The History of American Classical Music: MacDowell Through MinimalismAmerican classical music has come a long way in a short time. From the European-style music that was the norm at the end of the 19th century, a body of music has evolved that at the end of the 20th can be termed authentically and distinctively "American." The History of American Classical Music takes an in-depth, panoramic look at this amazing variety of music, how it developed and the often fascinating people who composed it. While the emphasis is on the 20th century, author John Warthen Struble goes back to colonial times to examine all the early influences: the hymns of the "First New England School"; the genteel musical traditions of the East Coast cities during the 18th and 19th centuries, the folk music of Appalachia and the Mississippi Valley imported by Scottish and Irish settlers; the indigenous music of the North American Indians; the African music brought over and adapted by slaves; the balladry, beginning in the 1820s and continuing even today; and the Creole and Gulf Coast music, an amalgam of French, Spanish, African, Cuban, Haitian and American influences. By the 1920s American classical music had reached its most active stage to date. Many conductors and musicians were willing to play it, enough dedicated patrons and promoters were willing to present it and a brilliant group of American composers existed who "spoke a language that the public was, on the whole, willing and able to hear," a group that included the likes of Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris and George Gershwin. As university music departments expanded in the 1920s and 30s, Americans like Howard Hanson, Roger Sessions and Walter Piston became influential teachers along with many European composers who had fled the Nazis. An entire generation of composers were taught and influenced by these academics, and many of these new composers produced music that, at worst, antagonized audiences who found it difficult to understand. The author lays the groundwork for the emergence in the 1960s of the works of John Cage and aleatoric, or "chance," music and of other members of a new American avant-garde. And finally, in a return to tonality and a retreat from radical experimentation, came the music of George Rochberg, David Del Tredici, John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and John Harbison as well as the "minimalism" of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams. Within a century of its real beginnings, America may finally be exporting as much or more influence in this art form than it is absorbing from abroad. This exciting look at a fascinating corner of musical history is accompanied by more than 50 illustrations of its diverse cast of characters, a chronology of the American musical scene from 1562 to the present, a list of composers by geographical origin, a compilation by composer of the fundamental American music repertoire and an extensive bibliography. |
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The History of American Classical Music: MacDowell Through Minimalism John Warthen Struble No preview available - 1996 |