Hail to the Chiefs!
I hope you’ll join me today on The Classical Network for my annual trip to the Hall of Presidents. We’ll hear works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course Washington and Lincoln.
This year, there will be a few new additions to the assembly of animatronic executives.
Abraham Lincoln inspired more music than can be crammed down a stovepipe hat. Though I already devoted an afternoon to our 16th president on his actual birthday (February 12), I’ve since unearthed a major work I haven’t played before: “Letters from Lincoln,” by Michael Daugherty. As the title suggests, Daugherty builds his character portrait of the Illinois Rail-Splitter using the president’s own words. We’ll hear it sung by Thomas Hampson.
Composer Victoria Bond has written four “portraits of presidential character.” “Soul of a Nation” was released last year on an Albany Records compact disc. Each of the orchestral pieces that make up the album includes parts for narrator and instrumental soloist. The title track incorporates a violin for Thomas Jefferson, “The Indispensible Man” a clarinet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Crowded Hours” a trumpet for Theodore Roosevelt, and “Pater Patriae” a flute for George Washington. I’ll select one of these for airplay this afternoon.
Once again, we’ll celebrate Washington (born February 22) with Virgil Thomson’s naïf ballet “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree,” a Bicentennial commission, George Antheil’s rousing concert overture, “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton),” and John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here.”
To commemorate an American president closer to our own time, Peter Lieberson composed his “Remembering JFK” for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. The moving narration, compiled from the president’s own words will be delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. Where have all the statesmen gone?
And to get us ready for The Princeton Festival’s production of John Adams’ “Nixon in China” in June, we’ll listen to “The Chairman Dances.”
As an added curiosity, Chester A. Arthur disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he asked John Philip Sousa to write a replacement anthem. We’ll find time for that too.
There won’t be any junk mail for you to sift through, and you can’t go to the bank. You might as well get those white sales out of the way early. You’ll want to be back in time to settle in for music inspired by the presidents for #PresidentsDay, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
