“Nothing is more agreeable and ornamental than good music” – George Washington [June 4, 1777].
On December 8th, 2022 The Practitioners of Musick appeared in a special private performance for the annual George Washington Council dinner at The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
The concert in the Alan B. Miller “Tent” Theatre explored George Washington’s life through the popular music he enjoyed in a presentation hosted by Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, Museum President and CEO, and John Burkhalter co-artistic director of the Practitioners of Musick. The concert featured military music linked to Washington and his tent one of the most iconic surviving artifacts of the Revolution.
Additional repertory for the illustrated program, with commentary, was drawn primarily from bound volumes of 18th century manuscripts and plate printed sheet music from Great Britain and the early Federal period in America associated with the extended Washington family on deposit in Special Collections at the Fred W. Smith Library on the grounds of Mount Vernon, Virginia.
General Washington and later First President of the United States, although a fine dancer, and avid theatre goer, is not known to have played a musical instrument. Yet he and his wife, Martha, “a worthy partner” for 40 years, who had received in her youth harpsichord lessons, understood the value of music and dance as a social grace, and made sure the children under their care received a thorough musical education.
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