Dave Burrell’s Civil War time machine


Dave Burrell called last week to say he would no longer be making his weekly visits to the Rosenbach’s reading room. After spending months reading through the museum’s collection of early civil war letters, broadsides, maps, photographs and diary entries he was retreating to his composition books to process his thoughts into music.

The basic structure that Mr. Burrell chose for this 4th project with the museum is around the idea of composing portraits of people. In 2010 we recognize the start of the civil war sesquicentennial and the idea of composing music about the civil war seemed daunting in it’s endless possibilities. But connecting with people and trying to construct their story was a compelling jump off point for Mr. Burrell.

The working titles thus far are:
Elmer Ellsworth–Championship Colors (a march)
John Brown–Life (a battle hymn)
Death (a dirge)
Ulysses S. Grant–Unification (an anthem)
Robert E. Lee–Pride and Heritage (a nocturne)