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Published: June 15th 2017
In the year 1812, the citizens of Boston gathered to debate whether to support the growing movement to declare war on Britain. Today, the Park Service held a reenactment. It was performed in the actual room where many of the originals took place, the
Great Hall of Faneuil Hall. Now fully restored, it’s a classic federal room with colonnaded walls. A
big painting hangs behind the stage, showing a famous 1830 debate between US Senators Daniel Webster and Robert Hayne over nullification. Many political debates still take place here.
The actual debate was done by historic actors in colonial outfits. The audience played the part of undecided citizens who must ultimately vote on a resolution to support the war effort. I suspect some were surprised at how complicated the discussion became; at the time the war was not clear cut.
The War of 1812
essentially grew from a conflict that gripped Europe at the time, a battle for supremacy between England and France. The United States was officially neutral and traded with both sides. Neither liked this very much and started attacking US vessels. The British in particular forced ships and sailors captured in these attacks to join their navy, a policy called impressment.
For
The most hated building in the Commonwealth?
State House front, designed by Charles Bulfinchthe pro-war side, these attacks were not just trade losses; they were an attack on the country’s very sovereignty. The powers of Europe must be made to respect the relatively new country for the US to have influence in world affairs. Many war supporters also believed that the British were trying to retake lost territory though underhanded means, by encouraging Native American attacks on western outposts.
The anti-war side believed these issues were not serious enough to inject the country in a conflict that had brewed in Europe for centuries. Britain would almost certainly respond to war with a blockade, which would cost many Boston residents their livelihoods. The cost in both blood and treasure would be very high, and the ultimate aims were nebulous. What could the county practically gain from taking on the most powerful navy in the world?
At the end of the debate, the audience voted. Since this was a modern audience, the resolution passed handily. I suspect many were surprised when the reinactors then revealed the
actual vote went the other way. Many in New England worked in the maritime trade, and they believed being wiped out by a blockade was not worth the issues involved. In fact,
Robert Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial
Memorial to the first Civil War unit for African Americans the British enforced their blockade much less harshly in New England than other parts of the country.
Leaving the debate, I heard yet more marching music. This time it came from the
Navy Band Northeast, which played in front of Faneuil Hall. There were here, of course, to celebrate their service’s most famous ship, the USS Constitution, and the War of 1812. The repertoire consisted mostly of patriotic songs plus some specific to the navy. The band sounded quite good.
I followed the concert with a tour of a place many in the state loathe, or at best tolerate, the ‘new’
Massachusetts State House. Since this is Boston, ‘new’ means it was built in 1798 as the replacement for a smaller and older building downtown (which still stands and is now
a museum). For most citizens, our opinions of this building are intricately entwined with our opinions of the activities that take place within it. In popular legend, those activities consist of endless
acts of buffoonery interrupted by brilliance.
Our statehouse sits on the highest point of Beacon Hill. In the early days of Boston it had a beacon on top for ships, hence the name. ‘Beacon Hill’, in fact, has become a slang term
Memorial Hall
Small detail of Memorial Hall at the center of the statehouse for state government, completely ignoring the historic neighborhood that covers the rest of the hill.
The building has a mishmash of styles due to multiple expansions over the years. The section everyone remembers is the center front, designed by noted colonial architect
Charles Bulfinch. It’s a masterpiece of Federal design, all stately red brick and perfect symmetry. It’s topped by a golden done, which is covered in genuine gold leaf. During World War II the dome was painted black for fear of becoming a bombing target. The dome, in turn, is topped by a pine cone, which many mistake for a pineapple. The pine cone pays homage to the vast forests that once covered the state.
The steps in front of the façade serve as the state’s most important formal walkway. The front doors only open for heads of state and similarly important occasions. One of those is the symbolic handover of power, when the departing governor leaves the building alone; the Long Walk.
The entrance sits directly across the street from one of the state’s most important memorials, the
Robert Shaw and 54th Infantry Memorial. Civil War fans likely recognize the name; it was the first military unit for African Americans in
Mass 54th Regiment
The flag of the famous Civil War regiment memorialized outside the Civil War. They earned lasting fame by participating in the effort to retake Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, dramatized by the movie
Glory. The memorial itself is a relief by famous sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, showing Shaw surrounded by his troops.
