Constantly fearful about the fragility of the young republic in the decades following the Revolutionary War, Americans assiduously organized commemorative rituals. While historians have examined these commemorations, music's place in them has yet to be fully understood. By highlighting key themes in cross-regional, cross-racial discourse on commemoration and drawing on rich records preserved from Bennington, Vermont, this article exposes the varied purposes for which Americans used music in commemorations from the 1780s to the 1810s. In early postwar commemorations, Benningtonians used music to emphasize gratitude and virtue and educate local youth about proper behavior. As political rifts developed in the 1790s, community members also used music to articulate contemporary politics in terms of the revolutionary past and exhort their neighbors to take political action. To sustain these practices as new generations matured without firsthand experience of the war, locals used music to cultivate stronger ties to the battle. As Bennington illustrates, music provided a powerful means of shaping Americans’ perceptions of the past to urge them to action in the present for outcomes envisioned in the future, compellingly anchored in terms of gratitude, virtue, and memory.

中文翻译：

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唱“过去、现在和未来”：美国早期纪念音乐

在独立战争后的几十年里，美国人一直担心这个年轻共和国的脆弱性，他们刻苦地组织了纪念仪式。虽然历史学家已经研究了这些纪念活动，但音乐在其中的地位还没有被完全理解。通过突出跨地区、跨种族的纪念话语中的关键主题，并借鉴佛蒙特州本宁顿保存的丰富记录，本文揭示了从 1780 年代到 1810 年代美国人在纪念活动中使用音乐的不同目的。在战后早期的纪念活动中，本宁顿人使用音乐来强调感恩和美德，并教育当地青年正确行为。随着 1790 年代政治裂痕的发展，社区成员还利用音乐从革命过去的角度阐述当代政治，并劝告他们的邻居采取政治行动。在没有亲身经历战争的情况下，随着新一代人的成熟，为了维持这些做法，当地人用音乐来培养与战争更紧密的联系。正如本宁顿所说明的那样，音乐提供了一种强有力的手段来塑造美国人对过去的看法，以促使他们在当下采取行动，以实现未来设想的结果，并以感恩、美德和记忆力为基础。