The American Choral Tapestry, Part III: Honoring America's Heroes

Part III of a three-part series on the American choral tapestry, which focuses on songs honoring America's heroes, is presented. Nearly every prominent Federal-period composer honored the country's first national hero, George Washington. Works written about Lincoln and the Civil War did no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Choral journal 2003-02, Vol.43 (7), p.9-14
Main Author: DeVenney, David P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century music
Cantatas
Choirs
Choral Music
Commemorations
Composers
Heroes
Music festivals
Musical register
Odes
Poetry
Political Influences
Solos
Vocal music
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Summary:Part III of a three-part series on the American choral tapestry, which focuses on songs honoring America's heroes, is presented. Nearly every prominent Federal-period composer honored the country's first national hero, George Washington. Works written about Lincoln and the Civil War did not appear until much later; hardly any works appeared until the mid-20th century. A large number of works have also been written to commemorate the young heroes who died fighting in the two world wars. Many of these works are musically first-rate, such as George Chadwick's "Commemoration Ode." While the deaths of John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, and Martin Luther King, Jr. shocked the US in the 1960s, works written for the elder Kennedy are hard to come by. A famous work written for Robert Kennedy and King is Roger Sessions' "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." Notes are included.
ISSN:0009-5028
2163-2170