[Sheet Music]: Philadelphia Gray's Quick Step. From Bellini's Opera I Puritani, as Performed by Johnson's Brass Band. Arranged for the Piano Forte and Respectfully Dedicated to Captain Geo. Cadwalader

Philadelphia: L. Meignen & Co. (...) No. 217 Chesnut [sic] St, [circa 1837-1839].

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Unbound. First edition. Quarto. [8]pp, total, with [3]pp. dedicated to Johnson's "Quick Step" and [2]pp. to the French composer D.F.E. Auber's "The Favorite Gallopade" (other pages blank). Illustrated with a lithograph of Cadwalader standing in front of a regiment of soldiers and an American flag. Spine notched where once sewn and bound, edges with some soil, chips, and short tears, a bit of loss at the upper corner, blank final page modestly soiled with a short creased tear, about very good. A wide-margined publication, with only one short closed tear touching the music.

African-American composer and musician Francis (Frank) Johnson (1792-1844) was "a fiddler, bugler, and horn player, bandmaster, orchestra leader, and composer. During the 1820's and 30s his band was employed by the State Fencibles and Philadelphia Grays, both white organizations of Philadelphia. In 1838 Johnson toured with his band in England (...) and played a command performance for Queen Victoria, where he was presented with a silver bugle" (Southern's *The Music of Black Americans*, p.112). In 1818, Johnson became the first African-American to publish a composition as sheet music. The Philadelphia Grays were a Pennsylvania State Militia artillery company formed by Cadwalader in 1824.


Item #525194

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Item #525194 [Sheet Music]: Philadelphia Gray's Quick Step. From Bellini's Opera I Puritani, as Performed by Johnson's Brass Band. Arranged for the Piano Forte and Respectfully Dedicated to Captain Geo. Cadwalader. Francis JOHNSON.