Most visitors need to use a side entrance, and pass by a very different sort of memorial. It perfectly, and unintentionally, captured how many citizens feel about the place. The statue showed a dead white man on a horse,
General Joseph P Hooker. He was the highest ranking army officer from Massachusetts in the Civil War. The memorial had little to do with his battlefield achievements; he resigned as commander of the Army of the Potomac after only six months in 1863. I hope the supposed parallels between honoring this general and popular opinion of our law makers need no explanation.
Once through security, a guide gave the
tour of the building. It started in a marble filled room near the center of the building,
Memorial Hall. It honors the sacrifice of Massachusetts military veterans from the Revolution to the Civil War. The walls contained incredibly rare artifacts such as regimental flags. One corner had the
Army Nurse’s Memorial, sculpted by Bela Pratt. Look up to see
Commonwealth Room
Flags of the towns that make up the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting as noise dampers the stained glass skylight containing the seals of the original 13 colonies, with Massachusetts in the center (where else?)
We then passed though the
Great Hall, one of the largest open rooms in the building and the location for official functions. The room also perfectly, and unintentionally, demonstrated the popular impression of how our state government works. Until 1990, this was an open courtyard in the middle of the building. Someone then had the idea to cover it with a skylight to create a ceremonial space. Only after the money was spent did anyone seem to realize that the surrounding brick and stone walls would create enough echoes to make the project useless. Sound engineers were hired, and they suggested hanging banners to muffle the noise. Someone else then had the brilliant idea to make the banners the seals of the towns and cities that form the Commonwealth. Brilliance within incompetence, welcome to our government.
What exactly is a Commonwealth, anyway? The United States has four of them: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. In practical terms they have no difference to a state these days. Symbolically, however,
the difference is huge. A state received its charter to govern from some other political
entity; originally the king of England, later the United States. Commonwealths, by contrast, were created by those they govern to promote mutual interests, much as the original colonies formed the United States.
Next, we entered the largest room in the building, the
House of Representatives chamber. It was added in an addition in 1895. Its oval shaped with walls of hand carved mahogany. Murals on the upper level show important moments in Massachusetts history. I won’t comment on what happens in this room, except to note that the last three Speakers of the House were forced to resign after
being indicted for either corruption or fraud.
Near the center of the balcony hangs the most important sculpture in the state, the “
sacred cod”. This wooden fish, which first appeared in 1784, once represented the importance of the sea to the state’s economy. Now it symbolizes the state itself. (Ironically cod fishing is now highly restricted due to collapsing ocean stocks). The direction the fish points indicates which party is in power, which has been Democrats for decades.
The observant visitor will notice how the cod hangs just below the ceiling. That’s because
in 1933 the fish was stolen! Many blamed it on the Harvard Lampoon magazine, which was known for such pranks.
Sacred Cod
Symbol of the state, in the House Chamber The state police were not amused and sent out an all-points bulletin. Two days later the chief of the Harvard University Police received an anonymous tip. Nobody knows what it led to, but he showed up at the state house the next morning with the cod, unharmed.
A long corridor filled with oil portraits led back into the oldest part of the building and another chamber. This one was much smaller and older, with white columns and a dozen statues along the walls. A circle of desks surrounded a podium. It’s the original House chamber in Bulfinch’s design, located directly under the golden dome. Now it’s used by the
State Senate, which took over after the House moved to their current quarters.
The oil portraits were all former Senate Presidents. The most recognizable to current residents is likely Billy Bulger, who ran the Senate with an iron hand for two decades. He is also the younger brother of notorious (and now jailed) mob boss
James “Whitey” Bulger. Some voters
do not consider this a coincidence.
The paintings also contained a name that surprises many visitors,
Calvin Coolidge. Born in Vermont, “Silent Cal” moved to western Massachusetts in 1892 to attend college. Afterwards, he began a remarkable
Senate Chamber
State Senate, in the original House Chamber political career winning election to practically every office he could hold. In 1923, he became President of the United States. Given his success, why is he so little known? He accomplished his feats as a Republican in the decades before the Great Depression. In1932 the state turned solidly Democrat, and these leaders viewed Coolidge as an embarrassing skeleton to keep buried deep in the closet. The portrait, in fact, is one of his few acknowledgements in the state outside his adopted hometown of Northampton.
