Song of America

Geoff Bennett:

His is a household name in the classical vocal traditions that have their roots in Europe. But for more than 25 years, Thomas Hampson has dedicated himself to reviving and celebrating American traditions in song.

Fred de Sam Lazaro went to see that on full display in Aspen, Colorado, for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

“My days have been so my days have been so wondrous free,” which seemed like a fitting start to a concert held on Independence Day weekend, composed, after all, by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Hopkinson, drawing from the poetry of Thomas Parnell.

Thomas Hampson grew up in Spokane, Washington, and had a storybook path to stardom, attending prestigious music academies before his lyrical baritone was discovered. He’s performed some 80 opera roles around the world and is a renowned recording artist as well in the solo vocal tradition of leader.

But along with the European greats from Schumann to Verdi, he’s also loved the American tradition in song, like Charles Ives, or Harry Burleigh, the prolific 19th century African American composer. Hampson says nothing compares to the rich variety of song in America.

Thomas Hampson, Baritone:

To me, it’s the essential e pluribus unum statement.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Which does not imply homogeneity.

Thomas Hampson:

No, it’s exactly not homogeneity; e pluribus unum does not mean the deletion of the difference. In fact, it means listening to the difference.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Here at the Aspen Music Festival, he showcased that difference with a program varied in culture, geography, and period in American song accompanied by pianist Myra Huang and on some works like this by 19th century songwriter Stephen Foster violinist Jerusha Taylor.

Thomas Hampson:

I think in this very volatile time we’re in that one of the great refuges is the arts and humanities and the stories of who we are, especially as America.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

The works were selected from an online library called Song of America. Hampson began compiling it decades ago in partnership with the Library of Congress.

Thomas Hampson:

All of these composers and poets, they were asking us, what does America sound like when it remembers itself?

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

All of the works today saw the composer draw from poets who came before. There were works by 20th century composers like Aaron Copland and Margaret Bonds, the latter using the poetry of Langston Hughes.

From contemporary composer Jennifer Higdon, “The Death of Lincoln,” with words from William Cullen Bryant.

Thomas Hampson:

Can you teach history through song? Heavens, yes. It’s fantastically interesting. All of the songs are tips of icebergs. We could spend an hour going through every one of them with all the wonderful anecdotal connections.

If any of you are teachers in whatever field in American studies, I will give you a song to augment your teaching plan.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

His Song of America library was built to be accessible to teachers to increase the visibility overall of a cultural treasure that a commercialized market makes no room for. And he says song can provide a safe space for reckoning with skeletons in America’s cultural closet, notably issues around race or sexual orientation.

He closed with “To What You Said,” a Walt Whitman poem that Leonard Bernstein put to song, some scholars think because it speaks of repressed love at a time Bernstein was having a sexual identity crisis.

Thomas Hampson:

You know, people are very agitated today about the indoctrination of young people because of this or that path of education. You can either dam up the ocean or you can teach people to swim. And I prefer to teach people to swim.

What I sing, is infinitely more important than who I am. We must listen to one another.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Hampson now lives in Austria. He continues to teach and perform around the world.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Fred de Sam Lazaro in Aspen, Colorado.