Benjamin Nacar plays the tone poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” at the Music Mansion on College Hill, Providence, Rhode Island. (YouTube)
William Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, set to piano music, written and played by the Rhode Island pianist Benjamin Nacar. Ben’s playing brings to life most beautifully the cadence of Paul Revere’s famous ride and its memorialization in poetry. It was performed on the ride’s 250th anniversary at the Music Mansion on College Hill, in Providence, Rhode Island. Here is the YouTube rendition of that performance, accompanied by animated cartography.
I have learned that this event was not, in fact, hosted by the Music Mansion, but by the pianist himself, on his own piano, at home. The concert was not open to the public.
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I could say much the same, Milton, of my knowledge of the seminal event. Slim to slender. But I also thought that Ben’s work on the piano brought a further dimension to my understanding. He is a brilliant mind! And he has sad stories to tell of his treatment at Brown, and how his classmates and professors looked down their noses at classical music. Very sad. Even at this late date! They deserve to be shot.
Thanks for the entertaining educational cartoon on Paul Revere’s ride. The extent of my previous knowledge about the ride being the Longfellow poem, the cartoon actually greatly broadened my knowledge of this seminal event.
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I could say much the same, Milton, of my knowledge of the seminal event. Slim to slender. But I also thought that Ben’s work on the piano brought a further dimension to my understanding. He is a brilliant mind! And he has sad stories to tell of his treatment at Brown, and how his classmates and professors looked down their noses at classical music. Very sad. Even at this late date! They deserve to be shot.
db
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Thanks for the entertaining educational cartoon on Paul Revere’s ride. The extent of my previous knowledge about the ride being the Longfellow poem, the cartoon actually greatly broadened my knowledge of this seminal event.
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