A Musical Life - Early Music America

A Musical Life
Our founding father was
also a musical maven
By Edward A. Mauger
and Julianne Baird
Benjamin
T
Franklin ever splurged on was a
whistle. “Charmed by the sound,” the
HE ONLY CHILDHOOD ITEM
seven-year old Ben emptied his pocketful of Christmas coins into the owner’s
hands, paying four times the whistle’s
true cost. His older brothers teased him
into tears over the extravagant
purchase, but seven decades
later, Franklin would
draw on that childhood
episode as a life lesson about overspending: “Don’t
give too much for
the whistle.”
Music was an
important, in fact,
an essential part of
Franklin’s life. From
broadside ballads to
the compositions of
Handel and Gluck, he
enjoyed and performed a wide variety
of musical styles. He
was proficient enough
on the guitar to teach it,
sophisticated enough
to own a split-octave
ILLUSTRATION: RUSH KRESS
harpsichord and debate the merits of
different temperaments, and also familiar enough with the masters to sell
the concertos of Geminiani and
the sonatas of Corelli in his Philadelphia print shop. He was so devoted to
his viola da gamba – stolen during the
British occupation – that he ordered a
replacement when in his eighties.
Ben Franklin was born into a musical
family in 1706, the 10th son and 15th
child of soap and candle maker Josiah
Franklin. Some of his favorite childhood memories were evenings when his
father played the violin and sang in his
“clear pleasing voice.” Franklin also
sang throughout his life – ballads, tavern
songs, political satires, his favorite Scottish folk ballads, and love songs such as
Gluck’s famous “Che Faro Euridice” –
and he sent to London for catches and
glees so that his singing clubs could harmonize together.
Franklin’s childhood was spent in
Boston, a Puritan city torn between the
repressed and the irrepressible. Proponents of instrumental music were criticized as “a company of young upstarts;
they spend too much time about learning, and tarry out a-nights disorderly.”
Visiting sailors were threatened with
five-shilling fines for dancing and
singing in the waterfront taverns.
When Ben was 14, he wrote the verses for two ballads about nautical incidents. As a boy who dreamed about
running off to sea, he must have been
proud of his verses, although he later
called them “wretched stuff.” In fact,
his “hankering for the Sea” so alarmed
his father, who had already lost one son,
that he decided to indenture Ben to
another son, James, who was establishing a printing business in Boston. Two
events reported in the Boston News Letter,
a tragic drowning in the Boston Harbor
and the capture of Blackbeard the
Pirate inspired these ballads. “The
Downfal of Pyracy,” set to the tune of
“What is greater joy and pleasure,” has
been attributed by scholar Ellen Cohn
to young Benjamin. Cohn notes that the
verses are “just crude enough to suggest
a young author”:
When the bloody Fight was over,
We’re indorm’d by a Letter writ,
Teach’s head was made a Cover,
To the Jack Staff of the Ship;
Thus they sailed to Virginia,
And when they the Story told,
How they kill’d the Pirates many,
They’d Applause from young and
old.
The enterprising youth may have
even tried busking, but his pragmatic
father “discouraged [me]…by ridiculing
my performance, and telling me versemakers were generally beggars.” Still,
Franklin retained a lifelong love of ballads and tavern songs.
In 1723, this bright, confident, and
adventurous young man, with a healthy
disdain for overbearing authority, defied
his father and his bossy brother James
and ran away, not to sea, but to Philadelphia. Although the city’s cultural life
was probably even more dismal than
Boston’s – the Quakers considered
music, dance, and theatre “a waste of
God’s time” – the political climate in
a city that fostered “Liberty of Conscience” was considerably more appealing to the ambitious writer and apprentice publisher.
A year later, he found himself
stranded in England on Christmas Eve
– no job, few funds, and none of the
letters of introduction that had been
promised by the glad-handing Pennsylvania Governor Keith. The resilient
young man quickly landed a job in a
London printing house. While his fellow workers ducked out for well-lubricated afternoon repasts, Franklin stayed
behind, saving his funds to haunt London’s book stalls and attend “plays and
other places of amusement.”
