The Coffee Break continues to look at the tumultuous year of 1859. Many new inventions prepared the way for a modern world. Music reflected the major changes in politics and culture. "The Nationale" fueled a political movement. Verdi wrote a piece featuring a political assassination, then later wrote the great opera Aida commissioned to celebrate the building of the Suez Canal (digging began in 1859). How the song "Dixie" was highjacked to be used as a Confederate anthem.

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