Introduction –
This week, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we offer a special treat to our readers: A delightful concert entitled “More Influence than the Oratory of a Cicero,” presented by the early-music ensemble Music of the Regiment, and featuring compositions of the Revolutionary War era.
My wife Nancy (the founder of this blog) and I met the Music of the Regiment group in June 2025 at a concert they presented in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as part of the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the “Bee Line March” of the Virginia Rifle Companies to Cambridge, Massachusetts during the summer of 1775.
After the performance, Nancy and I talked with various members of the ensemble, and I asked Co-Director Dominic Giardino if the group would be interested in performing in Frederick, Maryland as part of the 250th commemorations. Dominic liked the idea,and promised to get back me when he checked the group’s schedule. He subsequently advised me that they would be touring in the area in April, with a program he described as sharing “the story of Col. Christian Febiger’s 2nd Virginia Regimental Band, the only American band supposed to have been at Yorktown in October of 1781, and the first musical ensemble of its type in Virginia.”
The result was a concert presented on April 12, 2026 in Frederick, sponsored by the Frederick County U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, on which I sit. This was the Commission’s kick-off event for the season of 250th celebrations in Frederick County. (Short excerpt from that event can be seen here.)
Although that concert was not recorded, what we present here is a recording of a similar concert produced for the Bloomington Early Music Festival in May, in which is interspersed an illustrated narrative about the course of Revolutionary War through the eyes of Col. Febiger, the Danish-born Continental Army officer, who reportedly served in every major battle of the Revolution, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. In 1779, after the American victory at Stony Point (near West Point), New York, Febiger began raising his own band for the 2nd Virginia Regiment, which he commanded. (Febiger’s musical inclination can be understood in the context of his father and brother being church musicians in Denmark, as were others in earlier generations.)
Febiger’s band was one of only four in the Continental Army. Circumstantial evidence suggests that it was Febiger’s 2nd Virginia band which was playing as the British surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.
After the war, Christian Febiger became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, first in Virginia, and then in Pennsylvania, and he also served as Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Music of the Regiment have generously provided these materials for publication in this blog, for the purpose of honoring the legacy of Nancy Spannaus. We hope that you enjoy the concert, the narrative, and the accompanying program notes which are also posted here.
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