In the London of that time, no ticket
was hotter than an opera by George
Frideric Handel. In 1725 alone, Handel
premiered two operas, Tammerlano and
Rodelinda, and he revived his huge hit
from the previous year, Giulio Cesare.
While there are no references from
Franklin about attending these operas
(he was unlikely to have described this
to his already disapproving father),
Franklin’s later writings show a deep
familiarity with the composer’s music.
After nearly two years in London,
Benjamin Franklin sailed back to
Ben’s Birthday – January 17
A sampling of what early music groups and others have done and will do to celebrate the grand occasion
Amherst Early Music
Events at AEM’s “Winter Weekend” at Rutgers University in Camden
Franklin in Philadelphia
Historic walking tour with Ed Mauger of “Philadelphia on Foot”
January 14
Franklin: International Man of Harmony
A gala faculty concert with special guest Cecilia Brauer,
glass armonica, and soprano Julianne Baird
January 15
Colonial Williamsburg
Benjamin Franklin’s Birthday Bash
with Dean Shostak, glass armonica
January 14
Music in the Life of Benjamin Franklin
with David and Ginger Hildebrand
January 15
Philomel Baroque Orchestra
A nine-concert tercentenary festival in the Philadelphia area
Franklin’s London
with guest artists soprano Laura Heimes and organist Peter Sykes
November 18-20, 2005
Franklin’s Philadelphia
with Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque Trio
January 20-22
Franklin’s Paris
with soprano Julianne Baird
May 5-7
Concerts at One
with Philomel and Julianne Baird
April 27 at Trinity Church, New York City
Tempesta di Mare
The Grand Orchestra, Part 2: “Ambassador Franklin in London”
January 27-28 in Swarthmore, PA, and the University of Pennsylvania
Music for Viols and Friends
Poor Richard’s Musick
with Pamela Dellal and Ensemble Chaconne
February 25 at First Church in Cambridge, MA
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
A touring exhibition organized by the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
PHILADELPHIA
December 15, 2005 - April 30, 2006
National Constitution Center
ST. LOUIS
June 8, 2006 - September 4, 2006
Missouri Historical Society
HOUSTON
October 11, 2006 - January 21, 2007
The Houston Museum of Natural Science
DENVER
March 2 , 2007 - May 28, 2007
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
ATLANTA
July 4, 2007 - October 14, 2007
Atlanta History Center
PARIS
December 4, 2007 - March 30, 2008
Musée des Arts et Métiers and Musée Carnavalet
Bruce Museum of Arts and Science
Exhibition: “Ben Franklin’s Curious Mind”
January 28 - April 23 in Greenwich, CT
California State Capitol Museum
Glass armonica concert with William Zeitler
January 17 in Sacramento (also January 19 at the Modesto Art Museum)
Free Quaker Meeting House
Ben’s Birthday Salons
Colonial entertainment, dancing, and games
Fridays, January 6 to April 7, in Philadelphia, PA
Early Music America Spring 2006
27
Benjamin Franklin
A Musical Life
Philadelphia and soon established himbest seller The Way to Wealth. But despite
self as an up-and-coming publisher and his fame, Franklin’s political efforts
businessman. The hours after the work- bogged down, and the months mounted
day, however, were reserved for “music, into years as he cooled his heels in the
or Diversion, or Conversation, (and)
anterooms of the British bureaucracy.
Examination of the Day.” Such diverThere was little for him to do but enjoy
sions often took place in local taverns,
the pubs and coffee houses, spend more
like the Pewter Platter, where Franklin’s
time with his fellow scientists, and surown men’s club, the “junto” gathered
vey London’s exciting nightlife.
for mutual and civic improvement.
