by KYW’s Karin Phillips
A new CD and music book highlights the musical tastes of Benjamin Franklin, including some music the great man wrote himself.
Every Franklinphile knows the Great Man invented the glass armonica, a musical device in which Benjamin Franklin turned wine glasses into a kind of keyboard instrument, but he also wrote several songs, popular during his time. Rutgers University Camden early music scholar Dr. Julianne Baird:
”He is in love with his wife, and he wants to praise the fact that she's steady for him when he comes home from a bad day, she cheers him up, etc., etc., so he writes lyrics for several songs that are sung in taverns.”
Dr. Baird is collaborating with other Ben Franklin music lovers on a new music book and CD, “Music in the Life of Benjamin Franklin."
For more info, go to
colonialmusic.org.
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