Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Secular Music. From the preceding chapter it has been clearly seen, that the Germans in Philadelphia, and indeed in the whole State, were strongly religious, and were celebrated for their church music and instrument makers, especially for their organ builders. Were all the people in Philadelphia as religious as the Germans and Quakers seem to have been, and were there no public amusements? This is an important question, and one not easily answered, especially during the first half of the eighteenth century. It may be thought that this question is not related to German music, but indirectly it is, so that it may be shown whether or not the people of Philadelphia were ready to welcome music, whether they were in a state-of mind favorable to the introduction of any amusements. It is necessary to establish these facts before we can clearly understand the reasons and cause for the introduction of German concert music into America. We know, that in Philadelphia during the eighteenth century, there were men of every creed and religion, of every walk of life, of many different nationalities, and we may be sure that in such a conglomeration of men and ideas there would be some to whom amusements would be necessary—even amusements which strait-laced people would condemn. The information there is upon this subject supports the opinion, that there were amusements even in the early part of the eighteenth century. Foremost among the pleasures in which the inhabitants of Philadelphia indulged, was dancing, and we have reference to this art at an early period. In a book written in 1710 is the following statement: "Among the rest of my Friends, I must not forget the facetious Mr. Staples, Dancing-Master, who was the first Stranger of Philadelphia that did me the Honour of...