These meetings were punctuated with
raised glasses, racy humor, and satirical
songs, many of them surely penned by
“I have sometimes
Franklin, perhaps accompanying himat a Concert attended
self on the guitar. He was proficient
enough to have offered to teach the
by a common Audience
instrument to the young Mary
plac’d myself so as to see all
Sewell, but found her “too much the
their Faces, and observ’d no Signs
Quaker” to be successful at it.
of Pleasure in them during
In 1754, Franklin’s enjoyment of
the Performance of much
witty and musical evenings prompted
what was admir’d by the
an invitation to the January meeting
of The Tuesday Club, which he attendPerformers themselves...”
ed in Annapolis, Maryland, on his tour
– Benjamin Franklin
as colonial postmaster. This club was
renowned for its fine music. Some
members were serious musicians, with
sophisticated collections of the EuroBy then, Handel’s Italian opera had
pean masters such as Corelli, Vivaldi,
been replaced by the English oratorio,
and Handel. After a mock trial for a
prompting Horace Walpole to complain
retiring member of the Club, with
about his switch from exotic divas to
Franklin joining in the frivolity, they fin- local English singers: “he has hired all
ished the evening with a songfest of
the Goddesses from the Farces, and the
ballads, catches, and glees.
Singers of Roast Beef from between
the Acts…with a Man with one Note
Man on a mission
in his Voice and a Girl with never a
In 1757, three decades after his first
One; and so they sing and make brave
trip to England, Franklin sailed back
Hallelujahs.”
across the Atlantic, a man on a mission.
Franklin, who preferred “singers of
The heirs to William Penn’s colony had
the Roast Beef,” himself attended a
been treating Pennsylvania like their
Foundling Hospital performance of
personal fiefdom, exempting their own
Messiah only three weeks after the blind
vast holdings from taxes and leaving the and enfeebled 74-year-old Handel last
local residents to cover all the costs for
directed the work on April 7, 1759. The
defense. Infuriated by this unequal treat- composer had exhausted his reserves
ment, Franklin had won authorization
and died within a week.
from the Assembly to press the British
A trip to Scotland later that summer
government on the matter.
to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws
On this trip, Franklin’s accomplishdegree from the University of St.
ments preceded him. His counterparts
Andrews brought him a new and enduramong London’s scientists and thinkers
ing friendship with the brilliant jurist,
eagerly welcomed the man renowned
writer, and wit Lord Kames (Henry
for discovering the secret behind elecHome). They shared a mutual enthusitricity and for publishing the runaway
asm for the arts and their lively conver28
Spring 2006 Early Music America
sations afforded “weeks of the densest
happiness I have met with in any part of
my life.” Soon after Kames finished his
monumental three volume treatment of
aesthetics, he gave Franklin a set, which
Franklin digested on the long sea voyage back to Philadelphia in 1762. Their
discussions presented Franklin with the
occasion to give more systematic attention to his own theories on aesthetics,
especially music.
For Lord Kames, the fine arts served
as a “beneficial influence in uniting different ranks in the same elegant pleasures,” but they also supported order and
submission to government. Kames
associated “taste” with social class – the
lower sorts gravitating to the cruder
pleasures of the eye and ear, while
the more “opulent, who have leisure
to improve their minds and their
feelings” enjoyed poetry, gardens,
architecture, and music. Franklin
argued that the simple songs, especially the Scots ballads they both
enjoyed, were naturally superior. The
very union of melody and harmony
within the same vocal line – often constructed of a pentatonic scale or triad,
without chromaticism – was the factor
that made them the best, most natural
songs: “... almost every succeeding
emphatical Note, is a Third, a Fifth, an
Octave, or in short some Note that is in
Concord with the preceding Note.”
In contrast, “much of that compos’d
in the modern Taste” – its trills, arpeggios, and passages of virtuosic fast
notes – might please the well-trained
ear, but “many pieces of it are mere
Compositions or Tricks.” They offer the
audience the same entertainment they
“feel on seeing the surprizing Feats of
Tumblers and Rope Dancers, who execute difficult Things.”
Franklin used his own objective
observations to examine what made
music appealing. “I have sometimes at a
Concert attended by a common Audience plac’d myself so as to see all their
Faces, and observ’d no Signs of Pleasure in them during the Performance of
much what was admir’d by the Performers themselves; while a plain old Scottish Tune, which they disdain’d and
could scarcely be prevail’d on to play,
gave manifest and general Delight.
