Music & Dance in Early America

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18th-Century Dancing

Dance in the Morning

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be.
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance, said he.

Dancing in a Grove in the 18th-century

Sidney Carter (1915–2004) wrote these words in 1963 Britain, to a 19th-century Shaker melody, "Simple Gifts" by Joseph Brackett. The tune was written by American Joseph Brackett (1797–1882) who first joined the Shakers at Gorham, Maine, when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement. The song was largely unknown outside of American Shaker communities; until it became world famous thanks to its use in Aaron Copland's score for Martha Graham's ballet "Appalachian Spring," 1st performed in 1944. Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950, in his first set of "Old American Songs" for voice & piano, which was later orchestrated.

Dancing in the 19th-century

19th-Century Dance
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Celebrating in 1830-60s America - Music & Dance by William Sidney Mount 1807-1868

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Catching the Tune 1866-7

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Dance of the Haymakers 1845


The Irish tradition of "dancing a jig" in the Middle Atlantic was noted by a newspaper reporter in the middle of the century.  In 1848, a reporter for the New York Tribune visited a hotel in Philadelphia's Southwark district where working-class men & women came to drink & dance. When the "old negro fiddler" strikes up a tune in a dancing-room upstairs, the reporter records,

"The dance proceeds for a few minutes in tolerable order; but soon the excitement grows, the dancers begin … accelerating their movements, accompanied with shouts of laughter, yells of encouragement and applause, … Affairs are now at their height. The black fiddler increases the momentum of his elbow and calls out the figure in convulsive efforts to be heard [while] the dancers, now wild with excitement, leap frantically about … and at length conclude the dance in the wildest disorder and confusion. As soon as the parties recover, the fiddler makes his appearance among them and receives from each gentleman a tip as his proportion of the ceremony of 'facing the music,' and the floor is cleared for a new set; and so goes on the night."


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Right and Left 1850


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Dancing on the Barn Floor 1831


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Banjo Player 1856


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Rustic Dance After a Sleigh Ride 1830


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Bone Player 1856


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Breakdown Bar Room Scene 1835

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Just in Time


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Power of Music 1847

William Sidney Mount (American genre painter, 1807-1868)  The Banjo Player 1856

Music - Early Fall at the Lake 1857

Jerome Thompson (American painter, 1814-1886) Recreations 1857 detail

Music & Dance - Early 19C Philadelphia by John Lewis Krimmel 1786-1821

Immigrant artist John Lewis Krimmel was one of the first painters to record early 4th of July celebrations. He was born in Ebingen, Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1787, and accidently drowned near German-town, Pennsylvania, in July of 1821. He came to Philadelphia in 1809, to engage in business with his brother but soon abandoned the business to concentrate on his art.

He began his art career painting portraits, but a copy of Wilkie's "Blind Fiddler" caught his attention; & he turned to humorous subjects and genre painting. Krimmel gathered information for his paintings in the American countryside around Philadelphia by observing local habits, rituals, & ceremonies, so even though he took most of his compositional formats from British prints made after paintings by the satirical artists William Hogarth & David Wilkie, his subject matter was familiar to his potential audience at the Pennsylvania Academy. He also painted more serious historical pictures, & at the time of his death he had received a commission to paint a large canvas on the landing of William Penn. Krimmel was president of the Society of American artists.

John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Barroom Dancing 1820


John Lewis Krimmel (German-born American artist, 1786-1821) Merrymaking at a Wayside Inn


John Lewis Krimmel (German American arttist, 1786-1821) The Quilting Frolic 1813

The Picnic in 19C America

A few paintings of picnics in 19C America...

 Jerome Thompson (American artist, 1814-1886)  Recreation

Jerome Thompson (American artist, 1814-1886) The Belated Party on Mansfield Mountain

Thomas Cole (1801–1848) The Picnic 1846

Jerome B Thompson (American artist, 1814-1886) Pic Nick in the Woods of New England c 1855

Picnic in the Catskills 1840-49

Thomas Prichard Rossiter (American artist, 1818 – 1871) Picnic above the Hudson

1854 David Broderick Walcutt (American artist, 1825-1885) Hocking Valley Picnic

 Asher Brown Durand (American artist, 1796-1886) Picnic in the Country 1863

 Thomas Prichard Rossiter (American artist, 1818-1871) Picnic on the Hudson 1863

 James McDougal Hart (Scottish-born American artist, 1828-1901) Picnic on the Hudson

Lilly Martin Spencer (English-born American artist, 1822–1902) The Artist and Her Family at a Fourth of July Picnic, c. 1864

James McDougal Hart (Scottish-born American artist, 1828-1901) An Afternoon Concert

Lilly Martin Spencer (English-born American artist, 1822–1902) The Home of the Red, White, and Blue

Picnic in the Woods by F Wilton 1876

 Idle Hours, by William Merritt Chase, 1894

Charles Courtney Curran (American artist, 1861-1942)  Picnic Supper on the Sand Dunes

Benjamin Champney (American artist, 1817-1907) Picnic on Artist's Ledge, Overlooking Conway Meadows, New Hampshire

James Brade Sword (American artist, 1839–1915) The Picnic