Transcript Chapter 70. Musical Theater in Germany in the 1920s: Berg

Chapter 75
Self-Reliance in American Music:
Ives, Seeger, Nancarrow
Lecture Overview
• American music in the 18th and early 19th centuries
• The American spirit of independence, simplicity, and
common values: Emerson and Whitman
• Charles E. Ives:
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life and works
theories of manner and substance in music
two songs: “Feldeinsamkeit” and “Charlie Rutlage”
The Unanswered Question
• Ruth Crawford Seeger:
– life and works
– String Quartet, movement 3
• Conlon Nancarrow:
– life and works
– Study 3a for player piano
• Review
The Life of Charles E. Ives (1874–1954)
• 1874 born in Danbury, CT, to the family of a
musician
• 1894–98 attends Yale University, studies music
with Horatio Parker
• 1898 begins career in the insurance industry in
New York
• 1912 settles on a farm near Danbury
• 1930 retires from the insurance business
• 1947 wins Pulitzer Prize for Symphony No. 3
• 1954 dies in New York
Principal Compositions by Charles Ives
• Orchestra: symphonies (4), tone poems including
– The Unanswered Question
– Central Park in the Dark
– Decoration Day
• Songs: about 150, many published in 1922 in the
collection 114 Songs
• Piano and Organ: sonatas (2), character pieces,
Variations on America (organ)
• Chorus: works include
– Three Harvest Home Chorales
– The Celestial Country
• Chamber music: violin sonatas (4), string quartets
(2), experimental pieces
Charles Ives, song “Feldeinsamkeit,” 1897
Ternary form
Charles Ives, song “Charlie Rutlage,” c1920
Ternary form
Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question, c1906
Through-composed form
The Life of Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953)
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1901 born in Ohio, grows up
in Jacksonville, Florida
1921 enters the American
Conservatory of Music in
Chicago, studying mainly piano
and composition
1929 moves to New York,
studies with Charles Seeger
1930 awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship, the first female
composer to be so honored
1932 marries Charles Seeger
1936 the Seegers move to
Washington, DC; work in the
Archive of American Folk Song
at the Library of Congress
1953 dies in Chevy Chase, MD
Principal Compositions
by Ruth Crawford Seeger
• Chamber music: includes String Quartet, Violin
Sonata, and Woodwind Quintet
• Piano: mainly collections of preludes and other
short pieces
• Songs: several collections on the poetry of Carl
Sandburg
• Folk song arrangements: collections include Our
Singing Country (1941)
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet, 1934,
movement 3 (Andante)
Through-composed form
The Life of Conlon Nancarrow (1912–1997)
• 1912 born in Texarkana, Ark.
• 1929–32 attends Cincinnati College-Conservatory
• 1937–39 fights with Communist forces in the
Spanish Civil War
• 1940 emigrates permanently to Mexico
• 1947 acquires a player piano on which to compose
• 1983 awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius”
grant
• 1997 dies in Mexico City
Principal Compositions
by Conlon Nancarrow
• Player piano: roughly 50 studies
• Piano: several short character pieces
• Chamber music: includes string quartets (3),
chamber orchestra pieces
Conlon Nancarrow,
Study 3a for player piano, c1948
12-bar blues form
Review Key Terms
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Billings
fuguing tune
Leopold Stokowski
Metropolitan Opera
Edward MacDowell
shanty
Horatio Parker
tone cluster
Harry Partch
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Charles Seeger
dissonant counterpoint
Conlon Nancarrow
• polyrhythm
• boogie woogie
• rhythm-and-blues