“The Connoisseurs in modern Music
will say I have no Taste.... I believe our
Ancestors in hearing a good Song, distinctly articulated, sung to one of those
(Scotch) tunes and accompanied by the
Harp, felt more real Pleasure than is
communicated by the generality of
modern Operas.... Whoever has heard
James Oswald play them on his Violoncello, will be less inclin’d to dispute this
with me. I have more than once seen
Tears of Pleasure in the Eyes of his
Auditors; and yet I think even his Playing those tunes would please more, if
he gave them less modern ornament.”
Benjamin Franklin’s musical theories
dovetail with his political stance: the
true standard in music was not the elaborate music of the upper class, but the
basic music of the common man.
Franklin saved his most comprehensive musical analysis for a curious letter
to his elder brother Peter, who was
managing the Philadelphia postal service. Peter had sent his brother the verses
to a ballad he had composed on the
theme of frugality. Instead of confining
his advice to the ballad in question,
Franklin uncharacteristically took an
elaborate detour into an exhaustive and
sophisticated analysis of high Baroque
music.
Franklin encouraged Peter to revise
the ballad he had composed, so that its
meter would fit to “old simple ditties”
like “Chevy Chase” or “Children in the
Wood.” He praised the classic tunes
whose “music was simple, conformed
itself to the usual pronunciation of
words,” and “never disguised and confounded the language by making a long
syllable short, or a short one long when
sung; their singing was only a more
pleasing, because a melodious manner
of speaking.”
To demonstrate the defects of the
artificial “modern songs,” Franklin cited
a composition by “one of our greatest
masters, the ever famous Handel.”
Although he acknowledged that “Wiseman flatt’ring” from Judas Maccabeus was
“really excellent in its kind,” he provided a comprehensive satirical analysis of
the music:
- Emphasizing a word of no importance
- Drawling (extending the sound of a
word beyond its natural length)
Franklin and the Abbé Morellet shared
an enjoyment of good wine, witty
conversation, and satirical ballads and
Scots songs. He told Morellet that
“God clearly intended us to be
tipplers because he had made the
joints of the arm just the right
length to carry a glass to the mouth.”
- Stuttering (making many syllables
of one, i.e.: coloratura)
- Unintelligibleness (a combination of
the first three)
- Tautology (repeats), and
- Screaming without cause
“Read the words.... Observe how few
they are, and what a shower of notes
attend them.... [T]hough the words
might be the principal part of an
ancient song, they are of small
importance in a modern one; they are
in short only a pretence for singing.”
The glass armonica
Inspired by a performance of the
musical wine glasses in London,
Franklin designed the musical instrument that brought him “the greatest
personal satisfaction” – the glass
armonica. By turning specially-blown
musical glasses on their side and fitting
them on a spindle, he could play the
glasses like a keyboard. This allowed
people to play chords instead of just
individual notes on the glasses. Their
ring, which was not dampened, also
provided Franklin with the perfect
instrument to demonstrate his theory
that the best songs allowed for continuous harmony from one note to the next.
Once Ben Franklin had given the
professional musician Marianne Davies
lessons on his instrument, she performed the glass armonica throughout
England in 1762. She also introduced it
to the imperial court of Vienna, where
Gluck was chapel master. Even Marie
Antoinette became one of her pupils.
Franklin’s Armonica would remain popular throughout Europe for decades, its
ethereal sound favored for funerals and
weddings. Mozart and Beethoven composed for it, and Donizetti used the
armonica in the mad scene of Lucia di
Lammermoor, since the leaded glasses
were eventually suspected of causing
madness and because the instrument
became associated with hypnotism,
Mesmer, and hysteria.
In the summer of 1762, after his
political battles with the Penn family
were resolved, Franklin finally sailed out
of Portsmouth for America. He could
hardly contain himself until he returned
home with his musical invention. Within a week, he was hosting musical
evenings for his Philadelphia friends
and playing duets with his daughter Sally on harpsichord. “She sings the songs
to her harpsichord, and I play some of
the softest tunes on my armonica, with
which entertainment our people here
are quite charmed, and conceive the
Scottish tunes to be the finest in the
world.” Another keyboard piece that he
played on the armonica was Handel’s
“Water Piece.”
