Maryland State Archives
Museum Online
Straddling Secession:
Thomas Holliday Hicks
and the Beginning of the Civil War in Maryland
Cipriano Ferrandini's life has sparked much speculation. Because he
worked as a barber in Barnum's City Hotel, Ferrandini may well have had
occasion to encounter another man who sought to assassinate Abraham
Lincoln-John Wilkes Booth. Indeed, Booth was known to frequent the hotel
when he was in Baltimore. The intriguing prospect of a meeting between Booth
and Ferrandini was the inspiration for Hollis Thoms to write "The
Moustache," an opera imagining what might have happened had the two men ever
crossed paths. Shown here are two pages from the opera's score.
At left is a portion of an early scene, where Booth and a barmaid named
Abigail sing "If You've Only Got a Moustache," by Civil War-era musician
Stephen Foster. On the right is an excerpt from a scene near the end of
the opera in which Ferrandini talks about a speech given by Lincoln prior
to his inauguration in 1861.
To read the script of "The Moustache,"
click here.
Click on images to enlarge
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