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American Popular Music
Classical
American Popular Music Blues Classical Country Folk Jazz Rhythm and Blues, Rap, and Hip-Hop Rock and Roll
General Editor: Richard Carlin Editorial Board: Barbara Ching, Ph.D., University of Memphis Ronald D. Cohen, Ph.D., Indiana University-Northwest William Duckworth, Bucknell University Kevin J. Holm-Hudson, Ph.D., University of Kentucky Nadine Hubbs, Ph.D., University of Michigan Craig Morrison, Ph.D., Concordia University and McGill University Albin J. Zak III, Ph.D., University at Albany (SUNY)
American Popular Music
Classical Brad Hill Foreword by Nadine Hubbs, Ph.D. University of Michigan
American Popular Music: Classical Copyright © 2006 by Brad Hill All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hill, Brad, 1953– American popular music : classical / Brad Hill ; foreword by Nadine Hubbs; general editor, Richard Carlin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8160-5311-1 (hc : alk. paper) 1. Popular music—United States—Encyclopedias. I. Title. ML102.P66H55 2005 780'.973'03—dc22 2004026425 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by James Scotto-Lavino Cover design by Nora Wertz Printed in the United States of America VB FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Contents Foreword
vii
Preface
xi
About This Book
xv
Introduction
xix
A-TO-Z ENTRIES
1
Appendixes 247 Glossary of Music Terms 283 Bibliography 291 Editorial Board of Advisers 299 Index 301
Foreword I
n 1892, the Czech composer Antonín Dvorˇák sailed to New York to accept a highly paid post at the National Conservatory of Music in America. Dvorˇák was an eminent nationalist whose symphonies and quartets, vocal and other works presented a proud musical portrait of his native Bohemia. Eager to establish a comparable national tradition in the United States, Dvorˇák’s patrons hoped he would lead American musicians to develop a compelling voice on behalf of their own young country. Indeed, the princely salary offered to Dvorˇák was one measure of the fervency of this hope—and of the belief, shared among many leading citizens, that the United States was in urgent need of cultural improvement. Although America was by this time a wealthy industrial and global power, it was still deemed a backwater by high-culture standards, having no national arts tradition—and certainly no musical tradition—comparable to the revered traditions of Europe. And as Dvorˇák’s patrons surely knew, continued weakness in this realm could threaten the burgeoning growth of American empire. Dvorˇák understood his charge and pursued it in earnest, seeking out distinctly American musical idioms that might form the basis of a characteristic U.S. national style. From 1892 until he returned home in 1895, the Czech composer’s oft-solicited advice to his U.S. colleagues was to cultivate a musical language based on certain elements that he found distinctive in African-American spirituals and plantation songs, and in transcriptions of American Indian melodies. Such elements included
pentatonic melodies, drone