The only known complete sets of band books from a Confederate band in the American Civil War are among the rarities in the Moravian Music Foundation's collections. These were brought to Salem because the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band C.S.A. was comprised wholly of Moravian musicians from Salem. This recording, based on new scholarly editions of the works, reveals new insights into the rich musical heritage of the South, and indeed of the whole nation, in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The twenty-three pieces selected for this recording－drawn from the extensive repertoire of the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band－includes works of national or regional significance, including patriotic tunes; works unique to the 26th N. C. Regimental Band, including the Moravian chorales and works written or arranged by members of the band; ballads representative of the sentimental airs popular in mid-nineteenth-century America; favorite themes from operas; and novelty tunes.
This repertoire thus consists of a cross-section of the popular music of the United States at that time. Naturally, some of the tunes are associated with the Confederacy (Bonnie Blue Flag; Dixie; 26th Regiment Quickstep; Old North State; Maryland! My Maryland!; Southern Victorial March). Other marches were taken from operas (the slow march from Donizetti's Belisario, a quickstep containing themes from Verdi's Il Trovatore); others were indigenous to the 26th North Carolina band itself (26th Regiment Quickstep, Col. Hoke's March) or to other Southern bands.
Ballads and waltzes were an essential part of any concert (Rock Me to Sleep, Mother; Lorena; Stephen Foster's Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming). Novelty tunes and polkas provided a lighter touch (Here's Your Mule Gallop, India Rubber Overcoat). Finally, there are three examples of the 26th North Carolina Regiment bandsmen's beloved Moravian chorales－tunes for the Easter Sunrise Service (Sleepers Wake, Covenant, Die Ehre Gottes).
