Just before his Library of Congress recital, internationally renowned American baritone Thomas Hampson visited with 29 K-12 teachers from across the nation who are participating in the NEH-sponsored Banner Moments Teacher Institute. He was particularly keen to share his own educational effort — the Song of America website. Targeting users from K-12 students to fellow…
Month: July 2014
What Was that Tune on CNN?—The Hewitt Spangled Banner (1817)
CNN introduced its interview with baritone Thomas Hampson (click here to view) with a recording from our Poets & Patriots project. It is indeed an early setting of Key’s famous text, but is certainly not the melody the lyricist had imagined. Nevertheless, it was a relatively well known version in the 1820s, especially in the…
Star Spangled "Festival Overture" To Be Premiered by Reno Orchestra & Laura Jackson
On the Fourth of July at Lake Tahoe, Maestro Laura Jackson and the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra will premiere a new “Star Spangled Music Edition” of American composer Dudley Buck’s “Festival Overture on the American National Air” (1879). The Reno orchestra commissioned and premiered Michael Gandolfi’s patriotic cantata Chesapeake: Summer of 1814, last year.One of America’s…
Guest Post—Wayne Baker on Symbolic Patriotism
Originally published on OurValues.OrgWHENEVER the president delivers his State of the Union address, one thing we’re sure to see is a display of American symbols—the flag aplenty, the elaborate protocol of the president’s invitation and entry into the House of Representatives, and more.How do you feel when you see these American symbols and rituals? Does…