Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Gettysburg Address

Lincoln’s Birthday Remembered on “The Lost Chord”

It’s Super Bowl/Valentine’s Day/Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday Weekend!

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we honor our 16th president, on the anniversary of his birth (in 1809), with an hour of monumental selections.

We’ll begin with David Diamond’s setting of the Gettysburg Address as “On Sacred Ground,” a work for mixed chorus, children’s chorus, baritone solo and orchestra. The piece was given its first performance two days before the centenary of Lincoln’s actual delivery of the Address, which he presented on November 19, 1863.

After that, as a bit of a palate-cleanser, we’ll enjoy Paul Turok’s buoyant “Variations on an American Song: Lincoln and Liberty,” also composed in 1963. The song is based on a traditional Irish fiddle tune, “Rosin the Bow,” which was outfitted with new lyrics for use in Lincoln’s 1859 presidential campaign:

“Then up with our banner so glorious,
The star-spangled red-white-and-blue,
We’ll fight till our Cause is victorious,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too!”

Finally, we’ll return to Gettysburg and music by American composer Roy Harris, also born on this date, though 89 years later. Harris was born in a log cabin in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. If that doesn’t fill one with a sense of destiny, I don’t know what will!

In his day, Harris was regarded as one of America’s greatest composers, particularly renowned for his symphonies. His Symphony No. 3 is his most famous work; we’ll be hearing the Symphony No. 6, subtitled “Gettysburg.”

Each movement bears a superscription taken from the Gettysburg Address.

I. Awakening (“Fourscore and seven years ago…”);

II. Conflict (“Now we are engaged in a great civil war…”);

III. Dedication (“We are met on a great battlefield of that war…”);

IV. Affirmation (“…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…).

I hope you’ll join me for this memorial to Lincoln, on “Lincoln Portraits,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

And remember, if the game runs long, the show will be posted as a webcast at the WWFM website for you to enjoy later. It would make a fine soundtrack for any Presidents Day hootenanny.

February 12, 2023
Lincoln, the Marine Band, and Gettysburg

On November 18, 1863, the United States Marine Band accompanied President Abraham Lincoln to Gettysburg for the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery there, for which Lincoln was to deliver his celebrated Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln and the band traveled by train from Washington, by way of Baltimore and Hanover Junction. Directed by Francis M. Scala, the 27-member ensemble, which included trombonist Antonio Sousa, father of John Philip Sousa, serenaded the president on route with a lunchtime concert.

The next day, November 19th, 157 years ago this afternoon, members of “The President’s Own” performed the “Old Hundred” at the consecration and dedication ceremony, with Lincoln honoring those who fell. According to an article in the Washington Daily Morning Chronicle, the music was played “with great effect, in all its grand and sublime beauty.”

Lincoln’s Address had a more divided reception – ironic, since this modest, three-minute speech is now ensconced as one of the most hallowed pieces of American oratory. We as Americans have revered Lincoln’s noble sentiments since childhood, for generations, as well we should. It is all the more striking, when viewed through the lens of the present, for not labeling those who laid down their lives as “losers” and for delivering a message of national unity – and respect – at a time of unprecedented national conflict. It doesn’t get more patriotic than that.

A copy of the Address, signed and dated by President Lincoln, is on display in the Lincoln Room at the White House – a room apparently never visited by the outgoing administration. Here is a reminder of what Lincoln said regarding the sacrifice of those who died.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

https://www.tecom.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/527553/the-gettysburg-address-2-minutes-that-changed-a-young-nation-forever/

The Marine Band at Gettysburg:

http://tapsbugler.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lincoln-and-The-Marine-BAnd-at-Gettysburg.pdf

Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” narrated by James Earl Jones:

November 19, 2020
Presidents Day Party on WPRB with Presidential Music

It will be quite the party as we celebrate Presidents Day this morning on WPRB, what with the rhinoceri, Washington and Lincoln.

We’ll have a full playlist of presidential music, with works inspired by the Gettysburg Address, the legend of the cherry tree, and “George Washington slept here.” We’ll also have room for nods to some other presidents, including Chester Alan Arthur, who disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he commissioned John Philip Sousa to write a new piece.

Wasn’t the whole reason we tossed out the English because of their pedantic Oxford commas? Join me as we stick a feather in our cap and call it what we want, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Our commas are nothing if not uncommon, on Classic Ross Amico.

February 16, 2017
Lincoln’s Legacy in Music on The Lost Chord

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States. Above and beyond his own considerable accomplishments, Lincoln has inspired a lot of music. This Sunday on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll honor him on his birthday, with three diverse works.

Composer David Diamond set the Gettysburg Address as “On Sacred Ground,” a work for mixed chorus, children’s chorus, baritone solo and orchestra. The piece was given its first performance two days before the centenary of Lincoln’s delivery of the actual Address, which he spoke on November 19, 1863. We’ll hear it tonight, to start.

Then, as a bit of a palate-cleanser, we’ll listen to Paul Turok’s buoyant “Variations on an American Song: Lincoln and Liberty,” also composed in 1963. The melody is based on a traditional Irish fiddle tune, “Rosin the Bow,” which had been outfitted with new lyrics for use in Lincoln’s 1859 presidential campaign:

“Then up with our banner so glorious,
The star-spangled red-white-and-blue,
We’ll fight till our Cause is victorious,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too!”

Finally, we’ll return to Gettysburg and music by American composer Roy Harris, who shares Lincoln’s birthday, though born 89 years apart. Furthermore, Harris was born in a log cabin in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. If that doesn’t fill one with a sense of destiny, I don’t know what will!

In his day, Harris was regarded as one of America’s greatest composers, particularly renowned for his symphonies. His Symphony No. 3 is his most famous work; what we’ll be hearing is the Symphony No. 6, subtitled “Gettysburg.”

Each movement bears a superscription taken from the Gettysburg Address.

I. Awakening (“Fourscore and seven years ago…”);

II. Conflict (“Now we are engaged in a great civil war…”);

III. Dedication (“We are met on a great battlefield of that war…”);

IV. Affirmation (“…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…).

It’s all music in honor of the Great Emancipator. I hope you’ll join me for “Lincoln Portraits,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

February 12, 2017

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