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Hamilton: a representation of history and present

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Hamilton: a representation of history and present

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I am not typically interested in history, but the musical, Alexander Hamilton, was appealing to me. Indeed, it is popular even after over five years on Broadway. One reason for such popularity is that it combines elements of modern music to reflect American history through the story of the Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
The musical, as a special form of theatrical performance, utilize music and dance to convey ideas. For Hamilton specifically, intriguingly narrating history with the help of present music makes it special. It has a cultural significance because it is the past of America presented by the present of America.
Hip-hop, the common verse-chorus form of pop music, minor intervals, and even rap battle. It is fascinating how these modern music elements are combined to tell the history associated with the life story of a founding father.

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​Alexander Hamilton is the opening song of the musical Hamilton, which introduces the main character, Alexander Hamilton. Through its lyrics, genre, and instruments, the audience can sense a combination of Hamilton's early life and the present.

"A bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman" is the description of his backstories. "When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden / Two years later see Alex and his mother bed ridden" refers to his tragic childhood experiences. His father abandoned him and his mother, and his mother died soon after two years. "Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide" infers his situation of having no one to rely on but himself. "By 14, they placed him in a trading charter" describes how hardworking and smart he was. "Fought with", "died for", "trusted", "loved", "shot" summarized the relationships between Hamilton and different characters, indicating the following plots.

Besides the history of Hamilton, the line "The ten-dollar founding father without a father" refers to his picture on the ten-dollar bill of the United States. Around 2015, President Barack Obama decided to redesign the ten-dollar bill and put the face of a woman on it, corresponding to the lyrics "American forgot him". Yet, due to the popularity of this musical Hamilton, especially the widespread music, and political pressure, the US Treasury reconsidered this decision and Hamilton stayed on the ten-dollar bill. Instead, Andrew Jackson was replaced by Harriet Tubman, the first African-American woman to be in charge of a military operation that freed thousands of slaves, on the twenty-dollar bill.

Indeed, the genre of this song is hip-hop, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Alone with the actors snapping fingers as the beats instead of traditional instruments, it embodies the impact of pop music.

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Middle left: Alexander Hamilton, Middle right: Samuel Seabury

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As the 6th song of the 1st act, Farmer Refuted denotes the history of Hamilton writing back to Samual Seabury. By twisting the time sequence, using special instruments, and call and response, it combines the actual historical record and modern music elements subtly.

Samuel Seabury, who wrote the "Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress" under the name "A. W. Farmer", was against the revolution. Alexander Hamilton wrote two responses, one of which has the title of "Farmer Refuted". However, these pamphlets were written in 1774-1775, placing them before 1776. Since the 2nd song of Act 1, Aaron Burr, Sir, has the lyrics "1776. New York City.", Farmer Refuted should be placed before it, following the chronological order. Such a special arrangement emphasizes the different positions of Hamilton and Burr embodied in Farmer Refuted. Through the modern approach of rearranging the timeline, history is shown in a more logical way, considering the plot of the musical as a whole.

In addition, the combination of the pipe organ used at the beginning and the rap style of almost speaking lyrics also represents both history and the present. The pipe organ is mostly used in churches, starting from the medieval period, representing history. The rap style of saying lyrics without instrumental music represents the modern music elements. Hence, the pipe organ that accompanies Seabury's lyrics can be interpreted as stubborn and obstinate people, and the rap style used by Hamilton embodies advanced ideas and open-minded people, who supported the revolution. Combining two representative music elements from history and the present corresponds to different opinions and fits the theme perfectly.

What's more, to show that this is like a conversation between Samuel Seabury and Alexander Hamilton, call-and-response is extremely similar to the main pattern that occurred in this song. Indeed, the communication between two singers is not traditional call-and-response, like questions and answers. Instead, they have opposite opinions, and Hamilton used some of Seabury's words to make different sentences to argue with him. For the melody accompanying the same words, their voice formed harmonious chords. Whereas for the part with different words and opposite meanings, Hamilton's voice covered Seabury's voice to show that his belief is more important.

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Left: Alexander Hamilton, Middle: John Lawerence(front) and Charles Lee(back), Right: Aaron Burr

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Ten Duel Commandments, which mainly uses a minor scale and numerical countdowns to create a dangerous and nervous feeling towards the duel, describes the duel that happened between John Lawerence and Charles Lee. Hip-hop techniques, special intervals, and word painting are the modern elements that are used to create the nervous situation of a duel.

