Glossary

Cultivated music and a dichotomy	The separation between cultivated and vernacular music took place in the second half of the nineteenth century as popular songs took on a more rhythmic, syncopated feel. New songs emerged from the cross-cultural interaction among Anglos, Blacks, Creoles, and all sorts of immigrants. The new music widened the gap between the classical and the popular with regard to musical styles and people’s acceptance of these styles. The dichotomy became established: classical music became an elite art, and popular music, given stimulus by an increasingly sophisticated and powerful music industry, was for mass audiences. A factor in this dichotomy was that the United States was always a middle-class, rather than an aristocratic, society. Music involved amateurs and professional performers whose financial support came from paying audiences. This circumstance affected the repertoire, which had to appeal to the largest possible audiences. More advanced, complex modern pieces became something for the elite, and this separated composers from mass audiences. In turn, more demand was created for accessible eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music. Many modern composers, however, resisted innovation and complexity in music so that their music would be more widely accepted or sought a style that would be both sophisticated and appealing. Another factor was the rise of the music industry, particularly sales of sheet music and tours of virtuoso artists and performing groups. Marketing and promotion affected and continue to affect peoples’ taste, what they will buy, and what kinds of concerts they will attend. The dichotomy became even more pronounced by the mid-twentieth century, as some classical composers consciously created innovative, complex music. Today, however, there is ample evidence of a more eclectic taste among the general population and of a lessening of the dichotomy.



Vernacular music	Vernacular music is the common musical language of a people.



The ticket-buying public	The United States was always a middle-class, rather than an aristocratic, society. Music involved amateurs and professional performers whose financial support came from paying audiences. This circumstance affected the repertoire, which had to appeal to the largest possible audiences. More advanced, complex modern pieces became something for the elite, and this separated composers from mass audiences. In turn, more demand was created for accessible eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music. Many modern composers, however, resisted innovation and complexity in music so that their music would be more widely accepted or sought a style that would be both sophisticated and appealing. Another factor was the rise of the music industry, particularly sales of sheet music and tours of virtuoso artists and performing groups. Marketing and promotion affected and continue to affect peoples’ taste, what they will buy, and what kinds of concerts they will attend. The love of German romanticism and European music created a dilemma for American music: personal freedom and individualism came into conflict with the taste of the ticket-buying public. The public, then as now, tended to want the tried and true, the familiar, and the simple, rather than what is innovative and individual.



Eclectic taste	Today, however, there is ample evidence of a more eclectic taste among the general population and of a lessening of the dichotomy between cultivated and popular music. Several factors have contributed to crossover and fusion styles in pop, rock, country music, jazz, and classical music. The recording industry, film, live concerts, and the broadcast media, particularly public radio and public television, have made music in many styles widely known and available. Electronic music began in the classical context, then branched out to rock, jazz, and popular music. Increased influences from world music have affected classical music and, in recent years, jazz and rock. Music courses and curricula have expanded beyond their traditional focus on classical masterworks. The natural cycle of changing tastes was affected by the manipulation of the media through marketing and advertising. Since 1965, the federal government, through the National Endowment for the Arts, has expanded audiences for music in many styles, particularly classical music, and stimulated interest in fold, jazz, and ethnic music.



Virtuoso-star personalities	By the mid-nineteenth century, romanticism was at its peak in Germany. Americans valued the romantic ideals of individualism, personal freedom, and the virtuoso performer. European artists began to present concerts in America; many became popular as star performers and entertainers. Musically naïve American audiences became enamored of the artists’ personalities and technical proficiency more than the quality of their music. Among the performers who achieved great success in the mid-nineteenth century were the Norwegian violinist Ole Bull and the “Swedish nightingale,” Jenny Lind. Americans were in awe of Europeans’ virtuosity, and Americans who aspired to become professional musicians went to Europe, especially German, for their education.



German and French influences	Americans were in awe of Europeans’ virtuosity, and Americans who aspired to become professional musicians went to Europe, especially German, for their education. They returned knowing European music; thus those who were composers created music in the European style. Americans inferred from this that the music created in America was inferior to European music, that America’s educational system had not yet developed sufficiently to prepare professional musicians, and that German music represented the ultimate in art music. In imitations of the Europeans, large Eastern cities soon established their own symphony orchestras. Most American orchestras hired European conductors. Again, the may have reflected an inferiority complex or a belief that the American educational system had not yet developed sufficiently to prepare professional conductors. The infatuation with European artistry continued into the mid-twentieth century. With regard to art, relations between the United States and France had improved by the early part of the twentieth century. By the 1920s, American composers were flocking to France, not Germany. The environment in France, especially Paris, encouraged artistic interaction among poets, composers, dancers, and intellectuals. France also provided a sense of the exotic, and many American and French composers were influenced by the cosmopolitan music found in Paris: Russian folk music, Asian and North African music, Latin American sounds and rhythms, and jazz. Many American composers were receptive to the new French impressionistic music as an alternative to the excesses of German romanticism and the conservatism of many Germanic composers such as Brahms and Schumann. Through the efforts of Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the American Conservatory reopened in 1921. The conservatory’s most notable teacher was Nadia Boulanger, probably the twentieth century’s preeminent teacher of American composers. An unusually large number of American composers went to France to study with her. Many, such as Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions, and Walter Piston, now are considered among America’s most illustrious composers.



