Anthony Philip Heinrich - Ornithological Combat of Kings

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What's a composer?  Someone who writes music.  What's a Composer?  Someone who makes a living writing music.  Unsurprisingly, the United States' first Composer was an immigrant.  The wars of Napoleon had wiped out his family, and so he sought his fortune in the New World.

To learn it, he walked through Pennsylvania to Kentucky.  This was the eighteen-teens, before new fangled things like roads.  His impressions of the wilderness made a lasting impression, and informed his music.  He became known as the first serious American composer, popular (for a while) in Europe, and known on these shores simply as "Father Heinrich".

Alas, popularity is fickle, and Heinrich died penniless.  But his is a quintessentially American journey, and his music is pretty interesting.  Actually, a lot more interesting that you might suspect.