Some pre-presidential derring-do on the part of General George Washington: “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton)” by Trenton native George Antheil:
A quick primer on Antheil here – worth 5 ½ minutes of your time – including a little background on this stirring concert overture.
https://www.pbs.org/video/state-arts-njso-plays-mcconkeys-ferry-george-antheil/
It’s the 285th birthday of George Washington. Get ready for George Antheil’s “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton).” It will kick off an afternoon of music including birthday celebrations for American composer Lowell Liebermann (his 56th) and Danish composer Niels Wilhelm Gade (his 200th). We’ll also remember conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who died yesterday at the age of 93. All in all, it’s shaping up to be an eventful show. Listen in from 4 to 7 p.m. EST on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
I was thinking of ol’ Abe Lincoln, who was known to walk 20 miles through all weather to borrow and return books, as I trudged from the parking lot this morning with temperatures in the mid-teens. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the layout of the Princeton University campus, the parking lot is not close. But Abe would have done it, uphill through a raging snow storm, in order to enrich your day with music about the presidents.
Today is Lincoln’s birthday (born 1809). We’ll honor our 16th president, with Lincoln-inspired music by George Frederick McKay, David Diamond, Robert Russell Bennett, Roy Harris and John Williams, among others. Since Monday is a federal holiday established to honor the birth of George Washington (in 1732), we’ll have works inspired by him, as well, composed by Virgil Thomson, Seymour Bernstein and John Lampkin, again among others.
In addition, we’ll have music written for or inspired by some of our other presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Chester A. Arthur. As time allows, we may also hear some 19th century campaign songs.
It will be like hurling silver dollar after silver dollar across the Potomac this morning, from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I cannot tell a lie, on Classic Ross Amico.
#AbrahamLincoln
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
Taking to heart the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, I’ll attempt to break with tradition by actually planning in advance my radio show for tomorrow on WPRB.
February 12 is Lincoln’s birthday. We will honor our 16th president and look ahead to the three-day weekend with music inspired by Lincoln and also George Washington (whose birthday is February 22), for whom, after all, the holiday, known in the colloquial as Presidents Day, was coined.
A conflict arises in that while combing my collection I’ve also come across a number of interesting pieces written for other presidents, such as JFK, Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Chester A. Arthur. Do I include them, or do I follow a strict Lincoln-Washington regimen? Decisions, decisions. A house divided against itself cannot plan!
If it comes down to an Iowa-style coin toss, one thing is certain: you can still count on plenty of presidential music, with works like George Antheil’s “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington in Trenton),” Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 6 “Gettysburg,” Virgil Thomson’s “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree,” John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here,” Paul Turok’s “Lincoln and Liberty,” and selections from John Williams’ score for the Steven Spielberg film, “Lincoln.”
We’ll be doing our best to get you in the mood for the white sales, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time, on Classic Ross Amico.
To tide you over, here are a couple of links to extremely rare symphonies inspired by Lincoln, neither of which, to my knowledge, has ever received a commercial recording:
Daniel Gregory Mason’ Symphony No. 3 “Lincoln” (1936)
Jaromir Weinberger’s “Lincoln Symphony” (1941)
Yes, that’s the same Weinberger who composed “Schwanda the Bagpiper!”
#AbrahamLincoln
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