Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West"Beth Levy has written an elegant work of depth and breadth that gives generous space to the idea of the American West. Her discussions of more than a dozen composers and their works—some usual suspects, others rather unexpected—reveal the 'varied musical ecosystems of the west.' Levy takes us with her on the trail in prose that is by turns pithy and poetic, but always spot on."—Denise Von Glahn, author of The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape “Big and bold as the terrain it covers, Beth Levy’s Frontier Figures takes us on a gratifying road trip, traversing American ‘classical’ compositions that conjure up landscapes from the Middle West to the shores of the Pacific. En route, we encounter many now-famous composers, such as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Virgil Thomson, along with others who have faded from view. Throughout, Levy treats the ‘West’ as both geographic location and mythologized ideal, demonstrating its power on the American musical imagination.”—Carol Oja, author of Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s. |
Contents
Part One Arthur Farwells West | 21 |
Part Three American Pastorals | 153 |
Provincial Cowboy White Hope | 225 |
The Composer as Folk Singer | 268 |
From Orient to Occident | 291 |
Communal Song Cosmopolitan Song | 317 |
Copland and the Cinematic West | 351 |
On the Trail | 369 |
| 421 | |
| 437 | |
Other editions - View all
Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West Beth E. Levy Limited preview - 2012 |
Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West Beth E. Levy Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Copland American composers American Music American West Angeles Anglo Arthur Farwell audience autogenetic Bacon ballet Billy the Kid Boston Broke the Plains Buffalo California called CCLC character Charles Wakefield Cadman choral chorus cited composer's cowboy song critical cultural dance Daoma Dvořák Eberhart example Farewell to Pioneers Farwell's film folk music Foss frontier harmonic Harris's Indian Music Indian Songs Indianist jazz land landscape Leo Sowerby Lorentz Lukas Foss Lummis March material melody Modern Music movement Music for Radio Native American natural Navajo War opening opera orchestral ostinato pageant pastoral Perison CWC PhD diss piano Plow That Broke Prairie program note race racial ranch Red Pony rhythmic rhythms Rodeo Roy Harris Sandburg's scene score seems Shanewis sing Sowerby Spanish Stehman story suggest themes tion Trail Tsianina tunes University Press Virgil Thomson Wa-Wan Wa-Wan Press western Wild West World writing wrote York