History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania bituminous fuel reaching the US, and there was also a shortage in Virginia’s supply resulting in a fuel crisis (Adams, “Warming the Poor,” 76). Before the war citizens did not like to use anthracite coal because it was difficult to ignite and maintain, but the wartime shortage forced them to start using anthracite. Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barre promoted the use of anthracite during and after the War of 1812. Jacob Cist’s father was a major investor in the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, so Cist began to transport the company’s coal to Philadelphia by the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers (Dublin, Licht,
Anthracite Fields dissonances in the vocal parts are whole step apart. Then in measure 30 the last syllable of “flowers” ends on a G. And then the song changes. In measure 34, rather than the vocalists resolving to the tonic through a 4th or a 5th they resolve in sixteenth tones a whole step apart. In measure 52, everyone sings staccato eighth notes and the dissonances are either are primarily a whole step apart, or a 4th and 5th apart. Anthracite Fields Anthracite Fields is an oratorio for choir and chamber ensemble by the American composer Julia Wolfe. The work was commissioned