Massachusetts Governors are often referred to as holding “the corner office”. It’s a literal description; the governor’s office is located in
a front corner of the original Bulfinch building. For security reasons, we did not get to see it, but we did get a peek at his secretary’s desk outside. After that the tour was over.
Tour completed, I headed for today’s central event, the
Boston Pops rehearsal. It was once a deep area secret that the Boston Pops held a full open rehearsal of their July 4
th concert the night before. Thanks to trees on the Esplanade, attending this concert was the only way to see both the performance and the fireworks. The concert is well publicized
Senate Chamber detail
Seal above the Senate President's podium now, so it’s become quite popular.
WARNING: The arrangements, particularly security arrangements, for the Boston Pops July 4
th concert change every year. What I’ve written below is accurate to when I attended but is likely completely different to the current experience. Before attending, research the setup
on the official website.
Most long time attendees believe things have changed for the worse over the decades. To an extent it’s the usual old timer complaints, but there’s also substance behind them. Attending the Pops is much more of a hassle than it used to be. Time for my rant on the subject. For my impression of the actual concert, skip the next six paragraphs.
Part of the complaints focus on the music. Legendary Pops conductor
Arthur Fielder started a
series of outdoor classical music concerts in 1929 to bring the music to a larger audience. The July 4
th show was just one of many at the time. The programs consisted of popular symphonies, show tunes, big band music, and folk. As popular music tastes evolved, so did the programming. Serious music slowly faded away in favor of pop songs. The first
guests on July 4
th showed up in the 1970s. Bit by bit the concert became a pop
Calvin Coolidge
Future US President Calvin Coolidge from his time as State Senate President music showcase with an orchestral backdrop.
That I could live with. The negative changes for me concern the steadily worse experience for those who see it in person; thanks to TV, VIPs, and security. The show was first telecast in the 1970s on the local PBS station that showed other Pops concerts. They kept the cameras in the background and let the music speak for itself. All that changed when the Pops signed a national broadcast agreement with CBS. For starters, they moved the show one hour later to maximize their audience. Going to work the day after the concerts had always been a pain; now it is a serious exercise in sleep deprivation. Equally bad, CBS put cameras everywhere shrinking the sightlines for everyone else by huge amounts.
Those sightlines are shrunk even more by VIP areas. Arthur Fiedler stated early on that the July 4
th concert belonged to all citizens, so the entire area would always be free and open to anyone. The current organizers have followed his wishes. However, he said nothing about July 3
rd. The first fenced off VIP areas appeared in the 1990s, and have grown ever larger since. Most of the passes
The Corner Office (almost)
The Massachusetts Governor's secretary's desk go to active duty military and people connected with the organizers, but a sizable enough donation to the Pops will certainly produce them too.
Both TV and VIP hassles pale compared to the worst issue, the security arrangements. Until 2001, the concert site was completely open and people could get a usable spot at nearly any time before the music started. People knew this and tended to show up after work. The state police hated the crowding but couldn’t do much about it.
After the terrorist attacks that year, the police surrounded the concert site with a fence and anyone entering had to go through a search. That fence also allowed them to stop admitting people when “too many” have arrived. Naturally, people started arriving earlier and earlier to ensure a spot, forming huge lines. Once those appeared, security started keeping people out of the area longer and longer so the TV crews could set up their equipment. The end result is that seeing the concert now requires spending hours in line in the hot sun, instead of hanging out for a few hours on the grass.
On arrival, I learned that arrangements had gotten worse than
Waiting for security
The scene waiting in line for the security gates to open ever. CBS decided to hold a full dress rehearsal of the guest artists before the concert stated. Yes, a rehearsal for the rehearsal! This meant that anyone wanting to see the show had to stand (or sit) in the security line longer than ever, hearing the music we could not see. Security finally opened the gates two hours before start time. On entry, we then got another big insult; the network had parked a full size bus advertising their shows in the middle of the grass. Combined with the enormous VIP areas, this meant the usable sightlines for everyone else had been reduced to almost zero. I managed to get a spot with a view of the stage next to a VIP fence, but wasn’t easy. Most of the people in line shouldn’t have bothered. Honestly, if this keeps up I’ll stop attending.
