“Yankee Doodle” appeared in countless arrangements in the long nineteenth century, and the tune’s versatility and popularity allowed composers to utilize it in a variety of musical contexts to convey different meanings. Many compositions throughout the 1800s incorporated “Yankee Doodle” as a generic marker of American identity, but in some works—especially “battle” pieces—it could symbolize American patriotism or victory more explicitly. Virtuosos also incorporated the tune into their concert showpieces as a means of appealing to local tastes during their American tours. During the Civil War, several composers used “Yankee Doodle” to represent the Union rather than the United States as a whole, reflecting the political divisions of the time. By the twentieth century, composers frequently used the tune in explicitly nationalistic works, often in response to immigration or America’s involvement in overseas wars. For Charles Ives, however, the appearance of “Yankee Doodle” in The Fourth of July was a nostalgic recollection of a once-popular tune that had lost much of its significance in the modern age. An appendix lists a number of nineteenth-century works that incorporate “Yankee Doodle” in some form, opening up the possibility of further analysis.

Works: Benjamin Carr: Federal Overture (248-49), Yankee Doodle with Variations (250), The Siege of Tripoli (254); James Hewitt: The New Federal Overture (248), A New Medley Overture (248), The New Medly Overture (248), Yankee Doodle with Variations (250), The Battle of Trenton: A Favorite Historical Military Sonata (254); George Schleiffarth: A Trip Through the Midway Plaisance: Grand Medley (248); W. E. C. Howard: Our Glorious Union Forever: Medley of National Melodies (249, 260); Charles Zeuner: Variations on the American National Song: Yankee Doodle (250-51); Maurice Strakosch: Yankee Doodle with Concert Variations (251-52); Max Braun: Variations on Yankee Doodle (251); Charles Grobe: The Continent is Ours: Brilliant Variations on Yankee Doodle and Hail Columbia, Op. 956 (251, 253); Elbert Anderson: Yankee Doodle: Redowa Polka (253); George Hewitt: Yankee Doodle Polka (253); Francis Rziha: Yankee Doodle Polka (253); Philip Laroque: The Heroe of New Orleans: Battle of the Memorable 8th of January 1815 (255); Thomas Bethune: The Battle of Manassas (255-56, 259); Anthony Philip Heinrich: The Columbiad: Grand American National Chivalrous Symphony (256), The Columbiad, or the Migration of American Wild Passenger Pigeons (256), The Columbiad, or Ocean Wave: A Voyage Symphony (256), La Columbiade: Fantasie Chevaleresque (256-57), The Wildwood Spirit’s Chant (257), “Yankee Doodleiad” from The Dawning of Music in Kentucky (257); Louis Moreau Gottschalk: À Montevideo (258), L’Union: Paraphrase de Concert on the National Airs Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle and Hail Columbia, Op. 48 (258-59); “F. Schubert”: North American Folksong (260-61); Leo Victor Felix Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck: Yankee Doodle with Variations (261); Wilhelm Popp: Fantasy and Variations on an American Air, Op. 183 (261); Henri Vieuxtemps: Souvenir d’Amerique (261-62); Leopold de Meyer: Grand Fantasia pour le Piano sur les Airs Nationaux Americains Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle, Op. 52 (262); Ernest Gagnon: Le Carnaval de Quebec: Quadrille sur des airs populaires et nationaux (263); Frederick Delius: Appalachia: American Rhapsody for Orchestra (263); Zoltán Kodály: Incidental music to A nagybácsii (The Uncle) (263-64); Charles Ives: The Fourth of July (264-66); George M. Cohan: The Yankee Doodle Boy (265-66); Arthur Blumenthal: The Yankee Doodle Negro (266); Ed G. Nelson: When Yankee Doodle Learns to “Parlez Vous Francais” (266).

Sources: Anonymous: Yankee Doodle (248-); Rouget de Lisle: La Marseillaise (248); Anonymous: The Irish Washerwoman (248); Anonymous: Viva Tutti (248); Anonymous: God Save the Queen (248); Joseph Haydn: Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, Hob.XXVIa:43 (248); Johann Strauss II: The Blue Danube Waltz, Op. 314 (248); Daniel Emmett: Dixie (249, 259, 263, 265); Samuel A. Ward: Materna (“America”) (249); Philip Phile: Hail, Columbia (249, 253, 256, 258, 262); John Stafford Smith: The Star-Spangled Banner (249, 258, 265); Anonymous (Hungarian): Debrecenbe kéne menni (264); Anonymous (English): The Girl I Left Behind Me (265).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Matthew G. Leone