Fitch Overture (mp3)
Performance MP3 - MP3 Download

Score:

The life of Fitch was so remarkable and has so much to teach us about the illusory "America" in which so many of us believe that it would make for a riveting motion picture if the novel could be turned into a film script. It would be lovely if the music could be used in such a motion picture project, but I doubt it will ever come to that. I rather think I'll end up pretty much like my "Uncle John" (Fitch really was my fifth great grandmother's brother) - broken and impecunious after a life of trying passionately to accomplish something worthwhile. The bitter irony is that Fitch's talent did lie in an eminently "practical" field, as steam-powered transportation and technology was cutting edge by the early nineteenth century when people like Robert Fulton profited handsomely from Uncle John's ideas. But Fitch was a visionary whose work far exceeded the narrow perceptions and self-interest of his countrymen - including such founding fathers as Franklin and Jefferson! Sadly, John Fitch intentionally -or perhaps accidentally -committed suicide by overdosing on an opium-based pain medication which, in combination with his drinking, proved to be fatal.

This is a live performance by the Octava Chamber Orchestra