National Park Service 90th Anniversary
Sunday July 23, 2:00 PM
Washington's Headquarters Museum Auditorium
30 Washington Place, Morristown, New Jersey
Free Admission
Jockey Hollow Suite composed by Maestro Robert W. Butts
will be premiered in a special celebration concert
The Baroque Orchestra will perform a special concert celebrating the 90th Anniversary of Morristown National Historical Park as the nation's first national historical park. Music will include selections that would have been familiar to those who spent the winter of 1779-1780 in Morristown as well as the World Premiere of Jockey Hollow Suite.
From Morristown National Historical Park: This program is considered the primary interpretive presentation of the 90th anniversary year. Funded in part by a Morris Arts grant, the Jockey Hollow Suite is intended to reflect the threads and themes
of the past and future of the American story as experienced in the hard winter
of 1779-1780. Spearheaded by Dr. Jude Pfister, Chief of Cultural Resources
at Washington's Headquarters, this program, composed by internationally recognized conductor and composer Robert W. Butts, is not to be missed.
"It's a great honor to have been commissioned to compose the work celebrating the park's 90th anniversary," Maestro Butts stated. "I wanted to compose something that would relate to the times musically and in terms of capturing the period. The song "Chester" by William Billings was a stirring rallying song for many Americans at the time. I based
most of the melodic ideas and motives on the song, using them as a starting point
for something new. I tried to capture the feelings of both optimism and belief in what t
hey were doing but also tinged by the harshness of their situation."
In addition to the premiere of Jockey Hollow Suite, the orchestra will perform music
of the period by William Boyce, Georg Frideric Handel, and William Billings.
"We are excited to share the musical contemplation as part of our year-long celebration," Dr. Pfister stated, "and to continue our collaboration with The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, and especially Maestro Butts. This work, which I've had the pleasure to preview, is an outstanding work in the fine tradition of great 20th century composers. This is American history through the conducting baton at its finest."
Dr. Jude Pfister is a noted historian and is the author of seven books on the Revolutionary and the Early National Periods of American history.
"The Jockey Hollow Suite is a rare opportunity to experience the history of our site in an entirely new creative frame of reference," historian Amy Hester added. "This music adds new shades of meaning to our understanding of the events in Revolutionary Morristown
and to our own mission as a National Park."
The performance on July 23 is Free Admission.
Made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts, a partner of the
New Jersey State Council of the Arts
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