position at the Chesapeake Female College and remained for nine years. His wife died during this tenure.
By the start of the
He moved back to Augusta, where he joined Alfred Waldron to write pieces for the theatre and for the Queen Sisters, including the ballad operas King Linkum the First and The Vivandiere. He also began tutoring in private again, and he married an 18-year-old pupil named Mary Smith in 1863. With her he would father four more children, for a total of 11.
In 1863 and 1864, Hewitt traveled with the Queen Sisters as a songwriter. They popularized his song "
Hewitt eventually bought the Augusta-based Blackmar publishers, but the business failed after the war. Hewitt returned to Virginia to teach at the Wesleyan Female Institute in Staunton and at the Dunbar Female Institute in Winchester. He bounced back and forth between Maryland and Georgia for the next few years, eventually ending up in Baltimore, where he remained until his death on October 7, 1890.
Notes
References
- Abel, E. Lawrence (2000). Singing the New Nation: How Music Shaped the Confederacy, 1861-1865. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.
- Flora, Joseph M., Mackethan, and Lucinda Hardwick, eds. (2002). The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs. Louisiana State University Press.
- Brodsky Lawrence, Vera (1995). Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, Vol. I: Resonances, 1836–1849. University of Chicago Press.
- Silber, Irwin (1960). Songs of the Civil War. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Incorporated.
- Tubb, Benjamin Robert. "The Music of John Hill Hewitt". Public Domain Music.
External links
- John Hill Hewitt at Find a Grave
- Short biography from Composers and Lyricists Database Plus
- "Dixie's Original One-Man Band, from HistoryNet.com
- The music of John Hill Hewitt
- Free scores by John Hill Hewitt at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Sheet music for "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother", Columbia, SC: Julian A. Selby, 1862, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection
- Sheet music for "The South", Columbia, SC: Julian A. Selby, 1863, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection
- Sheet music for "The Unknown Dead", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, 1863, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection
- Sheet music for "Young Volunteer", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, 1863, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection
- Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: John Hill Hewitt papers, 1824-1940