Greeting to all!
For the past year or two, I have greatly enjoyed listening to the Thomas Jefferson Hour. It is a weekly radio show where historian Clay Jenkinson portrays TJ in a first-person interview format, and discusses all manner of topics, colonial and modern. I admit the concept, on it's face, sounds a little cute, but once I heard an episode or two I was hooked. Jenkinson really knows his stuff -- I've read quite a lot about Jefferson myself, and I can testify that he's done an astounding job of absorbing all of the extant letters and biographical materials, and presents a highly convincing version of Jefferson, often in TJ's his own words. The whole show is unscripted, and I am continually impressed with his skill in separating Jefferson's views from his own, no easy task when improvising at length, and particularly when dealing with issues like slavery where contemporary views are by no means fashionable today. In the second half of the show, Jenkinson appears as himself, and often provides all sorts of info on why he draws TJ a certain way, what evidence he's using, and how the lessons of history can be applied in the present day. You can listen and get more info at www.jeffersonhour.org (http://www.jeffersonhour.org), and the last several years worth of the show are downloadable free from iTunes. I'd strongly recommend it to any history buffs out there.
So, 1) Any other fans out there?
2) The show's theme music is from what appears to be a classical era string quartet. If you check out the show and recognize it, can you please give a shout? I feel a trifle silly posting this, as I imagine it's something obvious like Haydn or Mozart, but I can't quite place it and it's driving me nuts (Not that I had far to go... ;D )
Cheers
A transcription of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYq_QrVlFGY&feature=related)?
That's it! :D
Thank you so much! :-* I had checked Bach's suites etc at one point, but a transcription hadn't occurred to me. I was thinking more classical era (given Jefferson's dates), and the version on the show sure sounds like it could be the opening to a Haydn quartet.
Now that the mystery is solved, I'd still recommend the show to anyone of a historical bent. Cheers