On the Edge: A Live Performance by the Worcester Chamber Music Society

Bookending the beginning of the 20th century and all that was to come, pieces by Amy Beach and Claude Debussy illustrate the influences American and French composers had on each other and seem almost to anticipate the upheaval the world would experience.

The evening will include an opportunity to view original scores by Ms. Beach and other women composers, part of the American Antiquarian Society’s collection. A wine and dessert reception will follow the concert.

Water, Land, and Ecology: Doing Environmental History in Early America

In an age when we are hyperaware of global warming, we tend to speak of ecological crises in global terms, representing environments through international comparison and webs of interdependency. Yet it is easy to forget how recent this development is, when just two decades ago catastrophes such as pollution were framed with specific attention to immediate contexts. Even the idea of shared national environmental concerns is relatively recent, suggesting that we should pay attention to how writing before the twentieth century reflected a sense of place.