Course: Five Yankee Tunesmitths
University of Pittsburgh Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Every Wednesday afternoon for five weeks.
Singers and non-singers alike will enjoy learning about the choral music of early New England, where a generation of composers trained by itinerant singing masters created a new musical idiom. This course focuses on five talented but lesser-known composers of the time. Their music was made for the worship and recreation of ordinary people. It has interesting sacred and secular texts, some of them humorous, many solemn. We explore the cultural history and the subsequent fate of this delightful music. If we have enough singers for three or four parts, we will learn to sing selections from these works. Players of melody instruments (cello, violin, flute, etc.) will also be welcome to join in the music.
(see Osher site)