Saul Broudy, Ph.D.
Folklorist and Performer
All Over This Land: American Regional Folk Music
Though society is becoming increasingly homogeneous, regional expressive variation still exists and reflects the strength of our cultural differences. Through live performance (and occasional tapes of "the real thing"), Saul Broudy presents grassroots songs from various regions, such as Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, California, the Appalachians, and Canada, and discusses how these songs help us identify who we are and where we came from.
Saul Broudy, Ph.D.
Folklorist and Performer
Oh, You Saigon Girls, Can’t You Dance the Polka!: Folksongs of Americans in the Vietnam War
Few are aware of the large body of songs that grew out of the American presence in Vietnam. Vietnam vet Saul Broudy, who collected songs from helicopter pilots during his Army tour of duty and went on to analyze them at Penn's graduate program in folklore, will talk about the role songs and other folklore played in military life in Vietnam and how they reflect everyday life "in country." He will present them both through live performance and tape-recordings actually made in Vietnam.
Saul Broudy, Ph.D.
Folklorist and Performer
Singing Workers: American Occupational Folksong
Before modern mass-media and widespread literacy, workers in various occupations made their own songs to express emotions, convey information, tell stories, solidify group identity and help them make it through the day. Through live performance, Saul Broudy presents the songs of railroad workers, coal miners, farmers, hobos, truck-drivers, pilots and other workers, and discusses the role this music played in the workers’ lives.
John Burkhalter
Independent scholar and lecturer
18th Century: A Capital Concert of Music as Can Be Heard in Dublin
Concert-going in Dublin in the 18th century was very much part of the social life of the ruling Anglo-Irish. Although Dublin is located on the periphery of Europe, the city became a stop on the itinerary of internationally renowned musicians traveling between the main European centers of London and Paris. It is therefore surprising how active musical life in Dublin was and how many musicians of international standing did visit the city. Among the most important was none other than George Frideric Handel.
John Burkhalter
Independent scholar and lecturer
Mr. Jefferson and His Music
Polymath Thomas Jefferson, the “Sage of Monticello” was ardent in his devotion to music. Jefferson owned numerous instruments imported from London and an extraordinary collection of printed music. He believed that music was indispensable to the fabric of culture and civilization in fact “a most delightful recreation.” A brief illustrated lecture will be complemented with a performance of music drawn from Mr. Jefferson’s 1783 inventory of musical holdings.
John Burkhalter
Independent scholar and lecturer
Musical Life in Colonial Williamsburg
In 18th-century Williamsburg the study of music was a subject of serious interest and social refinement. Harpsichords and other musical instruments were imported for Williamsburg’s town houses and nearby plantations. The presentation will be based on one of the most important Colonial music inventories known, that of "Mr. Ogle, musick master lately arrived in Williamsburg from London."
Robert W. Butts
Conductor and Lecturer
From Shakespeare to Sunset Boulevard: The Story of the Broadway Musical
Few musical forms are so distinctively American as the Broadway musical. Growing from plays with songs to full-blown musicals, the Broadway show emerged at the beginning of the 20th century with a vitality drawn from the spirit and talents of the lyricists, composers and performers. It developed fully during a Golden Age of theatrical music led by the creative personalities of Rogers, Hammerstein, Lerner, Loewe, Kern, Porter, Gershwin, Bernstein, Webber and Sondheim. As the 21th century begins, the Broadway musical remains one of the world’s most popular musical formats, reflecting the styles, trends and personalities of all who enter its exciting world.
Robert W. Butts
Conductor and Lecturer
Great Composers
Concert music composition is dominated by individuals with unique talents and the ability to create music for large-scale productions that are part of the world’s musical repertoare. The individual composers are as fascinating and varied as their masterpieces. Composers that can be discussed individually include Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Verdi, Puccini, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Bernstein and Gershwin.
Robert W. Butts
Conductor and Lecturer
Mozart: The Creativity of Genius
Perhaps no composer in history has held center stage as strongly as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In a very short lifetime, Mozart contributed more works to the standard concert repertoire than anybody. Yet at the time he died he was comparatively little known outside his own circle, and due to his poverty he could be buried only in a mass unmarked grave. While the legends and myths that have surrounded the composer even while he was alive have in recent years been questioned, the mysteries and surprises continue to interest and inspire listeners.
