Charles Loring Elliott - Anthony Van Corlear - Walters 37101

Anthony Van Corlaer is a fictional trumpeter of New Amsterdam, appearing in

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

's 1809 ''

A History of New York __NOTOC__ ''A History of New York'', subtitled ''From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty'', is an 1809 literary parody on the history of New York City by Washington Irving. Originally published under the pseudonym Diedrich ...

'' and subsequent lore, most famously for supposedly heroically drowning in (and giving its name to)

Spuyten Duyvil Creek Spuyten Duyvil Creek () is a short tidal estuary in New York City connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal and then on to the Harlem River. The confluence of the three water bodies separate the island of Manhattan from t ...

in 1664. He is portrayed as a loyal follower to the real historical Peter Stuyvesant, with a contrasting boisterous temperament to the stern colonial governor. The character and incident were sometimes later described as fact or "legend", but Washington seems to have only drawn from an account by David Pietersz. de Vries of an unnamed boisterous and pugilistic trumpeter in the colony.

Factual basis

Although the Spuyten Duyvil Creek episode is sometimes repeated as fact or "legend", the character of Anthony Van Corlaer is a fictional one, and there is no historical record of such an occurrence preceding the novel's publication. The factual basis of the character was an account by David Pietersz. de Vries of an unnamed boisterous and pugilistic trumpeter who interrupted the banquet dinner celebrating his August 1636 departure from

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently th ...

, physically fighting with both

Andries Hudde Andries Hudde (1608–1663) was a landowner and colonial official of New Netherland. Early life and New Amsterdam Andries Hudde was born in Kampen, Overijssel in the Netherlands in 1608 to Hendrick Hudde (himself son of the local burgomaster ...

and Jacobus van Corlaer when they protested his playing. The story may also have been inspired by the drowning of Arent van Corlaer. The character's first name was taken from Anthony's Nose Mountain.

In Washington Irving

In Irving's story, Peter Stuyvesant, having learned of an English expedition on its way to seize the colony, ordered Van Corlaer to rouse the villages along the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

with a trumpet call to war. " It was a dark and stormy night" when Van Corlaer arrived at the upper end of the island, and as no ferryman was available Van Corlaer vowed to swim across the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

"in spite of the devil", but drowned in the attempt. Some sources state that Spuyten Duyvil, an inlet between

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, is named after this incident. Van Corlaer was famous for his enormous, shiny red nose. One story tells of a sturgeon killed by a ray of sunlight reflected off its surface. Anthony's Nose Mountain along the Hudson is said by Irving to be named for this event. Van Corlaer's prior endeavors on behalf of Stuyvesant are mentioned several times in

's book ''

''. Irving also wrote the most popular account of the trumpeter's last deed, including the witness statement (which he claims to disbelieve) of Van Corlaer being seized by "the duyvel, in the shape of a huge mossbonker". This has led some modern readers, unaware that Irving's work was a parody of history, to suggest that Van Corlaer was killed by a

bull shark The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in ri ...

In popular culture

Antony Van Corlear Brought Into the Presence of Peter Stuyvesant

The 1838 painting ''Dance on the Battery in the Presence of Peter Stuyvesant'' by

Asher B. Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eighth ...

depicts Van Corlaer with his trumpet. In 1893

Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...

painted a picture of Anthony Van Corlaer to serve as the basis for a stained glass window commissioned by the Colonial Club of New York from Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. The window was removed at some point and on March 30, 1984, was auctioned by Christie's in New York and purchased by the Delaware Art Museum.

Kamala Sankaram Kamala Sankaram (born 1978) is an American composer, vocalist, playwright and actress. Based in New York City, she is best known for chamber operas about women who find themselves in situations where they are forced to confront patriarchal struct ...

wrote a musical composition in 2016, "The Last Blast of Anthony the Trumpeter".

References

;Notes ;Sources * *''Myths and Legends of Our Own Land – Volume 1: the Hudson and its hills'' (a
gutenberg.org
, Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery), 1852–1907

External links

*, a longer, more fanciful version of the story {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Corlaer, Anthony American folklore Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx Washington Irving Fictional musicians Literary characters introduced in 1809 Sidekicks in literature