The music's just like an aria in an opera."Įvelyn McLean, a founder of Friends of Music, has performed in recital and in concert with the organization. ![]() "There's a real marriage of the music and the text. ![]() "It's great stuff, very sentimental," said McLean, noting that the music and Jaqueth's letters complement each other and illuminate each other. "It's being recognized that some of these diaries and letters from that era really constitute a form of literature."Īnderson will return as reader for Saturday's event, joined by the musicians performing songs generated by the thriving sheet music industry during the Civil War.Īmong the works to be heard at Christ Church are patriotic songs such as "The Battle Cry of Freedom" soldiering songs, including "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" and songs about those at home, missing their men in uniform like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "The Vacant Chair." Also being performed are popular songs of the period, such as Stephen Foster's 1862 "Beautiful Dreamer." And the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" will be featured. "It didn't take long for all of us who were involved to really get pulled in," said McLean. The program also features a letter his wife sent to him. Later in the war, Jaqueth and his mates did find themselves in combat, and he relates some of the horrors of those experiences. I think what's touching for so many people is how tender the letters are." "It's that quality of everydayness that's so affecting," said McLean. Most of the letters are about the humdrum life of a soldier far from home and indeed far from the action of the battlefield. It really illuminates an era of Guilford history." "For people in this part of the country, the Civil War is an abstraction. "It really illuminates to me that the Civil War had a tremendous impact on the lives of families in these small towns. He said he was greatly moved by the letters. Anderson decided to share excerpts from these letters with townspeople at a public reading, and invited Friends of Music to provide period songs to intersperse with the readings.įriends of Music's Don McLean was there at the beginning, heard the letters and helped match them with an appropriate song. ![]() That summer, the Guilford Historical Society devoted its exhibit at the museum in Guilford Center to this soldier, his family and period artifacts. Knowing of Robert Anderson's interest in Guilford history, and especially the Civil War era, Harold Jaqueth handed the letters along to Anderson. The letters were written by Elisha Jaqueth to his wife, Elvira, from various war encampments. The new owners of the house discovered a packet of old letters, neatly tied in ribbon, which they returned to the Jaqueth family. In 1988, Jaqueth's great-grandson Harold Jaqueth and his family sold the family homestead in Guilford. Among the many Guilford men who served, was Elisha Jaqueth, who enlisted in the 11th Vermont Infantry in the summer of 1862. Vermont's record of service in the Civil War is a point of pride - no state had, per capita, a higher rate of casualties. It adds special resonance to a program that, quite frankly, is plenty special even without it. Only later did organizers realize that the Civil War would be very much in the national spotlight as we honor the 150th anniversary of the opening of hostilities. It is performed by singers Evelyn McLean, Carolyn Taylor-Olson, Christopher Wesolowski and Ijod Schroeder, accompanied by Molly Melloan on the church's 19th century pump organ.įriends of Music had planned to reprise the program as part of Guilford's 250th anniversary events - it is the only event in the year-long celebration with a focus on the Civil War. It is a reprise of a popular program performed four times between 19 that features readings of excerpts of letters from a Civil War soldier and proud son of Guilford and songs from that era. On Saturday, as part of the year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of the town, Friends of Music at Guilford will present "Elisha Jaqueth Goes to War" at 7:30 p.m., in historic Christ Church. But through the prism of time and the poignancy of history made personal, Jaqueth's letters become something more than notes written out of the boredom of army life - especially when a soundtrack is added.
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