The show, aside from all that hassle, was quite good. Like all July 4
th concerts for the last few decades, the Pops mostly served as backing musicians for a succession of guest artists. These, thankfully, were well chosen (one of the few ways CBS’s clout actually helped the show). The first guests were the
United States Navy Sea Chanters, the
Star Spangled Banner
Sea Chanters (on left) and Boston Pops perform the National Anthem Navy’s premier vocal chorus. They were here, of course, due to the celebration of the USS Constitution and the War of 1812. They sang the National Anthem that opens the show ever year and a selection of traditional Navy songs.
The version on the 4th:
Later we got a crowd favorite, the
Dropkick Murphys. Formed in Boston in 1996, they have accomplished the remarkable feat of blending traditional Irish music with punk rock. In 2006 the group became instant Boston icons when their song “I'm Shipping up to Boston” was featured on The Departed soundtrack. The Boston Pops created an acoustic version soon afterward that has become a staple of their repertoire. The band and Pops played a short acoustic set that ended with that crowd pleaser.
The best video available, from the 4th:
They led to the headliner,
Jennifer Hudson. Famously, she came in second on the first season of American Idol, and then became a star singing in the movie Showgirls. She sang one song, a tease for later on. The crowd cheered.
Only two pieces of true classical music remain in the concert, the first of which was the
1812 Overture.
Dropkick Murphys
Irish American punk rock meets the symphony. It works! Arthur Fiedler selected it as the closing symphony in 1974 because he considered the final movement perfect to shoot fireworks to. Classical lovers fully appreciate the irony of an overture that celebrates the Russian victory over Napoleon being played in an American Independence Day celebration.
The overture held its position until CBS showed up. Their executives considered the music too long and serious for their viewership. Accordingly, the Pops were forced to move it to just before intermission, right before the CBS broadcast begins. The Pops clearly loved playing it, and did it well, and this crowd clearly loved hearing it live. Famously, the cannon fire required by the overture were done by actual mortars, which people could see from the right place in the oval.
As the overture faded away,
Mike Chiklis, who grew up an hour from here in Lowell, came on to the stage. He had the tricky job of not just introducing the acts for CBS, but also pretending it was the 4
th without making the pretense so obvious the audience groaned. CBS uses the tape of this show as backup in case it rains the next day. Chiklis made lots of references to “Independence
Patriotic Sing-Along
The Sea Chanters show the rest of us how to sing Day” without ever mentioning the date.
The Sea Chanters returned to the stage for one of the concert’s crowd favorites, the patriotic sing-a-long. It’s one of only two items from the early days still performed in the concert. The songs were all American patriotic standards first learned in grade school, such as “
Yankee Doodle Dandy”. The crowd loved it, although the Sea Chanters put us to shame : )
Later, Jennifer Hudson came back out for her starring moment. She performed three songs this time, ending with “I Tell you I’m not Going” from Showgirls, which has become her calling card. She had quite the voice, and got a standing ovation from the crowd.
The performance from the 3rd:
Hudson led to the final performance. In 1897,
John Phillip Sousa composed a famous march called the
Stars and Stripes Forever. The Boston Pops immediately loved it, so did their audiences, and by 1899 it became their signature encore. The march never appears in the program, but everyone knows they will hear it at the closing of every concert. CBS executives apparently love it too, and the Pops play it as the final music before the fireworks. It is essentially the only
Stars and Stripes Forever
US flag drops during the final movement of the famous march classical music in the national broadcast.
Needless to say, the Pops knew this was their moment to shine, and they took full advantage of it. Their energy was infectious, and it spread to the crowd. People clapped along, and a few danced. Few know that
Sousa also wrote a chorus to go along with his march; the Sea Chanters came out to sing it during the second movement. For the final movement, a huge United States flag hidden in the roof of the Hatch Shell dropped over the orchestra, as cannons covered the audience in confetti. Tomorrow this will lead directly into the fireworks, but tonight it marked the end of the show.
The performance from the 3rd:
Getting home tonight was a pain, with lots of crowded access paths. Tomorrow will be much worse.
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Lisa
non-member comment
Love your posts
These last few posts are really making me miss New England.