Glad as Franklin was to be back
home, he sorely missed the rich cultural
and intellectual life of London. “Why
should that petty island,” he complained, “scarce enough of it above
water to keep one’s shoes dry ... enjoy in
almost every neighborhood more ... elegant minds than we can collect in our
Continued on page 36
Early Music America Spring 2006
29
Benjamin Franklin
A Musical Life
Continued from page 29
Early Music
at Oberlin
●
Bachelor of Music
●
Master of Music in performance
on historical instruments
●
Artist Diploma
●
Double-degree program leading
to both the Bachelor of Arts and
Bachelor of Music
OBERLIN
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music
A tradition of excellence
David Boe
organ, organ literature,
history and design, ensembles
David Breitman
program department chair, fortepiano,
courses in historical performance
James Caldwell
historical oboes
James David Christie
organ, organ literature, history and design
Lisa Goode Crawford
harpsichord, continuo,
harpsichord literature, ensembles
Michael Lynn
recorder, baroque flute, ensembles
Kathie Lynn
baroque flute
The Oberlin
Conservatory of Music
at Oberlin College
Office of Admissions
39 West College Street
Oberlin, Ohio 44074
440 -775- 8413
Marilyn McDonald
baroque violin, ensembles
www.oberlin.edu
Catharina Meints
viola da gamba, baroque cello, ensembles
Alison Melville
Michael Manderen
Director of Admissions
recorder, ensembles
Steven Plank
musicology, Collegium Musicum
Robert K. Dodson
Dean of the Conservatory
vast forests?” America’s enormous
resources represented the future of the
British Empire, as Franklin was the first
to proclaim, but progress in the arts was
tenuous and slow. Few people suffered
this cultural disparity between the continents as acutely as Benjamin Franklin:
“some of our young geniuses begin to lisp
attempts at painting, poetry, and music.”
The most promising of those young
geniuses was Franklin’s multi-talented
protégé – scientist, inventor, poet, statesman, and designer of the American flag
– Francis Hopkinson. The author of the
1759 song “My Days
have been so
To
Wondrous
demonstrate
Free,” he is
regarded as
the defects of the
the first
artificial “modern
American
songs,” Franklin cited a
composer
composition by “one of
of secular
our greatest masters,
music. In
the ever famous
1788,
Franklin could
Handel.”
proudly mail a
full volume of American music, Seven Songs for the Harpsichord
or forte piano. The music and words composed
by Francis Hopkinson, to his French compatriot the Abbé Morellet, “the first
Production of the kind which has
appeared here.”
Shortly after returning to Philadelphia, Franklin laid out plans for building
a large, free-standing country house in
the middle of the city, set back from the
noise and smells of Market Street. The
fanciest room in his house would be the
music room, called by Deborah Franklin,
the “blewe” room. Graced with gilt carvings, an ornamental fireplace, and very
expensive wallpaper, it would feature Sally’s harpsichord and his beloved glass
armonica, as well as a welsh harp, a bell
harp, tuned bells, and a viola da gamba.
When the American Revolution
began, Benjamin Franklin was sent to
France to win financial and military support for the war effort. The salons of
Continued on page 54
36
Spring 2006 Early Music America
Choral Music at Harvard University
2005–2006 Season
Jameson Marvin
Director of Choral Activities
• Mozart, C Minor Mass
• Handel, Messiah
• 15th Century English Polyphony
Recent Performances
• Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610
• Schütz, Kleine Geistliche Konzerte
• Motets by Josquin, Palestrina,
Byrd, and Tallis
Creating
Choral
Excellence
Kevin Leong
Associate Conductor
Harvard Glee Club
Michael Barrett
Michael McGaghie
Katie Woolf
Assistant Conductors
Radcliffe Choral
Society
For more information, contact:
Harvard-Radcliffe
Collegium Musicum
Sarah Whitten
Choral Administrator
617.495.0692 • whitten@fas.harvard.edu
Harvard-Radcliffe
Chorus
Choir-in-Progress
Holden Chamber
Ensembles
Combined choral performance of Mozart’s Requiem in February, 2004
Early Music America Spring 2006
37
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&EATURINGAFULLYSTAGEDVERSIONOF-OZARTS/PERA
*MSFQBTUPSF
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&ORINFORMATIONVISIT
38
Spring 2006 Early Music America
NXQYR[^S
Benjamin Franklin
A Musical Life
2 0 0 6
Continued from page 36
FOUNDED 1915
SUMMER INSTITUTES
LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Medieval
Summer
Institute
June 10–17, 2006
THE MAGNIFICENT
ITALIAN 14TH CENTURY
TRACK I: A performance seminar
focusing on Songs of FRANCESCO LANDINI
(1325-1397), Songs & Motets of
JOHANNES CICONIA (1335-1411),
and instrumental music derived from and
contemporary to this repertory including
ESTAMPIES and FAENZA CODEX
ornamentations.
