Emily Abrams Ansari
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- June 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190649692
- eISBN:
- 9780190649722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190649692.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter presents an account of the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who, although constrained significantly by the ideological climate of the 1950s, refused to silence himself ...
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This chapter presents an account of the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who, although constrained significantly by the ideological climate of the 1950s, refused to silence himself politically. Beginning in the last years of the decade, he became increasingly vocal in his support for New Left causes, including the antiwar, antinuclear, and civil rights movements. On State Department–funded conducting tours with the New York Philharmonic, he tried to use music, particularly the Americanist tradition, to challenge US foreign policy. In his compositions, he remained true to musical Americanism, striving earnestly in his art music to continue Copland’s prewar approach. He found a fruitful outlet for his political commitments in his works for musical theater, but his art music compositions present a much more complex and fraught picture. Bernstein was attempting to resist and undermine political nationalism, while simultaneously advancing cultural nationalism. But in the binarized climate of Cold War America, this would not prove easy.Less
This chapter presents an account of the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who, although constrained significantly by the ideological climate of the 1950s, refused to silence himself politically. Beginning in the last years of the decade, he became increasingly vocal in his support for New Left causes, including the antiwar, antinuclear, and civil rights movements. On State Department–funded conducting tours with the New York Philharmonic, he tried to use music, particularly the Americanist tradition, to challenge US foreign policy. In his compositions, he remained true to musical Americanism, striving earnestly in his art music to continue Copland’s prewar approach. He found a fruitful outlet for his political commitments in his works for musical theater, but his art music compositions present a much more complex and fraught picture. Bernstein was attempting to resist and undermine political nationalism, while simultaneously advancing cultural nationalism. But in the binarized climate of Cold War America, this would not prove easy.
Geoffrey Block
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195167306
- eISBN:
- 9780199849840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167306.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
West Side Story, a collaboration of four extraordinary individuals Jerome Robbins (choreographer and director), Arthur Laurents (librettist), Leonard Bernstein (composer), and ...
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West Side Story, a collaboration of four extraordinary individuals Jerome Robbins (choreographer and director), Arthur Laurents (librettist), Leonard Bernstein (composer), and Stephen Sondheim (lyricist)-premiered on Broadway on September 26, 1957, and ran for 734 performances. After a national tour that lasted a year, it returned to Broadway for an additional 249 performances. A bona fide hit but not a megahit like Oklahoma! or My Fair Lady, West Side Story eventually logged in as the twelfth longest-running show of the 1950s. The Bernstein-Sondheim-Laurents-Robbins collaboration contains a dream ballet and a mimed prologue that creates a backdrop for the story to follow. More than perhaps any previous book musical, West Side Story uses dance for many additional purposes, not only in musical numbers where characters would be expected to dance (the “Dance at the Gym” and “America”), but in more stylized choreographic settings for several of the show's crucial dramatic events (“The Rumble” and “Taunting Scene”). The creators of West Side Story also managed to take a canonic and extremely well-loved Shakespeare play and adapt it for 1950s audiences while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original. Most significantly, the adaptation both provides dramatically credible and audible musical equivalents of Shakespeare's literary techniques and captures his central themes.Less
West Side Story, a collaboration of four extraordinary individuals Jerome Robbins (choreographer and director), Arthur Laurents (librettist), Leonard Bernstein (composer), and Stephen Sondheim (lyricist)-premiered on Broadway on September 26, 1957, and ran for 734 performances. After a national tour that lasted a year, it returned to Broadway for an additional 249 performances. A bona fide hit but not a megahit like Oklahoma! or My Fair Lady, West Side Story eventually logged in as the twelfth longest-running show of the 1950s. The Bernstein-Sondheim-Laurents-Robbins collaboration contains a dream ballet and a mimed prologue that creates a backdrop for the story to follow. More than perhaps any previous book musical, West Side Story uses dance for many additional purposes, not only in musical numbers where characters would be expected to dance (the “Dance at the Gym” and “America”), but in more stylized choreographic settings for several of the show's crucial dramatic events (“The Rumble” and “Taunting Scene”). The creators of West Side Story also managed to take a canonic and extremely well-loved Shakespeare play and adapt it for 1950s audiences while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original. Most significantly, the adaptation both provides dramatically credible and audible musical equivalents of Shakespeare's literary techniques and captures his central themes.
Barry Seldes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257641
- eISBN:
- 9780520943070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257641.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop ...
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From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop of cold war America—blacklisting by the State Department in 1950, voluntary exile from the New York Philharmonic in 1951 for fear that he might be blacklisted, signing a humiliating affidavit to regain his passport—and the factors that by the mid-1950s allowed his triumphant return to the New York Philharmonic. The book links Bernstein's great concert-hall and musical-theatrical achievements and his real and perceived artistic setbacks to his involvement with progressive political causes. Making extensive use of previously untapped FBI files as well as overlooked materials in the Library of Congress's Bernstein archive, the text illuminates the ways in which Bernstein's career intersected with the twentieth century's most momentous events. The book reveals often ignored intersections of American culture and political power.Less
From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly. This biography of Bernstein's political life examines his career against the backdrop of cold war America—blacklisting by the State Department in 1950, voluntary exile from the New York Philharmonic in 1951 for fear that he might be blacklisted, signing a humiliating affidavit to regain his passport—and the factors that by the mid-1950s allowed his triumphant return to the New York Philharmonic. The book links Bernstein's great concert-hall and musical-theatrical achievements and his real and perceived artistic setbacks to his involvement with progressive political causes. Making extensive use of previously untapped FBI files as well as overlooked materials in the Library of Congress's Bernstein archive, the text illuminates the ways in which Bernstein's career intersected with the twentieth century's most momentous events. The book reveals often ignored intersections of American culture and political power.
W. Anthony Sheppard
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223028
- eISBN:
- 9780520924741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223028.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, Performing Practice/Studies
Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to ...
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Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to illumine the pervasiveness of certain basic issues in American music theater and to suggest how both Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park and Bernstein's Mass reflect several developments in the social history of the 1960s. This chapter considers three primary topics raised by these two works and concentrates on cultural contextualization rather than on detailed comparison. First, they are concerned with ritual and religious expression—with a critique of established American social and religious rituals and with the creation of a new work of ritualistic or didactic status. Second, this critique and transformation is achieved musically through the use, or perhaps abuse, of American popular music and through radical musical juxtaposition. Finally, Partch and Bernstein employ ritual expression and popular music references for the purposes of parody and social criticism, focusing on the relationship of the individual to society. Created at opposite ends of a turbulent decade, but yoked together by violence, Revelation and Mass arrive at somewhat different conclusions.Less
Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to illumine the pervasiveness of certain basic issues in American music theater and to suggest how both Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park and Bernstein's Mass reflect several developments in the social history of the 1960s. This chapter considers three primary topics raised by these two works and concentrates on cultural contextualization rather than on detailed comparison. First, they are concerned with ritual and religious expression—with a critique of established American social and religious rituals and with the creation of a new work of ritualistic or didactic status. Second, this critique and transformation is achieved musically through the use, or perhaps abuse, of American popular music and through radical musical juxtaposition. Finally, Partch and Bernstein employ ritual expression and popular music references for the purposes of parody and social criticism, focusing on the relationship of the individual to society. Created at opposite ends of a turbulent decade, but yoked together by violence, Revelation and Mass arrive at somewhat different conclusions.
Barry Seldes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257641
- eISBN:
- 9780520943070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257641.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This introductory chapter discusses Leonard Bernstein, the former cultural ambassador of the United States and a composer of several popular musicals and ballets, including West Side Story. This ...
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This introductory chapter discusses Leonard Bernstein, the former cultural ambassador of the United States and a composer of several popular musicals and ballets, including West Side Story. This chapter reveals a side to Bernstein that has been largely ignored by the public: his political life. It notes that while many of Bernstein's biographers have concluded that the composer remained apolitical for most of his life, there are archival documents that reveal Bernstein as a politically engaged man.Less
This introductory chapter discusses Leonard Bernstein, the former cultural ambassador of the United States and a composer of several popular musicals and ballets, including West Side Story. This chapter reveals a side to Bernstein that has been largely ignored by the public: his political life. It notes that while many of Bernstein's biographers have concluded that the composer remained apolitical for most of his life, there are archival documents that reveal Bernstein as a politically engaged man.
Howard Pollack
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190458294
- eISBN:
- 9780190458324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190458294.003.0021
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter represents the most thorough and accurate study to date of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, including its long, torturous history both before and after its 1956 premiere. It pays special ...
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This chapter represents the most thorough and accurate study to date of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, including its long, torturous history both before and after its 1956 premiere. It pays special attention to how the show’s books and lyrics evolved over the year, including contributions of Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler, and others, and studies its many productions under the supervision of such directors and adaptors as Hal Prince, Jonathan Miller, and John Caird. It also surveys its critical reception over the years.Less
This chapter represents the most thorough and accurate study to date of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, including its long, torturous history both before and after its 1956 premiere. It pays special attention to how the show’s books and lyrics evolved over the year, including contributions of Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler, and others, and studies its many productions under the supervision of such directors and adaptors as Hal Prince, Jonathan Miller, and John Caird. It also surveys its critical reception over the years.
Ryan Raul Bañagale
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199978373
- eISBN:
- 9780190201418
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199978373.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
This chapter locates the origins of Leonard Bernstein’s polemical statements and presentations of Rhapsody in Blue in his youthful encounters with the piece by exploring two recently discovered ...
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This chapter locates the origins of Leonard Bernstein’s polemical statements and presentations of Rhapsody in Blue in his youthful encounters with the piece by exploring two recently discovered documents: a copy of the solo-piano sheet music for the Rhapsody that he acquired in 1932 and a previously unknown arrangement of the work that he prepared for a group of summer camp musicians in 1937. Not only did Bernstein have a particular vision of how the Rhapsody should operate; he also identified deeply with the piece and Gershwin. His arrangement of the Rhapsody in performance and his essay “A Nice Gershwin Tune” became outlets for profound personal and professional anxieties related to his status as a homosexual American-born conductor and composer as he rose to prominence with the New York Philharmonic during the 1950s.Less
This chapter locates the origins of Leonard Bernstein’s polemical statements and presentations of Rhapsody in Blue in his youthful encounters with the piece by exploring two recently discovered documents: a copy of the solo-piano sheet music for the Rhapsody that he acquired in 1932 and a previously unknown arrangement of the work that he prepared for a group of summer camp musicians in 1937. Not only did Bernstein have a particular vision of how the Rhapsody should operate; he also identified deeply with the piece and Gershwin. His arrangement of the Rhapsody in performance and his essay “A Nice Gershwin Tune” became outlets for profound personal and professional anxieties related to his status as a homosexual American-born conductor and composer as he rose to prominence with the New York Philharmonic during the 1950s.
Steven Suskin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195314076
- eISBN:
- 9780199852734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314076.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter examines the work of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Bernstein’s first theater ...
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This chapter examines the work of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Bernstein’s first theater experience came when the twenty-one-year-old Harvard music major mounted the 1939 Boston première of The Cradle will Rock (Blitzstein: June 16, 1937), also playing the onstage accompaniment. Marc Blitzstein attended, was duly impressed, and the two began a close friendship. Following graduation, Bernstein entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia—where Blitzstein had studied—to train for a career in symphonic music.Less
This chapter examines the work of Leonard Bernstein. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Bernstein’s first theater experience came when the twenty-one-year-old Harvard music major mounted the 1939 Boston première of The Cradle will Rock (Blitzstein: June 16, 1937), also playing the onstage accompaniment. Marc Blitzstein attended, was duly impressed, and the two began a close friendship. Following graduation, Bernstein entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia—where Blitzstein had studied—to train for a career in symphonic music.
Nadine Hubbs
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241848
- eISBN:
- 9780520937956
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241848.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. ...
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This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. Focusing on a circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, and David Diamond, the book homes in on the role of these artists' self-identification—especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality—in the creation of a musical idiom that even today signifies “America” in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.Less
This book shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were pivotal in creating a distinctive “American sound” and in the process served as architects of modern American identity. Focusing on a circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul Bowles, and David Diamond, the book homes in on the role of these artists' self-identification—especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality—in the creation of a musical idiom that even today signifies “America” in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.
Danielle Fosler-Lussier
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780520284135
- eISBN:
- 9780520959781
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520284135.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The State Department’s Cultural Presentations program famously sent jazz and classical musicians as well as dancers to the USSR. Although commentators have sometimes characterized U.S. music in the ...
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The State Department’s Cultural Presentations program famously sent jazz and classical musicians as well as dancers to the USSR. Although commentators have sometimes characterized U.S. music in the Soviet Union as a form of “infiltration,” musical diplomacy did little to destabilize the Soviet Union. Rather, it allowed the enemy superpowers to engage competitively without military action before an attentive worldwide media audience. Leonard Bernstein, for example, made intentionally provocative statements alongside his conciliatory speeches during and after his 1959 visit. These exchanges allowed the enemy peoples to grow accustomed to the idea that their competing states could coexist peacefully, thereby laying the groundwork for détente.Less
The State Department’s Cultural Presentations program famously sent jazz and classical musicians as well as dancers to the USSR. Although commentators have sometimes characterized U.S. music in the Soviet Union as a form of “infiltration,” musical diplomacy did little to destabilize the Soviet Union. Rather, it allowed the enemy superpowers to engage competitively without military action before an attentive worldwide media audience. Leonard Bernstein, for example, made intentionally provocative statements alongside his conciliatory speeches during and after his 1959 visit. These exchanges allowed the enemy peoples to grow accustomed to the idea that their competing states could coexist peacefully, thereby laying the groundwork for détente.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199862092
- eISBN:
- 9780199379989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862092.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial ...
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Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial painting by Paul Cadmus, Fancy Free encoded a queer strain in its plot and musical style. Correspondence in the archives of Bernstein and the composer Aaron Copland documents how gay relationships inflected the work’s overall outlook, intermingling biography with art. This chapter probes Bernstein’s musical language as an aesthetic of parody and montage in which he simulated a rapidly shifting array of styles, then stitched them together much like a cartoon or film score.Less
Debuted by Ballet Theatre in 1944, Fancy Free represented the first major success for its composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Inspired by The Fleet’s In, a controversial painting by Paul Cadmus, Fancy Free encoded a queer strain in its plot and musical style. Correspondence in the archives of Bernstein and the composer Aaron Copland documents how gay relationships inflected the work’s overall outlook, intermingling biography with art. This chapter probes Bernstein’s musical language as an aesthetic of parody and montage in which he simulated a rapidly shifting array of styles, then stitched them together much like a cartoon or film score.
Howard Pollack
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199791590
- eISBN:
- 9780199949625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199791590.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Popular
This chapter offers a detailed account of the legendary premiere of The Cradle Will Rock, a renegade production of the Federal Theatre Project directed by Orson Welles and John Houseman. The chapter ...
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This chapter offers a detailed account of the legendary premiere of The Cradle Will Rock, a renegade production of the Federal Theatre Project directed by Orson Welles and John Houseman. The chapter continues with a history of the many recordings and productions that followed, including Leonard Bernstein’s longstanding involvement with the work (and some consideration of the artistic and personal relationship between Bernstein and Blitzstein). This chapter also considers dramatizations of the famous premiere, including the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock, directed by Tim Robbins.Less
This chapter offers a detailed account of the legendary premiere of The Cradle Will Rock, a renegade production of the Federal Theatre Project directed by Orson Welles and John Houseman. The chapter continues with a history of the many recordings and productions that followed, including Leonard Bernstein’s longstanding involvement with the work (and some consideration of the artistic and personal relationship between Bernstein and Blitzstein). This chapter also considers dramatizations of the famous premiere, including the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock, directed by Tim Robbins.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199862092
- eISBN:
- 9780199379989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862092.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
On the Town fused the creative voices of Fancy Free and The Revuers. This chapter chronicles the genesis of the, emphasizing how its key personnel crossed over freely between concert halls and ...
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On the Town fused the creative voices of Fancy Free and The Revuers. This chapter chronicles the genesis of the, emphasizing how its key personnel crossed over freely between concert halls and Broadway, On the Town’s outrageously assertive female characters offered a staged version of screwball comedy, with many links to skits by The Revuers. The women articulate their sexual desires with abandon, and they dominate the men—that is, the sailors—with blistering comic banter. Gender forms an important theme, from the work of Betty Comden as lyricist (together with Adolph Green) to the appointment of a woman—Peggy Clark—as stage manager.Less
On the Town fused the creative voices of Fancy Free and The Revuers. This chapter chronicles the genesis of the, emphasizing how its key personnel crossed over freely between concert halls and Broadway, On the Town’s outrageously assertive female characters offered a staged version of screwball comedy, with many links to skits by The Revuers. The women articulate their sexual desires with abandon, and they dominate the men—that is, the sailors—with blistering comic banter. Gender forms an important theme, from the work of Betty Comden as lyricist (together with Adolph Green) to the appointment of a woman—Peggy Clark—as stage manager.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199862092
- eISBN:
- 9780199379989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862092.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
This chapter probes the distinctive compositional voice that Bernstein developed in On the Town, a style that relished high-low fusions while shunning existing cultural hierarchies. Bernstein’s music ...
