The original American art song, it is said, was composed by Francis Hopkinson -- a signer of the Declaration of Independence -- and dedicated to his friend George Washington. Now, 250 years later, it opens a traveling recital program by Thomas Hampson, a performer so prodigious that he's been called "superbaritone." Hampson has delved into the huge collection in the Library of Congress and come up with enough to keep him in songs as long as he chooses.

Tanglewood's installment Wednesday amounted to two whirlwind tours: the first, beginning with Hopkinson's "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free," swept through Stephen Foster, Edward MacDowell, and others, up to Leonard Bernstein's setting of a Walt Whitman poem. The second half, a Charles Ives survey, divided Ives's life into periods, starting with "Songs My Mother Taught Me" and ending with "The Housatonic as Stockbridge." (Coincidence? I think not.)

The forgoing will matter to:

1. Ives fans: hearing more than a dozen Ives songs at a gulp shows that Ives gathered, combined and displayed aspects of life, and in doing so, creating a unique bitonal world.

2. Hampson fans: his "Song of America" project has a Web site listing recordings, schedules, newsletters and photos.

3. Friday's Tanglewood concert audience: at 7:15, Hampson will take part in a panel discussion, included in ticket price.

4. Those attending Sunday's all-American program: Hampson joins the Boston Symphony in orchestrated songs by Virgil Thomson and Samuel Barber.