Knickerbocker Holiday
1938 musical with music by Kurt Weill, book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson
Knickerbocker Holiday is a 1938 musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics), based loosely on Washington Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York about life in 17th-century New Netherland (old New York). The musical numbers include "September Song", now considered a pop standard.
The musical is set in 1647 Manhattan, at the time of the arrival of Peter Stuyvesant, the new Director-General of New Netherland. The local politician Tienhoven is selling brandy and firearms to the Indians, and his prospective son-in-law Brom Broeck is aware of his political corruption. Tienhoven arranges for Broeck to be executed by hanging, but Stuyvesant pardons the young man. Broeck and his new patron are both planning to marry the same woman.
Plot summary
The action is narrated by 19th-century author Washington Irving, who announces his intent to write a history of the original Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The story opens in Manhattan in 1647, where the colony awaits the arrival of its new Governor from Holland, Peter Stuyvesant. Irving selects the young Brom Broeck as his hero. Broeck is a brave but impulsive fellow who becomes enraged if anyone tries to give him orders.
The public source identifies “Knickerbocker Holiday” as 1938 musical with music by Kurt Weill, book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Knickerbocker, Holiday and musical.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1236039. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1938 and 1647.
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This entry incorporates text from “Knickerbocker Holiday” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.