05.
Throughout our history, America has gone to war with bravado and with anguish. Songs have helped shape those emotions, and express them—inspiring us to battle, sustaining our courage, giving us a way to lament our losses.
Related Educational ResourcesSong listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number:
In Flanders Fields
Charles Ives
John McCrae
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Wolfram Rieger, piano
Record#: Recital in Portland, Oregon, 2009
Song Collection: Three Songs of the War
A Song of Liberty (op. 49)
Amy Marcy Beach
Frank Lebby Stanton
Record#: New World Records 80276 (Sherrill Milnes, baritone; Jon Spong, harpsichord)
Bunker Hill
Andrew Law
Nathaniel Niles
Record#: WW1776 (The Western Wind ensemble: William Zukof, William Lyon Lee, Lawrence Bennett, Elliot Z. Levine, and Raymond Murcell, singers; Paul Fleischer, piccolo; Allen Herman, snare drum)
The Star-Spangled Banner
John Stafford Smith
Francis Scott Key
Record#: No recording information (Reinald Werrenrath, baritone; orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternack)
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia Ward Howe
Record#: Romophone 87002-2 (Louise Homer, contralto; orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret)
Dixie
Daniel Decatur Emmett
Daniel Decatur Emmett
Record#: Marston 52047-2 (Mary Lewis, soprano; orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon)
All Quiet along the Potomac Tonight
John Hill Hewitt
Ethel Lynn Beers
Record#: New World Records 80202 (John Aler, tenor; Lawrence Skrobacs, piano)
Over There
George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
Record#: Archeophone 5007 (Norah Bayes, singer; orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternack Norah Bayes, singer; orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternack)
He Is There!
Charles Ives
John McCrae
Record#: Argo 125294 (Samuel Ramey, bass-baritone; Warren Jones, piano)
Song Collection: Three Songs of the War
Shiloh: A Requiem
Hugo Weisgall
Herman Melville
Record#: Orfeo d'Or C707062 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Wolfram Rieger, piano)
Song Collection: Soldier Songs
So Pretty
Leonard Bernstein
Record#: KTC-1037 (Roberta Alexander, soprano; Tan Crone, piano)
A Night Battle
Ned Rorem
Walt Whitman
Record#: PHCD 116 (Donald Gramm, baritone; Eugene Istomin, piano)
Song Collection: War Scenes
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
George Crumb
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
Thomas Hampson, baritone, and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Record#:
Song Collection: The Winds of Destiny: American Songbook IV
Many Americans have had to raise their voices to be recognized or even heard in America. In this program, we hear songs of African Americans and Native Americans; women, immigrants, and war resisters; and voices from the labor movement and the gay rights movement.
Charles Ives was unprecedented at suiting his musical style to the story he wanted to tell, and he created dozens of surprising “snapshots in song” of what it was like to be alive in America during his lifetime.
