Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale," afforded Richmonders a thrill when she appeared in person at the Marshall Theater in 1850. She was considered an outstanding singer by Virginia music lovers. In 1876, Thomas Paine Westendorf of Bowling Green wrote the song, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen," presumably for his wife while she was mourning the death of her son: she had traveled away from home with her husband and had become very homesick, prompting him to write the song as words of encouragement to her.
The composer who is professionally considered as the greatest native Virginian contributor to the music field is John Powell of Richmond and Charlottesville. He was an accomplished pianist and studied in Vienna as well as in the United States. He wrote "Sonata Virginianesque" for violin and piano (a sonata consisting of the happy aspects of plantation life before the War between the States), several overtures and folk-songs. He became nationally famous for his "Rhapsodie Negre" for piano and orchestra. His varied talents included the writing of fugues and concertos as well as the creation of the Virginia State Choral Festival. Powell was also an enthusiastic participant in the annual White Top Folk Music Festival. No description of musical contributions of Virginians would be complete without reference to Joe Sweeney, a native of Appomattox who invented the five-stringed banjo.
Richard Bales, a native of Alexandria, is a composer-conductor who arranged a cantata, "The Confederacy," consisting of music and literary compositions of the Confederate States during the War between the States. This cantata was so well received that it inspired him to compose a second one called "The Union" which consists of music and literary comments concerning the Union forces during the War between the States. He also composed "The Republic" which consists of prominent European and American musical trends of the Eighteenth Century.
Regional festivals and a State Festival for public school bands and choral groups are held each year. Symphony orchestras furnish superb musical entertainment regularly in Richmond, Norfolk and Roanoke. Numerous Virginians have been, and are, active in the music field as singers of classical, semi-classical and popular tunes of the day. Thus, contributions to vocal music, instrumental music and musical forms have been made by natives and residents of Virginia.
Drama—Unlike residents of many of the thirteen original colonies, Virginia residents delighted in the drama. An Accomack County record states that a group of non-professionals performed in a play, "Ye Beare and Ye Cub," as early as 1655. This record is believed to be the earliest available evidence of an English-speaking play presented in the American colonies.
Virginia is also proud of the fact that the very first theater called a playhouse was constructed by William Levingston at Williamsburg in 1716. Its purpose was to present "Comedies, Drolls, and other kind of stage plays ... as shall be thought fitt to be acted there." In spite of its lofty origin, it soon became a financial loss and, in 1745, the original structure was allotted to Williamsburg to be used as a town hall.
Six years later, however, a second theater was constructed behind the Capitol at Williamsburg. The opening play was "Richard III" and its performers subsequently enacted this play also at Petersburg and at Fredericksburg. It was at the Williamsburg Playhouse that the famous Hallams (London Company, later known as the American Company) first performed in America. The Hallam family—father, mother and two children—and their supporting cast landed at Yorktown where they were welcomed by Governor Dinwiddie and a group of his personal friends. They later traveled to Williamsburg where the playhouse had received appropriate improvements and alterations in keeping with the occasion. Their performance was a success as evidenced by the fact that their play, "The Merchant of Venice," played for eleven months in Williamsburg.
VIRGINIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE