July 5, 2011

  • Building an American Music Collection--Part One, The 19th Century

    In celebration of Independence Day, I decided to provide a little overview of important American music worthy of consideration in building a music library.  There will be omissions but, this should be a great start.

    The 19th Century

     

    Though one can find American music, indigenous to the new country, prior to 1840, much of it tends to fall into more “popular” categories.  That is not to say there were not more serious composers working in America.  Many emigrant composers arrived bringing with them a host of music and creating music using quotations of popular, often patriotic, songs.  (Earlier this year, I reviewed a CD of such music by Benjamin Carr and others if you are so inclined to explore this further.)  Small wind bands often played music by their musicians or conductor that included variations on popular dance steps of the period.  For the purposes of the present list, I wanted to include works that are from classical/art world.  That means we will miss out on a lot of great songs, especially those of Stephen Foster which one could argue was the inheritor of the song form in America from Schubert.  So below I will list some “essential” American composers/music worth making a part of your own music library.  Since some of these recordings tend to come and go rather quickly, I would refer you to classical websites like www.arkivmusic.com.  And yes, there will be some works that we will miss discussing.  Again the intent is to help build a standard collection of American Music from which you can continue to explore our rich musical heritage.

    It is in the 1840s when we begin to see the rise of more American composers, often performers themselves; the first, and most prominent, of these being Louis Moreau Gottschalk.  Lest we forget and dismiss the music of this and subsequent years as being too “European,” we must remember that the music of the time was struggling through the shadows of Beethoven still.  The political changes in Europe shifted the responsibility of orchestral and operatic support in ways that were still being worked out.  We do see a rise in chamber music as more people acquired pianos, or held private “salon” concerts.  Hence the many sonatas, books of solo piano music (Mendelssohn, Chopin, etc.) that begin to appear.  Gottschalk wrote his music at the same time as Wagner, Verdi, Liszt, Offenbach, Suppe, and Mendelssohn.  So if his music bears any resemblance at all, it is simply because he is writing music like everyone else in the period.

    Except, he did not just do that.  Gottschalk’s harmonic language respectfully owes a lot to standard harmony.  But where his music is unique is in its exploration of ethnic musics (dance forms, rhythms, subject matter, melodies).  Bamboula, written sometime in the first part of the decade, is a perfect early example of this style as are a host of additional solo piano works.  Gottschalk is writing contemporary to Stephen Foster and so we have two important composers who were also performers from the period of the 1840s-1850s.

    1.       Piano Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (I like Eugene List’s recordings if you can find them.)

    Anthony Philip Heinrich (note that Germanic last name!) wrote an odd orchestral work in the late 1840s that is essentially programmatic music popular in the period.  More of this continues into the 1850s with works like those by William Henry Fry.  Fry’s music is worth looking into (there’s a good representation on a Naxos disc).  There are some common threads in this music that include programmatic elements, references to American landscapes, and Shakespeare-inspired works (to match the rage of interest in the bard).  These are not bad pieces by any means and worthy of resurrection.  The Santa Claus Symphony of 1853 is one of Fry’s interesting cultural-related works.  We also see some early large-scale choral works including a Mass by John Knowles Paine—who we will return to shortly.

    2.       Fry: Orchestral Music (The Naxos disc is worth tracking down.  This is a good representation of mid-century style.)

    Now for some context as we move into the 1860s.  Brahms is beginning to publish piano music.  Johann Strauss, Jr. is writing engaging popular dance music.  Saint-Saens, Mussorgsky, Grieg, Smetana, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky… all are composing during this period as symphonic music begins to rise.  In America, the Civil War took the energy, focus, and resources of the country in such ways that one sees mostly band and songs being published with Union or Confederate themes.  Gottschalk was still an active composer/performer at this time.  But while some of the 19th century’s most popular “war horses” and future standard repertoire pieces were being premiered in Europe, we were busy fighting amongst ourselves turning out patriotic miniatures in songs.  The 1860s hurt the country in its collective culture more than we might realize, especially when it came to large-scale original music.  Still some of the most familiar parlor songs come from this period.

    3.       Stephen Foster songs

    As we move in to the 1870s, we can begin to see the influence of Wagner’s operatic work and harmonic expansion in much of Western music.  Bruckner’s third symphony even carried a “Wagner” subtitle.  Dvorak’s third is equally Wagnerian though it begins to move towards inclusion of folk dances, adapting Liszt’s approach to the symphonic form.  One could make a great argument that it is Lizst whose music and philosophy influenced the period most at its root when one looks at his work up to this point.  Even his later piano music, with its reflective, spiritual components might be a thread into Impressionistic style.  More composers were exploring nationalistic music references in their pieces during this time of nation building.  Tchaikovsky’s second symphony bears the subtitle “Little Russian;” Lalo writes his Symphonie Espagnole; Grieg composes Peer Gynt; Smetana begins work on Ma Vlast; and Bizet’s Carmen appears.  Brahms finally completes his first symphony in 1876 hoping to shake the shadow of Beethoven.  But, interestingly enough, American composer John Knowles Paine’s first symphony appears the previous year.  Paine’s work is a part of the period with its romantic musical language in absolute music.  There is less interest here in folk influences and more an attempt to write a competent work that can hold its own.  (Personally, I’d listen to Paine’s symphonies over the 3rd or 2nd symphonies of Tchaikovsky from this same period any day.)  It is worth pointing out as well that in 1879, Dudley Buck, a composer who wrote a great deal of organ music, composed his delightful Festival Overture on “The Star Spangled Banner” which I’ll take over the 1812 Overture on any fourth of July!

    4.       Paine: Symphony No. 1

    Beginning in the 1880s, we see a few new composers appearing that can stand the test of time.  Edward MacDowell was a wonderful miniaturist and pianist and his piano music runs the gamut of being quite accessible to the competent pianist to the massive challenges of his sonatas.  Arthur Foote also appears with chamber music works.  George Whitfield Chadwick though is the one composer whose music is arguably still underappreciated.  His Symphony No. 2, completed in 1886 is an important musical work that takes into account many of the folk-like dance rhythms of Dvorak.  Musical theater is also an important part of the period and will be now for the rest of the century and beyond.  John Philip Sousa writes theater pieces, though he would soon become more famous for his many marches and wind band music.  Victor Herbert will also be an important influencer of American musical theater as he, like Gilbert & Sullivan, begins adapting the operetta to new expressions over the next 40 years.  Of additional interest is the appearance of Frederick Delius, an English composer, in Florida.  He tried his hand there as an orange grove owner, failing miserably, and even ended up in Virginia before returning home.  However,  three of his works (Florida Suite, Appalachia, and the opera Koanga) would all be influenced by his time here.  Musical life continued to grow in this period hence the following recommendations:

    5.       Chadwick: Symphony No. 2

    6.       MacDowell: Piano Concerti

    7.       Sousa: Marches (Washington Post comes from this period, and the hits kept arriving from this prolific composer over the next two decades)

    As we head into the final decade of the 19th century, there are a few new names appearing that are important to note so as to understand the contemporary musical culture.  Mahler, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Sibelius,  Debussy, even Richard Strauss begin to appear in the musical melting pot.  Dvorak visits Iowa in 1892/93 and is inspired to write his ninth symphony, subtitled From the New World, as well as an orchestral suite.  His comments about creating an “American” indigenous symphonic music are often quoted as the inspiration for American composers, but his symphony has more of his native homeland in it than most will admit, and there were already perfectly fine symphonies (see above) that did what Dvorak was asking before he showed up.  A little future insurance salesman will compose his first symphony, and some beautiful songs, during this period in perfect Romantic style (Charles Ives—to whom we’ll return later).  MacDowell will compose an orchestral suite that was no doubt influenced by the American and Native American conflicts of the period when he included “Indian” melodies in his Orchestral Suite No. 2.  (There were a number of composers, referred to as the “Indianists,” who also tried to capture the essence of Native American music in a number of piano works.)  In response to the hoopla over Dvorak’s visit, Mrs. H.H.A. Beach composed her own Symphony in e using the melodies of her own cultural heritage (the subtitle was “Gaelic”).  The work is perhaps one of the finest of the period and there is even a little sexism apparent in the period commentary that a woman could write such a “muscular” work.  Beach would continue writing sporadically over her career (she was a fantastic concert pianist) though gave up her musical life when she married Dr. Beach.  One of my favorite composers of this period is Charles Martin Loeffler whose colorful music stands out from the more Germanic European tradition in works like La Mort de Tintagiles and Five Irish Fantasies (orchestral version published in 1935).  During this period we begin to see composers establishing teaching positions at the Ivy leagues of Harvard and Yale.  Horation Parker, who would teach at Yale, was an equally fine composer who would count Ives as one of his pupils.

    8.       MacDowell: Orchestral Suite No. 2 (Indian)

    9.       Beach: Symphony in e