"Blind Tom" Wiggins

Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Born a blind slave in 1849, Thomas Wiggins (a.k.a. "Blind Tom" Wiggins) gained fame throughout the Civil War era as an autistic savant, performing for luminaries such as James Buchanan and Mark Twain. In 2000, pianist John Davis recorded several of Wiggins' own compositions, which we sample tonight. Also, we hear Francis Poulenc's "Gloria" — sort of a riff (albeit sacred) on Orff's "Carmina Burana" — and take a dip into serialist waters with music by Arnold Schoenberg and his students Anton Webern and Alban Berg.

Also Featured Tonight:

Bela Bartok / Improvisation on Hungarian Peasant Songs
George Antheil / A Jazz Symphony
Mark Dancigers / Cloudbank
Sir Edward Elgar / "Severn Suite," Op. 87a
Charles Ives / Violin Sonata No. 3

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