The First Alpine Opera in America? The New York Public Library contains a copy of the opera in three acts by William Dunlap (1766- 1839) entitled The Archers; or, Mountaineers of Switzerland, published in New York by T. & J. Swords in 1796 and performed by the Old American Company. It is a Tell drama, based on a dramatic performance entitled Helvetic Liberty, given in London in the summer of 1794. In the American company Mr. Hodgkinson took the part of William Tell, while Mr. Cleveland enacted the part of Gesler, the scene being the town of Altdorf:

The apple clean removed and boy unhurt.

Thou hast thy liberty.