![]() A few years after it was published in 1997 a well-known and prolific composer whose music has been played by over 150 conductors, Jennifer Higdon, decided with much encouragement to write her first opera, and that she would base it on this 449 page book. Charles Frazier told us it took 8 years to write “Cold Mountain” and has been translated into 40 languages and was on the New York Times Best Seller list for 61 weeks. The third session got us back to the opera. Most important was to keep it interesting and relevant, and even that a good storyteller also has to be a good liar! Paul Hutton said he has classes with 2-300 students and he has to keep them awake … and himself as well! We cannot lay today's morals and mores on those of the past, when people were living under totally different circumstances. Other continuous themes: we look at history as if it were in the past but taking place in the present. My editor is always moving my paragraphs around to put them into a new order… but I wanted to say it that way! As a matter of fact I have that problem writing almost every week. Topics like the tyranny of chronology were discussed. He told us that his grandmother taught him to tell stories, that they were gifts and one story should always lead to another. as Senior Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The moderator for this panel was Estevan Rael-Galvez who is a born and bred New Mexican, a scholar and writer who has been the State Historian and served in Washington D.C. ![]() Hutton pointed out that every individual writes from his own point of view and if there was only one way to look at a historic figure it would be necessary to have only one book by one author, but there are many truths. ![]() Upon hearing that Carson’s papers were in the State Archives he rushed there to find exactly 2 sheets of paper and one was his death certificate! He, therefore, turned to the many interviews that Carson gave and the even more plentiful potboilers that were written about him in later years. Sides spoke of Kit Carson being a historian’s nightmare because he was illiterate. They all explained the compromises you have to make when writing history. One of his bon mots, “History is written by Generals and Knaves and believed by Idiots”! Hampton Sides (3rd from right in photo) quipped “If all else fails, Paul, you can always do stand up”! Oh, how I wish he had been my history teacher, what insight and sense of humor. With them was a professor of history at the University of New Mexico, Paul Hutton. #Santa fe opera cold mountain seriesThe series received 23 Emmy nominations and won 13 but what made Kirk Ellis proudest was that it was being used in thousands of high school history classes. Next to him was Kirk Ellis a writer for television and film and best known as writer and producer of the John Adams mini series on HBO. ![]() The second part of the symposium was a fabulous panel including Hampton Sides, author of “Blood & Thunder”, an epic history of the American West using Kit Carson (1809-1868) who lived in Taos, New Mexico, as its central figure. He used film clips, which must have made it a lively hour. He made the case for how media including photographs, films and books form our view of history even more than academic historians do. From what I gathered from those who did attend it was first rate. #Santa fe opera cold mountain fullIn the interest of full disclosure I did miss the first lecture, which was by Gary Gallagher, a Civil War Historian at the University of Virginia. The symposia that I am used to are dry academic affairs and if you are are lucky one lecture out of the day might be of interest but in this symposium there wasn’t a dull moment. ![]() To bring it all together the Santa Fe Opera in conjunction with the History Museum created an amazing symposium called, “Echoes from Cold Mountain”. ![]()
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