On Thursday, I presented a short recital of Skinner Anthology materials at the Hertford Academy at the request of the Murfreesboro Historical Association. The Society is one of the things that makes Murfreesboro a great place to live. It preserves our heritage and plans events that give our town lots of charm, including the Christmas Tour, the Watermelon Festival, and Porkfest. I've been wanting to get involved with the Historical Association, so I was excited about the opportunity.
The occasion was the visit of a tour group from Suffolk. The group is retracing Lafayette's journey through our region in 1824, and they came to Murfreesboro on the precise date that Lafayette did, February 26. They were treated to several museums in historic buildings in town that would have been here when Lafayette visited, and they were served a fine lunch at the Hertford Academy.
The Hertford Academy is the building in which several schools have held classes over the years, including some of the earliest classes of Chowan University. The Academy was decorated with several images and artifacts relating to Lafayette, including the pretty portrait from the Roberts-Vaughan House that always makes me think of Beethoven.
The lunch consisted of very tasty pork loin, lima beans, rolls, pickled fruit, and exquisite sweet potato soufflee, followed by a dessert of Pineapple Cake with fluffy white frosting - all prepared and served by members of the Historical Association.
After lunch, I spoke and played. The dates of the anthology fit very well with the timeframe of Lafayette and his post-American Revolution life, which included his visit to Murfreesboro.
I played two of reels that Knauff wrote down which were favorites from the Farmville area - "Love in the Village" and "Mississippi Sawyer." If he heard these, it would have been at some fete in Virginia or North Carolina.
Next I played the Herz Sontag Waltz. It is quite likely that Lafayette would have heard some Herz in some Eurpoean parlor as Herz was the best-selling composer of parlor music for piano in the era. Herz also toured the U.S. when his fortunes weren't going so well in France.
My third selection was Ogilvy/Anderson's "Battle of Warterloo." In preparation for this event, I read a bit about the relationship of Lafayette and Napoleon . Their relationship was definitely rather complicated. Being a strong supporter of representative government, Lafayette could not fully support all that Napoleon did. Napoleon must have also been concerned abot Lafayette's ideas and fame. When Napoleon held a memorial service for Washington, he didn't invite Lafayette whose own son was named for Washington! Still, after Lafayette fled to Belgium and was imprisoned, Napoleon freed him. In general, it seems that Lafayette tried to chart a course of moderation for the events of the French Revolution, and such a position must have been extremely hard to maintain and must have also been misunderstood by people on all sides of the conflict.
The last piece I played was the set of tunes from La Muette de Portici. This opera was popular towards the end of Lafayette's life, and is particularly relevant to his life journey as it deals with revolution, and revolution in Belgium in particular.
A few musical insights regarding this event:
One reel (Love in the Village) would probably have been enough!
I think all of the pieces I played on this occasion probably work best when played elegantly and with refined sound.
Hearing the "Lamentation for the Slain" in the "Battle of Warterloo" always deepens the experience in a serene way.
The picture above shows Sophie with me outside the Hertford Academy. In spite of her interest in Lafayette, I didn't take her to the performance.
