2: Manifest Destiny

Justin Webb (presenter of Today and Americast, and former BBC North America Editor) explores the surprising relationship between classical music and American politics. From the days of the Founding Fathers, music was used to assert an American identity, distinct from a European musical tradition. And evolving political and social ideals, dreams and struggles were mirrored in the music being created - from Manifest Destiny to #MeToo, from Civil War to Civil Rights.

In today's episode: Manifest Destiny and the American frontier. We explore how nineteenth century American classical music reflected the romance and danger of the push westwards, as well as the ideological conviction of the United States' right to expand its territory. And learn about Lincoln's fondness for the harmonica.

With conductor Marin Alsop.

Readers: Sasha McCabe, Clive Hayward and Patrick Robinson.

Producer Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales

George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
Antonio Serrano (harmonica), Federico Lechner (piano)

Aaron Copland
Billy the Kid: The Open Prairie
San Francisco Orchestra
Conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas

Anthony Philip Heinrich
The Ornithological Combat of Kings: The Combat of the Condor on Land
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
Conductor, Christopher Keene

George Frederick Bristow
Symphony No 4 in E Minor, Op. 50 Arcadian i. Emigrants’ Journey Across the Plains
The Orchestra Now
Conductor, Leon Botstein

Marion Dix Sullivan
The Blue Juniata
Riders in the Sky

Traditional
The Blue Tail Fly
Burl Ives

Stephen Foster
Old Kentucky Home
Louis Armstrong

Louis Moreau Gottschalk
La Savane Op. 3
Claudia Schellenberger, pianist

Julia Ward Howe
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Lehman Engel Chorus

Francis Scala
Mary Lincoln Polka
Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra