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Music in the Time of Jefferson: 18th-century compositions for a revolutionary generationMUSIC HISTORY

Professor Neely Bruce is a composer, conductor, pianist, and scholar of American music. With Colonial-era  society and culture receiving fresh attention and interpretation in the context of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the music and personalities of that era have much to tell us. This course will look at composers active or being performed in the period extending from 1720 to the 1790s: William Billings, Benjamin Carr, John Hewitt, and Arcangelo Corelli (Jefferson's favorite). Topics will  include eighteenth-century popular dances, music and the Wesley brothers, America’s first Black composer, and the beginning of the shaped-note tradition. Special attention will be paid to music born of the American Revolution and the early music of Anthony Philip Heinrich, "the Beethoven of America.”

Instructor: Neely Bruce

3 Tuesdays, Dec. 2, 9, 16 4:00–5:30 pm, Wesleyan Music Department classroom: 300 High Street