The great American symphony : music, the Depression, and war / Nicholas Tawa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tawa, Nicholas E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Symphony--United States--20th century.

Symphony.

World War, 1939-1945--Music and the war.

World War, 1939-1945.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (254 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The years of the Great Depression, World War II, and their aftermath brought a sea change in American music. This period of economic, social, and political adversity can truly be considered a musical golden age. In the realm of classical music, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Howard Hanson, Virgil Thompson, and Leonard Bernstein -- among others -- produced symphonic works of great power and lasting beauty during these troubled years. It was during this critical decade and a half that contemporary writers on American culture began to speculate about "the Great American Symphony" and looked to these composers for music that would embody the spirit of the nation. In this volume, Nicholas Tawa concludes that they succeeded, at the very least, in producing music that belongs in the cultural memory of every American. Tawa introduces the symphonists and their major works from the romanticism of Barber and the "all-American" Roy Harris through the theatrics of Bernstein and Marc Blitzstein to the broad-shouldered appeal of Thompson and Copland. Tawa's musical descriptions are vivid and personal, and invite music lovers and trained musicians alike to turn again to the marvelous and lasting music of this time.

Contents:

Preliminaries. Attitudes

The times

Symphonism ascendant

The symphony's public role

Symphonies of the mid- to late thirties. The romantic symphony : Barber

The spiritual symphony : Hanson

The all-American symphony : Harris

The muscular symphony : Schuman

The civil symphony : Carpenter

Afterthought : Thomson and Cowell

Symphonies of the war years. Wartime attitudes

The commemorative symphony : Antheil

The aesthetic symphony : Diamond

The dramatic symphony : Bernstein

The masterly symphony : Piston

The ambivalent symphony : Barber

The theatrical symphony : Blitzstein

Symphonies of the immediate postwar years. The conservatorial symphony : Moore

The dynamic symphony : Mennin

The plain-spoken symphony : Thompson

The August symphony : Copland

The self-reliant symphony : Creston

The knotty symphony : Sessions

American symphonies after 1950. The symphony in the leanest years

The symphony after 1990.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-231) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-10333-4

9786612103339

0-253-00287-7

OCLC:

406518891