20 th Century: Americans
Charles Ives
– Innovator; experimented with modern
sounds
– Son of bandmaster who taught him to play,
write, and even to sing in one key while he
played in another (polytonality)
– Respected in insurance business; wrote
music in “spare” time
20 th Century: Americans
Charles Ives
– Experimental music, rooted in revival
hymns and ragtime, village bands, patriotic
songs
– American “folk” sounds: slightly out of
tune, slightly out of time, familiar tunes,
bands passing each other while marching
20 th Century: Americans
Charles Ives
Putnam’s Camp, Redding Connecticut
from “Three Places in New England”
Child’s impression of 4th of July picnic; child
wanders away and dreams of
Revolutionary war soldiers; returns
20 th Century: Americans
George Gershwin
– Tin Pan Alley piano pounder, composer of
TPA songs, musicals, orchestral works,and
opera (Porgy & Bess)
– Had radio show, wrote movie music.
Musicals in conjunction with brother Ira,
who wrote the lyrics
20 th Century: Americans
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
– 1st work for concert hall; commissioned by
swing band leader to prove jazz merited
serious attention
– “Musical kaleidoscope of America: melting
pot, pep, blues, metropolitan madness.”
Finished in 3 weeks (for 2 pianos);
orchestrated for the band by it’s arranger,
who later scored it for orchestra
20 th Century: Americans
William Grant Still
– Violinst, pre-med student who worked in
popular music as an arranger and
performer; entered Oberlin Conservatory to
study, left to serve in navy
– In NYC, worked as popular musician while
composing concert works
– After studying 20th century techniques,
discarded them and wrote with a uniquely
African American flavor
20 th Century: Americans
William Grant Still
– 1st black composer to have a work
performed by a major American symphony;
turning point in career
– Moved to LA, wrote film scores, concert
works, and operas
– 1st African-American to conduct a major
symphony orchestra; 1st to have an opera
performed by a major opera company
20 th Century: Americans
William Grant Still: Afro-American
Symphony (1931)
– To demonstrate that the blues could be
elevated to the highest musical level
– African-American character from blues
themes, tenor banjo in orchestra, themes
that recall spirituals and jazz tunes
20 th Century: Americans
Aaron Copland
– Studied with conservative teacher;
composed modern works and kept them to
himself
– 1st American to study in France with Nadia
Boulanger, who taught several generations
of American composers in modern music
20 th Century: Americans
Aaron Copland
– Wrote in several styles:
• Jazz period: recognizably “American”
• Highly dissonant period
• Simple, yet highly professional period: tonal,
with 20th century techniques
“…felt an increasing dissatisfaction with the
relations of the music-loving public and the
living composer…”
20 th Century: Americans
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring
– Originally for a ballet, arranged as a suite
for full orchestra (including piano and large
percussion section – 20th century)
– Theme & Variations, based on American
folk tune