"First Burn" Sheet Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Undoubtably one of the biggest hits that was cut from a musical, First Burn
was the first incantation of the song Burn from the Hamilton soundtrack.
Lin-Manuel Miranda penned the words and music for a song that is too
bitter to be a torch song. But its intensity strikes a deep chord.
It’s a song of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton’s outrage at her husband’s disrespect
and disloyalty. It happens when Alexander Hamilton’s affair with Maria
Reynolds is exposed in a most humiliating manner – that he even brought
her to his – and Eliza’s bed.
That passion and ferocity is reflected in First Burn’s melody, which has
more ice and fury than its replacement, Burn. It was never performed in
any of the incantations of Hamilton, but was released as a Hamildrop, a
project where new music related to Hamilton was release once a month
from December 2017 through December 2018.
