Fraternite

In this week’s episode, Boneapart and Yulia continue their Liberty, Equality, Fraternity series with a look at Fraternité — brotherhood, solidarity, and standing together — themes that feel as urgent today as they did a century ago. We open with a “today in music history” moment: Marcel Journet’s rich bass voice bringing the Porter’s Song from Flotow’s opera Martha to life in a 1905 Victor recording. Then we turn to our theme, starting with a stirring 1922 brass band march simply — and perfectly — titled “Fraternity,” performed by the St. Hilda Prize Band, a group of coal miners from South Shields who happened to be among the finest musicians in Britain. We close with “Hold the Fort,” recorded in 1914 by the Chautauqua Preachers’ Quartette — a gospel hymn born from a Civil War battle cry that found new life as a labor movement anthem. Three songs, three stories, one enduring message: we’re stronger together. Pull up a chair, pour yourself something warm, and join us.

Show Notes

Martha

Martha (Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond) is a romantic comic opera in four acts by German composer Friedrich von Flotow, premiering on November 25, 1847 in Vienna. The plot follows Lady Harriet Durham, a bored lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne, who disguises herself as a servant named “Martha” and attends the Richmond Fair with her maid Nancy, where the two women are unwittingly hired for a year as dairy maids by two farmers, leading to comedic mishaps and budding romances. The “Canzone del Porter” — the Porter’s Song — appears in Act III, sung as a drinking song in praise of porter ale. Though written by a German composer and first performed in Vienna, Martha is decidedly French in character and elegance, owing to Flotow’s musical training in Paris. The opera famously incorporates the traditional Irish melody “The Last Rose of Summer,” which recurs as a leitmotif throughout the work. Martha was enormously popular throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries — it was even performed at Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration gala in 1865 — though it is rarely staged today.

The “Canzone del porter” — or Porter’s Song — is sung by the character Plunkett at the opening of Act III, and it doesn’t have much to do with the plot. It’s essentially a jovial drinking song, a rollicking bass aria in praise of porter ale, with Plunkett asking the crowd what gives Britain its strength and answering his own question: it’s the mighty elixir, the porter beer, that stirs John Bull to boxing matches on land and sea — hurrah for hops, hurrah for malt! It’s a crowd-pleaser through and through, written to showcase the warmth and power of a great bass voice, and Marcel Journet — one of the finest basses of his era — was perfectly suited to it. While the opera’s most famous aria is the soaring tenor piece “M’appari,” it’s worth noting that Martha contains some remarkable musical variety, and the Porter’s Song is a wonderful example of Flotow’s gift for comic, convivial music. It’s the kind of number that would have had Victorian and Edwardian audiences grinning and tapping their feet — a reminder that opera wasn’t always stuffy, and that people a century ago loved nothing more than a good song about beer.

Hold the Fort

Lyrics

Ho, my comrades, see the signal, waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh.

Refrain:
“Hold the fort, for I am coming,” Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to heaven, “By Thy grace we will.”

See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on,
Mighty ones around us falling, courage almost gone!

See the glorious banner waving, Hear the trumpet blow!
In our Leader’s Name we triumph over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near,
Onward comes our great Commander, cheer, my comrades, cheer!