For solo singers, vielle, lute, harp,
shawm, sackbut & slide trumpet
TRACK II: Evening Choral
Program: The anonymous English
“CAPUT MASS” so favored by the
Italians and sung for generations at the
cathedral in Lucca.
For experienced choir singers
International
Baroque
Institute at
Longy
July 21–30, 2006
PER CANTARE
E SUONARE
A Seminar on Cantats &
Incidental Music of the
17th & 18th Centuries.
For further reading
FA C U LT Y
FA C U LT Y
Laurie Monahan, voice & director
Cristi Catt, voice & co-coordinator
Daniela Tosic, voice & co-coordinator
Margriet Tindemans, vielle
Shira Kammen, vielle & harp
Dana Maiben, vielle
Grant Herreid, plectrum lute,
voice & early winds
Dan Stillman, shawm & sackbut
Mack Ramsey, sackbut & slide trumpet
Alejandro Planchart, Du Fay scholar &
choral conductor
Paul Leenhouts, recorder & director
Phoebe Carrai, cello & co-director
Richard Campbell, gamba
Maxine Eilander, harp
Jeffrey Gall, voice
Arthur Haas, keyboard
Matthew Jennejohn, oboe
Riccardo Manasi, violin
Ken Pierce, dance
Stephen Stubbs, lute
Stephen Schultz, flute
Tapestry & Medieval Strings,
ensembles-in-residence
I N F O R M AT I O N
For more information please contact:
Margaret Denton
Coordinator of Continuing Studies & Summer Programs
Longy School of Music
One Follen Street; Cambridge, MA 02138
617+ 876–0956 x611
mdenton@longy.edu
www.longy.edu
54
Spring 2006 Early Music America
Paris vied with each other for the most
famous man in the Western world, but
the musical salon of the voluptuous
Madame Brillon was the first to lure the
diplomat. Reputedly Europe’s finest
female keyboard artist and a serious
composer, she sent for copies of Ben
Franklin’s favorite Scottish songs and
composed additional pieces in the same
style “to provide the great man with
some moments of relaxation ... also to
have the pleasure of seeing him.” Soon
they were spending musical evenings
together. She wrote of her “sweet habit
of sitting on [his] lap” and showering
him with kisses, which her husband noted with no apparent alarm. Franklin
even copied the lyrics to “The Stol’n
Kiss,” a poem set to music by composer
William Hayes. Perhaps this reflected the
party games his “kissing machine” (a
wire mesh on the floor upon which the
feet could be scuffed to create a static
electric kiss) inspired in Paris.
During Franklin’s years as American
Benjamin Franklin by Carl Van Doren. The
Viking Press, 1956 (©1938).
“Benjamin Franklin and Traditional Music,” by
Ellen R. Cohn, in Reappraising Benjamin
Franklin; a bicentennial perspective. University
of Delaware Press, 1993.
“Francis Hopkinson and Benjamin Franklin” by
Dixon Weeter, in American Literature, Vol. 12,
No. 2 (May 1940).
“Franklin as a Music Critic” by Andrew Schiller,
in New England Quarterly, 31: I/4,1958.
Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of
Paris by Claude-Anne Lopez. Yale University
Press, 1990 (reprint).
“The Music of Madame Brillon: A Unified
Manuscript Collection from Benjamin
Franklin’s Circle” by Bruce Gustafson, in
Notes, 2nd Ser., Vol. 43, No. 3 (March 1987).
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by
William B. Willcox et al. Yale University Press,
I959.
“Reflections on the String Quartet(s) Attributed to Franklin” by M.E. Grenander, in American Quarterly, XXVII (1975).
