Скачать или смотреть Hailing Columbia: Music and Politics in the Founding Era

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin, among many other educated people of the early republic, believed that music had powerful and predictable effects on the body, mind, heart, and even soul. Occasions for music during the period abounded: celebrations of the Fourth of July, the ratification of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s birthday, Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration, the Louisiana Purchase, and many more. The jollity of these celebrations also can be attributed to the ample supply of liquor and the many toasts to the republic which accompanied it.

By harnessing the power of music for civic and political events like these, presidents and politicians aimed to create political harmony for themselves, their causes, and their country.

With the collaboration of musicians from the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Kirsten Wood (Florida International University) will provide an opportunity to listen to the music of the early republic and understand the political and metaphysical purposes behind the programming of such songs as “Hail Columbia,” “Jefferson and Liberty,” and “To Anacreon in Heaven,” better known today as the melody for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Center for Presidential History: http://www.smu.edu/CPH

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