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This chapter probes the distinctive compositional voice that Bernstein developed in On the Town, a style that relished high-low fusions while shunning existing cultural hierarchies. Bernstein’s music drew upon swing, the blues, parodies (influenced by the Revuers), cartoons, opera, and operetta. Bernstein wrote flexibly for the pit orchestra, at times fulfilling traditional expectations and at others reconfiguring the instrumentation to simulate a swing orchestra or Latin ensemble. Here, the chapter analyzes the music from the opening scene of Act I, conceptualizing “I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet” as a Broadway spiritual. The chapter then explores Bernstein’s style as it emerged in three types of musical numbers: ballads, comedy numbers featuring female characters, and symphonic writing for extended sections of dance.Less
This chapter probes the distinctive compositional voice that Bernstein developed in On the Town, a style that relished high-low fusions while shunning existing cultural hierarchies. Bernstein’s music drew upon swing, the blues, parodies (influenced by the Revuers), cartoons, opera, and operetta. Bernstein wrote flexibly for the pit orchestra, at times fulfilling traditional expectations and at others reconfiguring the instrumentation to simulate a swing orchestra or Latin ensemble. Here, the chapter analyzes the music from the opening scene of Act I, conceptualizing “I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet” as a Broadway spiritual. The chapter then explores Bernstein’s style as it emerged in three types of musical numbers: ballads, comedy numbers featuring female characters, and symphonic writing for extended sections of dance.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter details Gershwin's early contacts with African American music and musicians. His Blue Monday Blues of 1922, a failed attempt at writing an operatic scene about Negro characters, is sung ...
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This chapter details Gershwin's early contacts with African American music and musicians. His Blue Monday Blues of 1922, a failed attempt at writing an operatic scene about Negro characters, is sung by whites in blackface. The chapter also discusses his thoughts on Jewish artists and African American music. Fifteen years later, Gershwin's masterpiece, a folk opera, Porgy and Bess, comes to Broadway and receives mixed reviews. The orchestration question is resolved at the end of the chapter.Less
This chapter details Gershwin's early contacts with African American music and musicians. His Blue Monday Blues of 1922, a failed attempt at writing an operatic scene about Negro characters, is sung by whites in blackface. The chapter also discusses his thoughts on Jewish artists and African American music. Fifteen years later, Gershwin's masterpiece, a folk opera, Porgy and Bess, comes to Broadway and receives mixed reviews. The orchestration question is resolved at the end of the chapter.
Steve Swayne
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195388527
- eISBN:
- 9780199894345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388527.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by ...
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Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by encouraging Schuman to present the work to Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky agreed to perform the symphony, and Schuman's host that weekend was a junior at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein. This chapter explores the early beginnings of these new and seminal relationships, with an emphasis on the close friendship Schuman developed with Copland. This chapter also looks at an aborted ballet Schuman was commissioned to write and considers the possibility that some of this music became part of the American Festival Overture.Less
Though Harris was Schuman's last major teacher, it was Aaron Copland who gave Schuman the biggest boost in his career, first by helping Schuman win the prize for the Second Symphony and then by encouraging Schuman to present the work to Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky agreed to perform the symphony, and Schuman's host that weekend was a junior at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein. This chapter explores the early beginnings of these new and seminal relationships, with an emphasis on the close friendship Schuman developed with Copland. This chapter also looks at an aborted ballet Schuman was commissioned to write and considers the possibility that some of this music became part of the American Festival Overture.
Steve Swayne
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195388527
- eISBN:
- 9780199894345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388527.003.0017
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
The late 1940s brought Schuman back in touch with his Jewish roots through various encounters and queries that occurred. Leonard Bernstein, in particular, was in a state of wonderment at the birth of ...
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The late 1940s brought Schuman back in touch with his Jewish roots through various encounters and queries that occurred. Leonard Bernstein, in particular, was in a state of wonderment at the birth of Israel, and he tried to interest his good friend Schuman in it. Notwithstanding these various reminders of his own background and heritage, Schuman reaffirmed his coolness to organized religion. He expressed himself through his music, and the Sixth Symphony (1948) is a major testament to Schuman's ideas and ideals. During this period of time, Koussevitzky died, and with him Schuman lost a champion of his music. He gained, however, another champion in the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy. This chapter includes a cameo by English writer Stephen Spender and a look at a withdrawn work that would become the nucleus of the Seventh Symphony (1960).Less
The late 1940s brought Schuman back in touch with his Jewish roots through various encounters and queries that occurred. Leonard Bernstein, in particular, was in a state of wonderment at the birth of Israel, and he tried to interest his good friend Schuman in it. Notwithstanding these various reminders of his own background and heritage, Schuman reaffirmed his coolness to organized religion. He expressed himself through his music, and the Sixth Symphony (1948) is a major testament to Schuman's ideas and ideals. During this period of time, Koussevitzky died, and with him Schuman lost a champion of his music. He gained, however, another champion in the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy. This chapter includes a cameo by English writer Stephen Spender and a look at a withdrawn work that would become the nucleus of the Seventh Symphony (1960).
