American popular song : the great innovators, 1900-1950 / Alec Wilder ; edited and with a new introduction and additional chapter by Robert Rawlins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilder, Alec, 1907-1980, author.

Contributor:

Rawlins, Robert, editor.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Popular music--United States--History and criticism.

Popular music.

Music--History and criticism.

Music.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (577 pages)

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

Composer Alec Wilder's 'American Popular Song' is widely recognized as the definitive book on American popular song. In this volume, which achieved immediate praise and recognition upon its publication, Wilder discusses some 800 songs from the American Songbook, offering a composer's insight, accessible music analysis, as well has his strong personal biases. Nearly 50 years later, this classic study has received a much-needed revision. While leaving Wilder's colorful prose and brazen opinions intact, language, style, and musical nomenclature have been updated to reflect current usage. The musical examples mostly remain, but piano score notation has been replaced with lead-sheet notation: melody, chords, and lyrics. Rhythmic notation has also been adjusted to follow present-day norms. Additionally, a final chapter has been added, which includes more than 50 songs that were not in the original.

Contents:

Cover

American Popular Song

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Alec Wilder's American Popular Song Revisited

1. The Transition Era: 1885 to World War I

2. Jerome Kern (1885-​1945)

3. Irving Berlin (1888-​1989)

4. George Gershwin (1898-​1937)

5. Richard Rodgers (1902-​1979)

6. Cole Porter (1891-​1964)

7. Harold Arlen (1905-​1986)

8. Vincent Youmans (1898-​1946) and Arthur Schwartz (1900-​1984)

9. Burton Lane (1912-​1997), Hugh Martin (1914-​2011), and Vernon Duke (1903-​1969)

10. The Great Craftsmen

I: Hoagy Carmichael (1899-​1981)

II: Walter Donaldson (1893-​1947)

III: Harry Warren (1893-​1981)

IV: Isham Jones (1894-​1956)

V: Jimmy McHugh (1894-​1969)

VI: Duke Ellington (1899-​1974)

VII: Fred Ahlert (1892-​1953)

VIII: Richard Whiting (1891-​1938)

IX: Ray Noble (1907-​1978)

X: John Green (1908-​1989)

XI: Rube Bloom (1902-​1976)

XII: Jimmy Van Heusen (1913-​1990)

11. Outstanding Individual Songs: 1920 to 1950

12. Additional Songs and Composers

I: George M. Cohan (1878-​1942)

II: Sigmund Romberg (1887-​1951)

III: Buddy DeSylva (1895-​1950), Lew Brown (1893-​1958), and Ray Henderson (1896-​1970)

IV: Bernice Petkere (1901-​2000)

V: Ralph Rainger (1901-​1942)

VI: Fats Waller (1904-​1943)

VII: Jule Styne (1905-​1994)

VIII: Dana Suesse (1909-​1987)

IX: Individual Songs of Interest

X: Alec Wilder (1907-​1980)

Index of composers

Index of Lyricists

Index of Song Titles.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Rawlins, Robert American Popular Song

ISBN:

0-19-093997-4

0-19-005302-X

0-19-093996-6