In connection with Ken Burns’ newest documentary, Benjamin Franklin (premiering on WTTW on April 4), WFMT general manager George Preston interviews Ellen Cohn, editor-in-chief of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin and senior research scholar in the History Department at Yale University, who was also trained as a classical pianist. They are joined by actor and historian Mitchell Kramer, who has been portraying Benjamin Franklin for more than a decade.
They discuss Franklin’s musical life — the instruments he played, his theories of musical aesthetics, and the songs he loved to sing.
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