More Between Heaven and Earth: Thomas Jefferson, Maria Cosway, and the Music and Philosophy of the Enlightenment

• History
• Performing Arts

Jonathan Cake and Melissa Errico star in Salon/Sanctuary’s original production, which travels to two historic institutions this season, Fraunces Tavern in New York City, constructed in 1719, where Jefferson served as the first Secretary of State when Washington’s cabinet was upstairs, and the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, the year of Jefferson’s birth.

The Philadelphia performance is part of the schedule of public events associated with the exhibition “Jefferson, Philadelphia, and the Founding of a Nation.”

Igniting in Revolutionary Paris and unfolding over a 40-year epistolary relationship, the Jefferson/Cosway correspondence brims with exquisite music and eloquent prose, as the romance between two polymaths, the Statesman-Architect and the Musician-Painter, renders a vivid picture of musical life in 18th-century France and America.

The Jefferson/Cosway letters reveal the third President’s evolving views on the separation of church and state, intermingled with Cosway’s account of a stifling marriage and the limited options open to a woman of brilliance. With an original script composed entirely of selections from their writings, this play with music features repertoire that they heard, composed, played, and sent to each other, including works of Corelli, Hewitt, Sacchini and Cosway herself.

The Bissel Room at Fraunces Tavern, 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street

Script and Stage Direction by Erica Gould
Program Concept and Music Research by Jessica Gould

Starring Jonathan Cake and Melissa Errico

Featuring soloists Jessica Gould, soprano and Tony Boutté, tenor with the Salon/Sanctuary Chamber Orchestra