This study was undertaken at the suggestion of Prof. Marion D. Learned and to him I am especially grateful for aid and encouragement in preparing the work. To O. G. Sonneck of the Library of Congress I am greatly indebted not only for material found in his books on early American music, but also for his extreme kindness in placing at my disposal unpublished material. His suggestions and encouragement have been of great help to me. I wish to acknowledge here the courtesy extended to me by the officers and attendants of the Pennsylvania Historical Society and the Library of University of Pennsylvania and also the aid given to me by various friends.

This Study was submitted in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of Pennsylvania, 1909.

Robert R. Drummond.

Bangor, Me. Sept. 1, 1909.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Introduction[1]
Part I.Beginnings before 1750[3]
Chapter I.Hymn Music of Germans in Philadelphia[5]
Chapter II.Church Music and the Manner of its Performance[11]
Chapter III.Secular Music[24]
Part II.Period of Progress (1750-1783)[35]
Chapter IV.Music Teachers[37]
Chapter V.Music Dealers, etc.[40]
Chapter VI.Concert Music[45]
Part III.Period of Greatest Development (1783-1800)[55]
Chapter VII.Alexander Reinagle[57]
Chapter VIII.Philip Roth and Philip Phile[76]
Conclusion[84]
Appendix. List of Reinagle’s Compositions[85]

INTRODUCTION.

The early immigration of Germans to Philadelphia increased to such an extent, that before the middle of the eighteenth century the English colonists became alarmed for fear that Pennsylvania might be alienated from the English crown, and be dominated by the German immigrants. Indeed, throughout the eighteenth century the greater part of the German immigrants landed at Philadelphia, and from there were distributed into other States. We should naturally expect, with so great a population of Germans in Philadelphia and the surrounding country, that these people would continually extend their influence, and constantly spread abroad their ideas of art, religion, music and literature.

Let us consider for a moment the condition of the Germans who landed in this country. In 1683, moved by William Penn’s alluring proclamations of the glorious new world, as well as by the fact that freedom of conscience was granted in Pennsylvania to all, a band of German immigrants arrived in Philadelphia and founded Germantown. With the exception of the scholar, Francis Daniel Pastorious, there were no highly cultured men or women among them. These people were of the middle class, and were more interested in weaving and agriculture and religious salvation, than in the cultivation of the fine arts. The conditions in Germany were not conducive to culture.