During the 1970s and 1980s, labor leader Henry Foner served on the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, which played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music — and for a while he served as its head. One of the innovations he introduced was raising money in the fur and leather industries, where he headed the union, in order to enable union members to attend concerts at a reduced and manageable cost. In 1984, on the orchestra’s 30th anniversary, he wrote a song to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” to assist the orchestra’s fund-raising effort. 

Accompanies the song “For the Brooklyn Philharmonic on its 30th Birthday,” from Henry Foner: Songs and Poems (For Better or Verse), Labor Arts, New York, 2013.

Photo by Ken Howard