Aaron Copland
Elizabeth B. Crist and Wayne Shirley (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300111217
- eISBN:
- 9780300133479
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300111217.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant ...
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This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant figures in American twentieth-century music as well as Copland's friends, family, teachers, and colleagues. Selected for readability, interest, and the light they cast upon the composer's thoughts and career, the letters are carefully annotated and each is published in its entirety. Copland was a gifted and natural letter writer who revealed much more about himself in his letters than in formal writings in which he was conscious of his position as spokesman for modern music. The collected letters offer insights into his music, personality, and ideas, along with fascinating glimpses into the lives of such other well-known musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Chávez, William Schuman, and Virgil Thomson.Less
This book is devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant figures in American twentieth-century music as well as Copland's friends, family, teachers, and colleagues. Selected for readability, interest, and the light they cast upon the composer's thoughts and career, the letters are carefully annotated and each is published in its entirety. Copland was a gifted and natural letter writer who revealed much more about himself in his letters than in formal writings in which he was conscious of his position as spokesman for modern music. The collected letters offer insights into his music, personality, and ideas, along with fascinating glimpses into the lives of such other well-known musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Chávez, William Schuman, and Virgil Thomson.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199862092
- eISBN:
- 9780199379989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862092.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
The nightclub act called The Revuers is the stuff of legend–frequently mentioned in chronicles of the Broadway musical but little discussed in any detail. The group began in 1938 and included Betty ...
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The nightclub act called The Revuers is the stuff of legend–frequently mentioned in chronicles of the Broadway musical but little discussed in any detail. The group began in 1938 and included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Judy Tuvim (later known as Judy Holliday), John Frank, and Al Hammer. Bernstein was sometimes their accompanist. The Revuers thrived within the commercial worlds of nightclubs and radio. Their scripts lampooned highbrow culture and championed the working class, and the group often performed in mixed-race nightclubs, making politically progressive choices about where they worked. This chapter analyses their skits and comedy style, which had strong resonances in the later and better-known writing of Comden and Green.Less
The nightclub act called The Revuers is the stuff of legend–frequently mentioned in chronicles of the Broadway musical but little discussed in any detail. The group began in 1938 and included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Judy Tuvim (later known as Judy Holliday), John Frank, and Al Hammer. Bernstein was sometimes their accompanist. The Revuers thrived within the commercial worlds of nightclubs and radio. Their scripts lampooned highbrow culture and championed the working class, and the group often performed in mixed-race nightclubs, making politically progressive choices about where they worked. This chapter analyses their skits and comedy style, which had strong resonances in the later and better-known writing of Comden and Green.
Elizabeth B. Crist and Wayne Shirley (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300111217
- eISBN:
- 9780300133479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300111217.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter looks at a period in Aaron Copeland's life that would be his busiest and most productive. It highlights several events and accomplishments that Copeland went through during these years ...
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This chapter looks at a period in Aaron Copeland's life that would be his busiest and most productive. It highlights several events and accomplishments that Copeland went through during these years such as his invitation to the First Festival of Pan American Chamber Music by its sponsor, Elizabeth Sprague Coolridge. He composed a piece for CBS radio (Music for Radio). He lectured at the New School for Social Research and also played a role in the founding and formation of the American Composers Alliance. He promoted the cause of music education in his New School lectures, titled “What to Listen for in Music” and he obtained the opportunity to compose a score for the documentary film, The City, for the New York World's Fair. The chapter explores his love affair and relationship with Leonard Bernstein, as well as the compositions he would produce during World War II.Less
This chapter looks at a period in Aaron Copeland's life that would be his busiest and most productive. It highlights several events and accomplishments that Copeland went through during these years such as his invitation to the First Festival of Pan American Chamber Music by its sponsor, Elizabeth Sprague Coolridge. He composed a piece for CBS radio (Music for Radio). He lectured at the New School for Social Research and also played a role in the founding and formation of the American Composers Alliance. He promoted the cause of music education in his New School lectures, titled “What to Listen for in Music” and he obtained the opportunity to compose a score for the documentary film, The City, for the New York World's Fair. The chapter explores his love affair and relationship with Leonard Bernstein, as well as the compositions he would produce during World War II.