Robert W. Butts
Conductor and Lecturer
Opera: Musical Tales of Romance and Passion
Opera began as an intellectual experiment in Florence and almost immediately spread throughout the Europeans and the Americans. The stories of human emotion and passion captured the imagination of writers, librettists and composers, often inspiring them to their greatest creative heights. Discussion will focus on famous composers of the Baroque, Classical, early and late Romantic, and the Modern Era.
Robert W. Butts
Conductor and Lecturer
Verdi and Puccini: Masters of Music and Passion
In the 19th century, Guiseppe Verdi became a world figure through his creation of operatic standards and his fight for Italian unification. The characters and passions of Verdi’s operatic masterpieces continue to excite audiences 150 years later and the music has become part of popular musical heritage from “La Donna e Mobile” through the “Anvil Chorus.” Few works are as loved as are the operas of Giacomo Puccini. Puccini’s ability to touch the deepest of romantic emotions and let them sing has moved audiences around the world from the youthful exuberance and tragic loves of La Boheme through the poignant heartbreak of Madama Butterfly and the triumphant challenges of Turandot. Puccini’s romantic style has been a major influence on film and Broadway composers, and his stories have remained inspirations for poets, playwrights and composers.
Nina Deutsch
Pianist and Lecturer
Classic Broadway with a Twist
The music and personalities of the great Broadway composers including Gershwin, Rodgers, Kern, Berlin and Bernstein are brought to life when pianist and speaker Nina Deutsch takes center stage. This program will include classic favorites such as Tonight, Maria, The Sound of Music, Always, Can’t Help Loving Dat Man and many others. Nina will also share interesting biographical details about the composers. The songs are done as sing-a-longs with the audience.
Nina Deutsch
Pianist and Lecturer
The Life Story and Music of Major American Composers
The speaker will discuss any of the following composers: George Gershwin, Charles Ives, Cole Porter, Marvin Hamlisch, Bob Dylan, Jerry Bock, Sigmund Romberg, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein.
Mel Glazer
Songwriter and Lecturer
An American Icon: Frank Sinatra's Legacy
This program looks at Frank Sinatra's singing style, technique, and legacy to illuminate what sets him apart from other popular singers of his era. Travel the streets of Hoboken in the 1920s, where Sinatra experienced the ills of poverty and prejudice. Learn how he raised the standards of popular music, bringing show music, and all the famous names associated with it, to mainstream America. Hear how his reading of songs advanced the age-old discussion as to whether lyrics, in fact, are also poetry.
Allan Jaffe
Composer/Guitarist
New Ragtime Guitar: A Musical and Historical View of America's First Popular Musical Fad
Allan Jaffe will explore the musical and social origins of piano ragtime, focusing on the music of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and James Scott, among others. He will next introduce the audience to the music of three great ragtime guitarists, Arthur “Blind” Blake, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Reverend Gary Davis, showing how these artists incorporated techniques from piano ragtime into their own particular form of acoustic blues. The third part of the presentation deals with his own rags, which effectively fuse the two styles of ragtime together, while incorporating elements of more contemporary forms of American music, i.e. Jazz, Funk, and Blues. The result is a new form of acoustic solo guitar music.
Stephen F. Marcone, Ph.D.
Professor of Music and Chairperson, The William Paterson College of New Jersey
The Big Band Era
The 1930s was the decade of the great big bands of American jazz. This discussion includes the stylistic differences of bands of that era due to race, location and other influences. Audio and video examples include, among others, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Harry James.
Stephen F. Marcone, Ph.D.
Professor of Music and Chairperson, The William Paterson College of New Jersey
The Music of the 1950s
The discussion includes the massive changes in the listening tastes of America over the decade that evolved from the popular songs by Nat "King" Cole, Perry Como, Doris Day, and Pat Boone to the early rock and roll artists. Audio and video examples include the above mentioned artists plus the early pioneers of rock.
