Boston Brigade Band

The Boston Brigade Band (1821-ca.1863) was a brass and reed band that performed in Boston, Massachusetts, and elsewhere in New England. Some of the musical pieces played by the band were subsequently published as sheet music, including "The Mammoth Cod Quickstep" of 1839. The band received acclaim in its day, particularly for its combination of both brass and wind instruments.[1][2][3]

History

In 1821, at the request of Captain Martin Brimmer, Dan Simpson (proprietor of the Green Dragon tavern) "organized the Boston Brigade Band. ... Maj. Simpson was just the man to carry out successfully Capt. Brimmer's desire, for besides being well acquainted with the few musicians in Boston, he was the popular host of the tavern ... at which many of the old members [of the Green Dragon band] often congregated.[4]

Leaders of the Brigade Band included: Asa Fillebrown (1821–1826, 1828–1835);[5][6] James Kendall (1826–1827);[5] Abel F. Knight (1836–1844);[5] J.H. Seipp (1844–1848);[5] Patrick S. Gilmore (1852, ca.1859);[7] and E.H. Weston (ca.1858).[8]

Band members in 1824 included:[5] John Bartlett (trumpet); James Clark (clarinet); Lemuel Clark (French horn); William Crombie (bassoon); Asa Fillebrown (clarinet); George W. Foster (octave flute); James K. Kendall (clarinet); Richard Madden (bugle); Joel R. Mann (clarinet); Moses Mann (serpent); Willard W. Mann (clarinet); J. Henry Niebuhr (trumpet); Calvin Simonds (clarinet); Jonathan Stanley (bass drum); Asa Warren (bass horn); John B. Warren; Samuel Wetherbee (French horn); Charles Wright (cymbals). "William Crombie, who beat the cymbols, kept a tavern on the corner of Cambridge and Garden" streets.[5] "Lemuel Clark was a crusty man, but a good musician. He became drum major of the band in September, 1830(?), on Centennial day. ... He wore a scarlet coat, flat cocked hat and carried a red baton, which he never knew how to swing, saying: 'He wasn't going to play any of them monkey tricks.'"[5]

The band often performed at appearances of the Boston Light Infantry.[4] "The band uniform ... was especially neat and attractive and bore a marked difference to any then worn by the militia. The coat was blue, of the same style and pattern as worn by the officers of the U.S. army, with three rows of bell buttons on the front, and was further set off by a gold-laced collar."[4]

According to one account, "the band grew in proficiency, and became quite celebrated. It existed until 1861, when it was dissolved by Mr. Eben Flagg.[9] After the band dissolved, some of the musicians joined the Edmands' Band and Orchestra, formed in 1863 by Thomas Ormsby Edmands.[10]

Selected performances

Newspaper announcement for the band's appearance in Baltimore, Maryland, 1840

Sheet music

1820s

Tiger Quick Step, 1834

1830s

Austin's Quick Step, 1837

1840s

Norfolk Guards Quick Step, 1840
1830, Providence, Rhode Island

References

  1. Dwight's Journal of Music, Sept. 18, 1852. Cited in: Clyde S. Shive Jr. The "First" Band Festival in America. American Music, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter, 1997); p.455.
  2. Musical World and New York Musical Times, Sept. 11, 1852. Cited in: Shive, 1997.
  3. Frank J. Cipolla. Review of: The Music Men: An Illustrated History of Brass Bands in America, 1800–1920; by Margaret Hindle Hazen and Robert M. Hazen. American Music, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1989); p.330.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Drayley. Boston Daily Globe, Aug 6, 1900.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Drayley. Boston Daily Globe, Aug 7, 1900.
  6. Oliver Ayer Roberts. History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637–1888, Volume 2. A. Mudge & son, printers, 1897; p.462.
  7. "Patrick Gilmore Collection". University of Maryland Special Collections in Performing Arts. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  8. Concert programme. Boston Music Hall, July 12, 1858.
  9. Roberts, 1897; p.462.
  10. The Last Tones. Jacobs' Band Monthly. Oct. 1919; p.22.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 George Mantum Whipple. History of the Salem Light Infantry from 1805–1890. Essex Institute, 1890.
  12. Walter Muir Whitehill (1949). East India Marine Society and the Peabody Museum of Salem; a Sesquicentennial History. Salem, Mass.: Peabody Museum.
  13. The Diary of Samuel Breck, 1827–1833. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 103, No. 2 (Apr., 1979); p.240-241.
  14. Salem Gazette, Sept. 28, 1838.
  15. Daily Atlas (Boston), Feb. 16, 1843.
  16. Daily Atlas (Boston), May 25, 1844.
  17. Commencement concert, Thursday evening, August 15, 1844: the Beethoven Society of Yale College, assisted by the Boston Brigade Band, will give a vocal and instrumental concert ... [New Haven?]: Hitchcock & Stafford, 1844.
  18. Keene Public Library. Retrieved 2009-12-11
  19. University of Vermont; Semi-Centennial Celebration-Literary Addresses-Annual Commencement-Dinners, &c. New York Times, August 8, 1854.
  20. New England Farmer. November 1855; p.514-515.
  21. Commencement of Brown University. New York Times, September 9, 1856
  22. Boston Daily Atlas, Oct. 3, 1856.
  23. Weekly San Joaquin Republican, May 21, 1859.
  24. Luis Fenollosa Emilio. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863–1865, 2nd ed. Boston Book Co., 1894; p.318.
  25. For more information on sheet music related to the band, see catalog of the Boston Athenaeum; also Boston Public Library.

Further reading

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