The central theme of this song, duels, happened only in history. It became popular in the 17-18th centuries, and it declined in the 19th century. Instead of swords used in traditional duels, pistols were used in this duel, which shows the impact of modern technology. "The challenge: demand satisfaction / If they apologize, no need for further action" clarifies the purpose and the first rule of duels. "Can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?" and "With his life? We both know that's absurd, sir" embody that both Aaron burr and Alexander Hamilton thought duels were childish and ridiculous, which coincides with the reason why it is banned at present.

In addition, the genre of this song is hip-hop as well, denoting the influence of modern music. A large number of minor seconds and minor thirds are used within the melody and the harmony is highly chromatic, which not only indicates potential injury caused by this duel, but also illustrates the impact of contemporary musical harmony. As the counting begins from 1 to 10, especially with the chords involved, the modern technique of word painting is used, which means that the pitch of the vocal melody gradually increases as the number increases. Such a countdown also creates a sense of horror, which matches the theme of a duel.

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https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3I3ayibwh0cRmn2RPdEx7I?si=ba2ec033bfd44dfe

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Left: Aaron Burr, Middle(back): Eliza Schuyler, Right: Alexander Hamilton

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Dear Theodosia tenderly describes the pure love and hope for children, which is an eternal theme, shared by Burr and Hamilton through the shared chorus, even though they are political rivals, with the help of modern verse-chorus form.

"When you smile, I fall apart" is the common line in the verse section, directly showing how fragile they were as fathers. Their love and hope for the children made them weak when facing their children. It describes not only the history of two fathers witnessing their children growing up, but also the common situation all fathers faced. The theme of parents' love and hope for children is eternal, despite how everything changes with time. Whereas in the chorus section, they sing together in harmony, further showing that they hope to build a bright future out of love for their children.

The verse-chorus form is a commonly used form for most popular music. The repetition of the chorus section emphasizes the idea of love and hope for their children, which is a typical method in modern music as well. As the future of the past is present, the form of pop music entirely fits the eternal theme.

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Left: Thomas Jefferson, Middle: George Washinton, Right: Alexander Hamilton

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As the second song of Act 2, Cabinet Battle #1 turns a long, boring debate over whether to establish a national bank into an exciting rap battle between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

The history story depicted is about Hamilton's proposal of state debt and a new national bank, to increase taxes, revenue for which the federal government was desperate. In Jefferson's verse, he argued that "the very seat of government where Hamilton sits" was the one who would benefit, pointing out that people like Hamilton were trying to gain wealth by moving the money of the products from southern states. In Hamilton's verse, he replied by saying "Your debts are paid cuz you don't pay for labor" and "you were off high with the French", attacking him about the slavery and being absent during the war. Even though Hamilton's proposal had Washington's support, he had to gather enough votes for congressional approval to avoid the removal of his position as secretary of the treasury. Without describing every detail of the cabinet meetings and the 40,000-word proposal, the contradiction between different political parties and the tension when they fought for their opinion respectively were shown thoroughly, making the audience feel like history is happening in front of them.

Apart from presenting history vividly, Cabinet Battle #1 also embodies the present. The most obvious characteristic is its format of battle rap. The rappers compete against each other using improvised verses, including insulting and boasting lyrics. First occurred in the late 1980s, battle rap is a quite modern type of rap. The features of battle rap, aggressive and competitive, overlaps with the atmosphere of cabinet debate. "Sittin' there useless as two shits / Hey, turn around, bend over, I'll show you where my shoe fits" is a classic example. It is more reasonable to put in the context of battle rap rather than cabinet meeting, showing that Hamilton defeats Jefferson aggressively. Also, as a popular genre in modern music, battle rap acts as an attraction to the audience as well. What's more, the melody as the background for the battle rap is partially the same as the one that occurred in the Ten Duel Commandments. Consequently, the melody in the back also consists of lots of minor seconds and minor thirds, embodying the impact of modern music.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/lin-manuel-miranda-work-ethic-hamilton-success-2017-12#the-musical-earned-him-tony-awards-a-pulitzer-prize-and-kennedy-center-honors-6
https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2020/07/21/history-has-its-eyes-on-us-the-importance-and-relevance-of-hamilton-today/
https://hamiltonmusical.fandom.com/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton_(song)
https://v1.padlet.pics/1/image.webp?t=c_limit%2Cdpr_2%2Ch_381%2Cw_508&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpadlet-artifacts.storage.googleapis.com%2F8ac4867f186083577665dbfcd5b815b136e2d294%2Fed242c0bd84552678c53ea649d96cb7c-h-a1f532a784bd6feb30c2f9e3cd021ab6.jpg
https://jessicadall.com/2020/07/07/truth-in-history/