 |
Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon,
Histoire naturelle générale et particulière (Oiseaux),
1799-1808
|
Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation (NTF) has
presented the President of the United States with a live
turkey and two dressed turkeys in celebration of
Thanksgiving. The annual presentation of the National
Thanksgiving Turkey to the President has become a
traditional holiday ritual in the nation's capital, signaling
the unofficial beginning of the holiday season and providing
the President an opportunity to reflect publicly on the meaning
of the Thanksgiving season. After the ceremony, the live bird
retires to a historical farm to live out the rest of its years.
 |
| The Wild Turkey by Audubon |
Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 2
Chester Overture for Band
Chester is the third movement of a piece
called The New England Triptych, based
on a book of tunes written by William Billings
during the American Revolutionary War.
Continental Army and sung around the campfire:
 |
Chester: America's first unofficial National Anthem
It was written in 1770 and revised in 1778 and was second in popularity only to "Yankee Doodle." |
And slavery clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England’s God forever reigns.
The foe comes on with haughty stride,
Our troops advance with martial noise,
Their vet’rans flee before our youth,
And gen’rals yield to beardless boys.
Schuman then transports this hymn to the 20th
century, by altering its rhythmic and harmonic
century, by altering its rhythmic and harmonic
structure until it is barely recognizable. In the
end, the musical battle is won by tonality as the
march reappears in its original form.
 |
| Grandma Moses: Catching the Thanksgiving Turkey, 1943 |
 |
| Johann Wenzel Peter (1745-1829): Turkey |
By Antonin Dvořák
George Szell, Conductor
Cleveland Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MLvIGHCUAg#t=1173
Cleveland Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MLvIGHCUAg#t=1173
 |
Audubon's painting of a turkey hen with her poults
|
"The President's Own" United States Marine Band
Timothy Foley, Director
Transcribed by William E. Rhoads
from William Schuman's orchestration of
E. Power Biggs's edition of
Ives's variations for organ, S140.
Timothy Foley, Director
Transcribed by William E. Rhoads
from William Schuman's orchestration of
E. Power Biggs's edition of
Ives's variations for organ, S140.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs0
VjhNWqn8&list=RDhs0VjhNWqn8#t=0
By Virgil Thomson
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The Symphony on a Hymn Tune was completed
in 1928. There are actually at least a couple of
hymns that surface throughout the piece, the main
one being a Scottish melody that is commonly
associated with the text for
You can also hear "Jesus Loves Me."
 |
| http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/SJ1989/341 |
 |
| Claude Monet: The Turkeys, 1877 |
 |
Harpers Bazaar: Preparing for the Feast
by George Barbier, November 1914
|
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| Jennie Augusta Brownscombe: The First Thanksgiving, 1914 |