Thomas Jefferson and Music by Helen Cripe.
University Press of Virginia, 1974.
ambassador to France, he was able to
in the heated disputes over the merits of
renew his friendship with the convivial
Piccinni versus Gluck, he would have
Abbé Morellet, a leading intellectual and appreciated that Gluck was on a mission
economist. Morellet frequented the
to excise opera seria of its “trills, cadensalon of Madame Helvetius, whose cirzas and other defects with which their
cle included the most eminent men of
airs seemed to me [Gluck] to be burFrance. The widowed Ben Franklin was
dened.” Instead, he satirized the contestso taken with Helvetius that he even
ants in his bagatelle The Ephemera about
proposed marriage in a sly letter: “As he the short life of the fruit fly. The overhas already given her many of his days,
heated arguments of the Gluckistes and
it seems ungrateful in her that she has
Piccinnistes would long outlive the lifenever given him a single one of her
times of the arguers.
nights.”
What would last, in Benjamin
Franklin and Morellet shared an
Franklin’s view, were the timeless tunes
enjoyment of good wine, witty converof the common people. One of his
sation, and satirical ballads and Scots
favorite anecdotes was the story he
songs, with Morellet even translating
shared with Morellet. “When travelling
Scots songs into French so that Franklin in America, (Franklin) came one evening
could accompany him on the
to the place of a Scot who had setarmonica.
tled on the other side of the
Although Franklin
Alleghanies [sic], far from
Once
spent most evenings
society, with his wife. It
“Petits Oiseaux”
“improving his soul
was a beautiful night;
from Grétry’s opera
and his French” in the
they sat on the porch
Colinette a la Cour
salons, he did attend
and the woman sang
the Concerts des Amathe Scottish air, ‘Such
became a hit in Paris,
teurs and the opera,
merry
as we have
Franklin even attemptincluding a memorable
been,’
in
such a sweet
ed it on his glass
performance of Gluck’s
and touching manner
armonica.
Orfée on June 8, 1781.
that Franklin burst into
Gluck himself had recast
Orfeo for French audiences, dedicating it to Marie Antoinette. June of
1781 found Gluck in Vienna, recovering
from a stroke, so he was not present at
the opera to see the fire start near the
end of his final ballet. In fact, neither
was Franklin nor the rest of the audience. They had all left unaware before
the blaze burnt down the Opera Theatre
of the Palais Royal.
In his flirtatious letters of the period,
Franklin sometimes referred to Madame
Brillon as his Euridice, lamenting “J’ai
perdu mon Euridice” (the Gluck translation for “Che faro”) when she abandoned him for the countryside. The
music of Andre Grétry also captured his
interest during his years at Passy. One
favorite was the vocal trio “Dieu
d’amour” from Les Mariages Samnites.
Once “Petits oiseaux” from Grétry’s
opera Colinette à la cour became a hit in
Paris, Franklin even attempted it on his
glass armonica with Brillon.
Although Franklin’s French was not
fluent enough to permit him to engage
tears.” More than 30 years
later, he still treasured a vivid
memory of that evening.
,
Soprano Julianne Baird, distinguished professor at Rutgers University, is recognized internationally for her work in 18th-century music.
Her recent recordings include Benjamin Franklin’s Musical World with Philomel Baroque, the
Handel Gloria for Lyrichord Records, and Deutshe Arien with Tempesta di Mare for Chandos.
Her new publication, Music in the Life of Benjamin Franklin, which includes an accompanying CD featuring the author, David and Ginger
Hildebrand, and Franklin’s glass armonica, is a
collection of songs and instrumental pieces
Franklin knew and enjoyed. The set will be
available from the Colonial Music Institute at
www.colonialmusic.org/BF.htm in the spring
of 2006. Edward A. Mauger has received
national attention for his expertise in American
Colonial history. He was recently featured on
PBS’s History Detectives, ABC’s Good Morning
America, and on a History Channel special
documentary on the Revolutionary War.
Author of Philadelphia Then and Now, he has
recently completed another book, Philadelphia
in Photographs, which is scheduled for release
in the fall of 2006 by Random House.
Early Music America Spring 2006
55