David Braham (c.1834 – April 11, 1905) was a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-born musical theatre composer, most famous for his work with his son-in-law Edward Harrigan (1844-1911), and

Tony Hart Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009)Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role as a children's television present ...

(1855-1891). He has been called "the American Offenbach".

Early life (1834–1873)

David Braham was born in

in 1834. As a young man, he aspired to become a professional musician and began studying the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

. However, because he was unable to get his bulky instrument on board a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

, he later switched to the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. He proved to be an adept violinist, performing in concerts at a young age. He was the uncle of John Joseph Braham Sr. The Braham family immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

when David was 15. Upon arriving in New York, Braham began working as a violinist in the orchestra accompanying the Pony Moore Minstrels. He played in the

pit orchestra A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in Musical theatre, musicals, operas, ballets, and other shows involving music. The term was also used for orchestras accompanying silent movies when more than a piano was used. ...

s of various New York

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

s, headed an 18-piece orchestra at the New Canterbury concert saloon at 585 Broadway, and led a

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

. The first Broadway musical to feature music by David Braham was ''Pluto'', produced by William Horace Lingard at the Theatre Comique in 1869. Braham's success as a composer continued through the early 1870s, during which time he wrote numbers for such performers as James McKee, then-child star Annie Yeamans, and

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was ...

performer

General Tom Thumb Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum. Childhood and early ...

Harrigan and Hart (1873–1885)

In 1873, David Braham collaborated with Edward Harrigan and

on the song ''The Mulligan Guard'', with music by Braham and lyrics by Harrigan. The song was presented on July 15, 1873 as part of a vaudeville sketch which featured Harrigan and Hart wearing unusual

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

-era military costumes. This collaboration marked the first of many between Braham, Harrigan, and Hart. From that point onwards, Braham became firmly associated with the two. Although he did go on to write melodies for other lyricists, his success in

Broadway theater Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

came almost entirely as a result of his Harrigan and Hart scores. In November 1876, Harrigan married Braham's daughter Annie. The success of ''The Mulligan Guard'' led to a series of

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

s which would become known as the "Mulligan plays". The Mulligan plays focused on the everyday life of New York City, appealing to a variety of racial groups, including

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

German American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

s, and

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s. The first of these Mulligan plays was ''The Mulligan Guard's Ball'', followed by ''The Mulligan Guard's Picnic'', ''The Mulligan Guard's Chowder'', ''The Mulligan Guard's Christmas'', and various others. Although most of the Mulligan plays followed the same naming pattern, the final two shows in the series were titled ''Cordelia's Aspirations'' and ''Dan's Tribulations''. The Mulligan plays featured several popular songs, all of which were written by Braham, including ''The Pitcher of Beer'' and ''Hats Off to Me''.

Late life (1884–1905)

The last Mulligan play to be produced was ''Dan's Tribulations'' on April 7, 1884. Shortly after it opened, the New Theatre Comique, at which many of the Harrigan and Hart shows had been produced, burned down. In 1885, Harrigan and Hart separated, and neither they nor Braham were ever able to singularly attain the same level of success that they had achieved as a team. David Braham died in 1905. On May 21, 1906, Harrigan produced a revival of '' Old Lavender'', a musical he and Braham had written together. In 1985, a musical, ''Harrigan 'n Hart'', was produced at the

Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and is named for Longacre Square, the former ...

, featuring songs by Harrigan and Braham.

Notes

External links

*
Harrigan and Braham
at Music of the United States of America (MUSA) {{DEFAULTSORT:Braham, David 1834 births 1905 deaths English musical theatre composers English male composers English emigrants to the United States English violinists American male violinists Composers from London Composers from New York City American violinists American musical theatre composers American male musical theatre composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians

Early life (1834–1873)

Harrigan and Hart (1873–1885)

Late life (1884–1905)

Notes

Further reading

External links