Classical Saturday | Tempesta di Mare: Nelly’s Songs

With Julianne Baird, narration and concept; Sarah Fleiss, soprano, and Joyce Lindorff, harpsichord Songs and instrumental selections from the music room of Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis, George Washington’s step-granddaughter, including selections from the Francis Hopkins Collections of early American music. The concert includes narration about Nelly’s music teacher, vocal exercises, and performances for her Grandfather-President’s most valued guests in Philadelphia, just after the end of the Revolutionary War. Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, (1779–1852), known as “Nelly,” was the youngest of Martha Washington’s three granddaughters. When her father died prematurely in 1781, George and Martha Washington brought Nelly and her brother to be raised at Mount Vernon. As a young woman, Nelly lived with the Washingtons in New York and Philadelphia. Music was very important in the Washington household. Nellie was an accomplished keyboard player who played both piano and harpsichord. She moved with the Washingtons to New York and was taught by Alexander Reinagle, one of the most prominent musicians to come to America. He also taught her in Philadelphia.