Blog | Musicians of the Old Post Road

Astronomer and Musician Caroline Herschel

The musician/astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel was a younger sister to William Herschel, one of the featured scientist-composers for our “Stars in Their Eyes” program. Like her older brother, she was also an accomplished musician, playing harpsichord and performing as a vocal soloist for the oratorio concerts her brother organized in Bath.

Born in Hanover, Caroline was struck by typhus at the age of ten, which stunted her growth—she never grew taller than 4 feet, 3 inches. After her father’s death, she journeyed to England in 1772 to join William who had been sent there earlier by their father for refuge. She managed William’s household affairs, participated in his music-making activities, and eventually began assisting him with his work in astronomy as that interest came to the fore and began to dominate his career path.

Although she worked with William throughout her own career as an astronomer, eventually she developed more independence in her research pursuits and is credited with the discovery of several comets. She was the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist and was the first woman to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomy Society (1828). The King of Prussia presented her with a Gold Medal for Science on her 96th birthday (1846). She lived to be 97 years old.

Filling out the bigger picture

by Suzanne Stumpf

In looking back at the art of past centuries today, we all know who the most worthy composers were, right? Names such as Mozart and Beethoven always float to the surface.

And of course they were incredible geniuses who made phenomenal works of beauty and creativity. But they did not operate in a vacuum - and therein lies the rub. Each of our beloved masters worked within a community or communities of other cutting-edge musicians who were each pioneering the way forward with their own unique voices, imbued with daring, new ideas. Without a doubt, this atmosphere collectively challenged and inspired everyone’s development.

What we have learned from exploring repertoire by composers who are less known, little-known, or unknown today is that there is a wealth of creativity taking place at any given time, and the experience of any particular Age is deeply enriched by exploring more of those voices than just the ones who remain in today’s cultural vernacular.

It is challenging for us as musicians to meet these little-known voices because our training has versed us so well in the language of the recognized geniuses. The same challenge can exist for audiences as well. However, through our thirty years or so of opening ourselves to understanding the broader cultural-musical context of our beloved “stars,” we have endeavored to become more facile in comprehending and interpreting the dramatic invention of “new-to-us” voices and to learn their individual tools and shticks. Although we may be initially tempted to siphon them through the lens of the language of our famous heroes, in that scenario they will always fall short, and worse....we will miss the point!

It has become part of our mission to not only identify these sidelined composers and to discover their interesting works, but even more importantly to endeavor to understand and convey their language and their pioneering efforts as convincingly as possible for today’s audiences. Although without question there is a reason for the recognition of our popular composers, there are treasures by the colleagues who surrounded them that have been unjustly forgotten or lost by mere happenstance. Finding and presenting the bigger picture can only enrich everyone’s enjoyment.

William Herschel: Composer and Astronomer

On our Stars in Their Eyes concerts on May 2 & 4, we introduce audiences to musician-scientists of the 18th-century who were impacting both fields. One of the most intriguing of these musicians -scientists was William Herschel (1738-1822), who is considered to be the “father of modern astronomy.“ Herschel’s first career was as a musician —he was an oboist, violinist, harpsichordist, organist, and composer. Born in Hanover in 1738, his father sent him to England for refuge where he was quickly employed as a talented violinist. He eventually settled in Bath where he became Director of Public Concerts and the organist at the Octagon Chapel in the fashionable spa-city.

A gentleman of high intellect, his interests led him to readings about astronomy, trigonometry, and mechanics. He took lessons from a local mirror builder and began making his own reflecting telescopes. His increasingly sophisticated work led him to the discovery of Uranus in 1781. He was a pioneer of astronomical spectrophotometry. With his younger sister Caroline, the pair made numerous important advancements in the field of astronomy. Herschel was an superb composer of symphonies and his Symphonia di Camera in F minor is featured in this program.

Excited about this article that just came out in Early Music America:

Read the full article here:

https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/web-articles/musicians-of-the-old-post-road-at-30/

Feeling grateful!!

Feeling grateful!! Thanks to all who attended our recent "Mozart's Viennese Circle" concerts. Both the Parish Hall at Emmanuel in Boston and the First Parish in Wayland were packed! We so appreciated everyone's enthusiasm and the lively discussions about our "quartet" of composers at the receptions. Onward now to our season closer, "Stars in the Eyes," exploring repertoire by cutting-edge 18th-century scientist-musicians and rarely-heard Baroque music inspired by gazing at the sky!