Inviting performers, educators, and all lovers of song to explore connections between poetry and music, between history and culture, through the work of American composers and poets
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The Alcotts were a remarkable family, embracing reform movements and leaving a lasting legacy in the worlds of philosophy, education, and literature.
Author, journalist, social reformer, activist, poet, philosopher, and educator, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) wielded one of the most influential pens in African-American history. For 66 years he functioned not only as a mentor, model, and spokesman for generations of black Americans, but also as the conscience of all Americans who yearned for racial equality and social justice.
Transcendentalism was a visionary way of thinking that was widespread in 19th-century American art and thinking. Among those associated with the movement were Emerson, Thoreau, and the Alcotts. Composers who were influenced by Transcendentalist thinking include Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, and Charles Griffes.
A production of The Hampsong Foundation. It was produced by Miriam Lewin of Lavine Production Group, with camera and editing by Randi Cecchine. Our thanks to singers Catherine Swindle, Nita Baxani, and Justin Austin; pianist and composer Richard Pearson Thomas; the Stephen Gaynor School in New York City…
