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On January 1, 1863, after President Abraham Lincoln signed the historic Emancipation Proclamation, the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston’s free black community played an active part in local Jubilee celebrations. 153 years later H+H and the MAAH remember the joy of that day and acknowledge the urgency of the Emancipation text today.
The original First Night Jubilee Day Concert took place in 2012, marking the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, held at the Museum of African American History. In keeping with the theme of liberty, the concert also features National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson giving power to the words of President Lincoln’s historic document.
“The Museum’s African Meeting House (1806) on Beacon Hill has been a gathering place for freedom, worship, political meetings, education, and music making, most with an underlying purpose of advancing the struggle for liberty, dignity, and justice for all,” said Marita Rivero, Executive Director, Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket. “In anticipation of President Lincoln’s signing of the Proclamation — a Civil War measure granting freedom to the enslaved living in the Confederacy — black and white abolitionists gathered in Boston on ‘Watch Night’ to await word of the signing of the official document and to celebrate its promise with music and spoken word. We are pleased to once again join with Handel and Haydn Society to commemorate those events and reflect on Boston’s central role in the abolition movement and on New Year’s Eve 1863.”
The concert also features “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” whose lyrics were written by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe in 1861 (published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862), also a known member of Handel and Haydn Society. In 1863 Boston, when news arrived that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, celebration festivities included speeches, readings, and a concert by H+H, including Ward Howe.
“As with the festivities then,” shares H+H President David Snead, “this year’s Jubilee Day Concert incorporates themes of freedom and unity. H+H is thrilled to continue partnering with the Museum of African American History presenting this concert, the fifth in an annual series of programs marking Jubilee Day in conjunction with First Night Boston. This year’s First Night activities center throughout Copley Square so we’re excited to bring the concert to the Boston Public Library. We’re also happy to welcome back Scott Allen Jarrett as conductor of this very special event.”
The music for this 2016 concert draws inspiration from the music performed in 1863 which included an excerpt from Elijah and music by Handel. “The annual collaboration between the Handel and Haydn Society and the Museum of African American History as part of Boston’s First Night has become a highlight for me and our singers,” shares conductor Scott Allen Jarrett. “It’s a reminder to recall and celebrate the remarkable, if often too slow, progress for human rights in the best spirit of the Boston abolitionists. Each year, we have the chance to renew that spirit and reinforce the continuance of the cause.”
For the fifth year in a row, Handel and Haydn Society and Museum of African American History present the First Night Jubilee Day Concert. This annual event celebrates liberty with music and spoken word, and will be conducted by Scott Allen Jarrett. The concert takes place Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 1:30pm in the Rabb Lecture Hall at Boston Public Library’s Central Branch, located at 700 Boylston Street in Boston’s Copley Square. Admission is free and open to the public.[Boston, MA – December 13, 2016] For the fifth year in a row, Handel and Haydn Society and Museum of African American History present the First Night Jubilee Day Concert. This annual event celebrates liberty with music and spoken word, and will be conducted by Scott Allen Jarrett. The concert takes place Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 1:30pm in the Rabb Lecture Hall at Boston Public Library’s Central Branch, located at 700 Boylston Street in Boston’s Copley Square. Admission is free and open to the public.
