Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
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Harry Rogers Pratt Letter, 1950, Accession #11316, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
This item was transferred from the Rare Books Division of Special Collections, University of Virginia Library to the Manuscripts Division on June 28, 1997. The letter was found in Randall Thompson's Testament of Freedom folio M1540 .T5T4 1944.
This collection consists of a three page autograph letter, May 9, 1950, from Harry Rogers Pratt, Charlottesville, Virginia, to University of Virginia President Colgate Whitehead Darden, Jr. describing his delivery of the vocal and piano score of Randall Thompson's Testament of Freedom to Carr's Hill and relating the background of its composition for the celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth. Pratt says about the piece, "Its composition and two performances make history and pull close together the political wisdom of Thomas Jefferson and the idealism of Franklin Roosevelt." He also notes that Randall Thompson's Testament of Freedom was performed a few minutes before the funeral service for Roosevelt began in the Capitol.