Harmony at Home: A Musical Evocation of the Alcotts

The Alcott family, including author Louisa May Alcott, lived in Walpole for several years in the 1850s. Many of their experiences in Walpole later became episodes in Louisa May Alcott’s famous 1868 book, Little Women. The fortepiano featured in this concert is the actual instrument lent during their stay in Walpole to the Alcott family by resident Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows. This real-life Walpole event became a pivotal moment in Louisa’s book.

The concert will feature the Bellows-Alcott fortepiano, as well as a period flute and violin from the collections of the Walpole Historical Society, and will be played by the acclaimed period instrument ensemble, Musicians of the Old Post Road. The program will celebrate the music played in the Alcott household: songs sung by the Alcotts, popular Scottish songs of the mid-19th century, and American music played at dances during that era.

Performed by Musicians of the Old Post…