Play Every TownFranklin
Concert Number Fifty-Two: 3/22/24 at the Franklin United Church
...donations benefited VPIRG
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some background
This was the first of 13 Canadian border town concerts.
Speaking of the border, Franklin was one of the staging areas where Irish veterans of the US Civil War mustered in 1870 for the last of the Fenian Raids into Canada—attempts by Irish-American nationalists to free Ireland by attacking the British Empire at a perceived weak point. In commemoration of the raids, and the concert’s proximity to St. Patrick’s Day, the program included a number of pieces with Irish connections.
As I write this summary just under a year after the concert, as [note to readers of the future] the current US president is hell-bent on annexing our country’s most stable and friendly neighbor, I am struck that the invasion of Canada by American forces seemed, only a few short months ago, just a quaint and amusing historical footnote.
(More about Vermont’s Irish Civil War Volunteers.)
And speaking of history, the visitor to Franklin village encounters one of the few remaining independent local telephone providers in the state, the Franklin Telephone Company, founded by Charles Gates in 1894 (three of its four employees are still Gateses) and now serving 800 customers in Franklin, Highgate, and Sheldon. Outside the company office (in a building shared with the also independent Franklin Electric Light Co.) stands a coin-operated phone booth in working order. If this still doesn’t strike you like something out of a Twilight Zone episode…three minutes will cost you just a dime.
Yet Franklin is also forward-looking. In 2020, the town adopted a Declaration of Inclusion at the instigation of Selectboard Vice-Chair Brooks Sturtevant. This inspired a statewide initiative to have all towns do the same; as of this writing, over 2/3 of Vermont’s 247 active municipalities have followed suit.
the concert
Jennifer McConnell, who sang in PET concert no. 14 in neighboring Sheldon, teaches and worships in Franklin. She invited us to the United Church (where her husband Jason is pastor) for the Play Every Town Franklin concert. The church belongs to both the United Methodist Church and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference—clearly a sibling organization to these Community Concerts for a Cooler Climate.
Besides Jennifer, the concert featured singers Kathryn Gates and Jen Raynak, as well as the 5th & 6th grade chorus of the Franklin School, under Jennifer’s direction.
As Pastor Jason pointed out, the concert was simultaneous with the UVM Men’s Basketball NCAA tournament game against Duke. Our audience of 125 souls was pretty robust considering the competition. (It helps to have three wonderful local adult performers plus a chorus of 16 local kids.) In case you’re wondering, #13 seed Vermont fell to #4 Duke, who has the winningest percentage in NCAA tournament play, 64-47.
In honor of the church I played three pieces by Frederic Chopin (whose own heart is entombed in the catacomb of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church): his first-ever Polonaise, from the year the church was organized; his first-ever Nocturne, from the year the building was constructed; and a Mazurka from the year the building was dedicated.
The piano nocturne genre was the invention of the Irish composer John Field, from whom Chopin got the idea. This was one of several Irish tie-ins in recognition of Franklin’s above-mentioned place in Irish Republican history. Additionally, Kathryn sang an Irish-themed song by a relative who wished to remain anonymous, and Samuel Barber’s setting of “The Daisies” by James Stephens, an Irish Republican poet and founding member of group that became the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. Jennifer, Kathryn, and Jen gave an a cappella rendition of The Parting Glass—originally Scottish, but now a trademark farewell song of Ireland.
...about the piano
This 1894 Steinway grand was given to the Franklin Central School by the Pierce and Jacobs families in memory of Jane Pierce. It couldn’t be put to optimal use at the school, where it was not possible to move it into the gym for performances. The extended Pierce family, the principal and school board, and the church board all agreed the piano would be better used at the church for weekly services as well as concerts, and it was moved here about 15 years ago.
I included Debussy’s Sarabande, composed the year of the piano’s manufacture, on the program.
The near-twin building next door, formerly the Congregational church, houses this old Ludwig upright grand, with characteristic carved casework, that used to be in the Methodist church before they acquired the Steinway. I did not grab the serial number, but the Ludwig piano company of New York was founded around 1889 and was most productive from about 1895-1920 (this piano looks to be from that era). After changing hands a few times, the brand was discontinued in 1953.
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