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Music reviews as we know them today did not exist in Colonial America. Look through various Colonial newspaper ads and discover accounts of musical activities. In addition to internet resources try asking in your library for microfilms or the important CD ROM "Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers." |
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Go to the library and review several colonial newspaper accounts of concerts. Can you describe a pattern they follow? |
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Read the letter Benjamin Franklin wrote to his brother about composing a song and notice how it is particularly critical of Handel's "Wise men flatt'ring may deceive us" in the oratorio "Judas Maccabeus" You can find the letter in your library in the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 11 January 1 through December 31, 1764. ed. Leonard W. Larabee. Helen C. Boatfield and James H. Hutsob, Assistant Editors. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967. pp. 538-543. |
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When was Beethoven's music first heard in this country? In what city? What piece was it? You might start by looking at the (ed. Vera Brodsky Lawrence) Strong on Music. The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. Volume 1. Resonances 1836-1849. ed. Vera Brodsky Lawrence. Paperback edition. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987 |
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Visit the web site for Colonial Williamsburg (http://www.history.org/) to discover the importance of music in that community and how it thrives in modern times. Are there any other "Colonial American" cities that have similar preservation programs? How active were their musical communities? |
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