Fiction and Fact in Shaw’s Account of Major Barbara’s Salvation Army Origins

On various occasions over the years, Shaw supplied an authoritative account of how he came to think of and write Major Barbara—especially with respect to its Salvation Army sources. But his dramatic imagination colored his recollection of events and their reconstruction. Shaw’s account of the drama’s composition is not only incomplete but defective, requiring a sorting out of fact from fiction. This article by the late Sidney P. Albert contributes toward that end, while also making available for the first time the sheet music of the actual Salvation Army march Shaw had in mind for use in its production.