RCASH Research Symposium: "East Wing Songs: History through Art Song" (Dr. Ann Marie Daehn)

Dr. Daehn’s project seeks to humanize the first ladies of the United States through song, using music to share their stories and memorialize their achievements and challenges as women. The inspiration for Daehn’s work was taken from Jake Heggie’s set, “Iconic Legacies: First Ladies at the Smithsonian.”

With the support of a Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, Daehn commissioned composer Leanna Kirchoff to write songs for Martha Washington, Margaret Taylor, Ida McKinley, Frances Cleveland, and Rosalynn Carter based on letters, speeches, published writings, interviews and diaries.

The program includes a “historical fiction” segment, based on first-hand accounts, to represent other first ladies who were more reclusive or destroyed their correspondence and personal effects.

[Download abstract.]

Free