Contributions of immigrants	In the 1930s the political climate in Russia, Germany, and Eastern Europe caused artists, craftspeople, scientists, and other educated people to emigrate. They came to the United States seeking the freedom to practice their skills and to continue developing their knowledge and careers. Through the years, composers who faced political or religious persecution or who were deprived of artistic freedom have come to the United States, which by the mid-twentieth century was a center of musical excellence offering abundant opportunities. Among these immigrants were several of the world’s most renowned composers: Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Hindemith, and Bela Bartok. Their influence was felt through their music and, in several cases, through their writing and teaching in American universities.



Women and minorities as composers	France also provided a sense of the exotic, and many American and French composers were influenced by the cosmopolitan music found in Paris: Russian folk music, Asian and North African music, Latin American sounds and rhythms, and jazz. Many American composers were receptive to the new French impressionistic music as an alternative to the excesses of German romanticism and the conservatism of many Germanic composers such as Brahms and Schumann. Through the efforts of Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the American Conservatory reopened in 1921. The conservatory’s most notable teacher was Nadia Boulanger, probably the twentieth century’s preeminent teacher of American composers. An unusually large number of American composers went to France to study with her. Many, such as Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions, and Walter Piston, now are considered among America’s most illustrious composers.



Music instruction	Americans in the nineteenth century understood the importance of music instruction, both formal and informal. Singing schools were established to raise the standard of hymn singing in America. Secular counterparts of the singing school were the choral and instrumental organizations established in the Eastern cities to promote and perform the new European music. The first and most famous of these organizations was the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, founded in 1815. Private instruction was common. In 1838 in Boston, Lowell Mason established the first formal music program in the public schools. Today, music education in our schools reflects the pedagogical influence of two twentieth-century composers: Carl Orff, from Germany; and Zoltan Kodaly, from Hungary. At the college level, music conservatories were founded to develop professional virtuoso performers of European classical music. The most famous of these conservatories exist to this day: Peabody Institute of Baltimore, founded in 1860; and conservatories in Oberlin, Boston, and Cincinnati, founded in 1865. The first music curriculum in an American university began at Harvard in 1875. It was taught by John Knowles Paine, America’s first professional of music.



Experimental (avant-garde) music	In every generation, a small group of composers will try new styles, techniques, forms, timbres, or concepts in order to develop a new approach to composition, new aesthetic notions, or a new language for expressing music. These composers are said to be in the avant-garde. Their pieces, being experimental, will have varying impacts. For some experimentalists, the musical outcome of an experiment is far less significant than the process of the experiment itself. Such compositions were viewed as more important as musical ideas than as music. It is not unusual for pieces by an experimentalist to gain wide acceptance as concepts and techniques are refined in his or her own subsequent compositions.



Nationalism	Concert art music that reflects national or regional rather than universal characteristics. The music may describe something derived from the folk or popular traditions of a nation; its history, tales, or legends; its cultural characteristics; or a place that is important to the nation or region. Americanist music or American nationalism refers to composers who sought to develop a distinctively American musical style. They frequently would incorporate familiar patriotic, folk, or religious tunes, or at least fragments of these tunes, in their classical compositions.



Composers: Ives	Charles Ives was perhaps the first great innovator in twentieth-century American classical music. He felt he could be more free and independent as a composer if he did not have to depend on music for his livelihood. He became very successful in the family insurance business. Ives was well educated in music; he received a degree from Yale. Working in Connecticut and New York, far from the European music centers, he developed a style that was outside the generally accepted European traditions. His music represents virtually every major compositional innovation in the twentieth century, but Ives “discovered” the new techniques decades ahead of everyone else. Ives experimentally musically but was guided by larger issues. To him, music was more than sounds. It was the spirit that emanated from its creator. It was a musical manifestation of life itself. Ives’s music was infused with quotations of melodies or fragments of melodies from familiar American vernacular music, mostly hymns, patriotic songs, and marches-recreating sounds of life. He recognized that all of life is vital and substantial and that art and life do not need to be separate. His music synthesized American classical and vernacular traditions.



Composers: Copland	Since the 1920s, certain composers, notably Aaron Copland, sought a style that would be immediately recognized as uniquely American. Aaron Copland is the best-known and most successful American composer of classical music. His nationalistic music has been especially successful. He was the first of the idealistic Americans in Paris in the 1920s who wanted to elevate American music and help shape the American music personality. Copland was interested in merging elements of classical and vernacular music. He wanted to do more than quote hymns, spirituals, or American Indians chants, as others before him had done. His genius was in using vernacular, often regional, elements to formulate more universal thoughts that could represent the whole country. Copland was interested in innovation, but not at the expense of the past. He felt that although music had to move ahead, it should be built on past practices. He was influenced, as were other Americans in Paris in the 1920s, by Stravinsky, whose first musical achievements had taken place in Paris 15 years earlier. Copland also experimented with serial technique, particularly in the 1950s, and his piano music ranks among his best abstract modern works.

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