The Great American Symphony: Music, the Depression, and War

Awards:   Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2009.
Author:   Nicholas Tawa
Publisher:   Indiana University Press
ISBN:  

9780253353054


Pages:   256
Publication Date:   26 March 2009
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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The Great American Symphony: Music, the Depression, and War


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Awards

  • Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2009.

Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   Nicholas Tawa
Publisher:   Indiana University Press
Imprint:   Indiana University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.499kg
ISBN:  

9780253353054


ISBN 10:   025335305
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   26 March 2009
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface 1. Preliminaries Attitudes The Times Symphonism Ascendant The Symphony's Public Role 2. 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 3. 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 4. 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 5. American Symphonies after 1950 The Symphony in the Leanest Years The Symphony after 1990 Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Reviews

Out of tragedy emerges great art. This is the message contained in the well-documented book by Nicholas Tawa. He reminds us of rich treasures, both known and yet to be rediscovered. The work will be a valuable resource for musicians, as well as lovers of perhaps the most creative time in American music. Leonard Slatkin, Music Director, Detroit Symphony Orchestra At a time when the relationship between composer and audience seems to be at the crux of the health and even survival of the classical music world, Nicholas Tawa's The Great American Symphony offers critical and telling insights into an important epoch in American musical history. JoAnn Falletta, Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic


A prolific writer, scholar, and advocate for American music, Tawa (emer., Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston) does not argue for a single symphony as the great American symphony but instead nominates a dozen symphonic composers prominent from 1930 to 1950 among whose works a great American symphony might be found. The author's excellent vignettes on these composers encompass factual and anecdotal material along with his own informed evaluation of the oeuvre of each. A second theme, that of historical evolution, also runs throughout the book: this same dozen, more or less, heeded the call of their country and wrote music accessible to patrons of classical music; the following 20 years (1950-70) were dominated by composers writing serial music, seemingly neglectful of the public. Tawa concludes by tracing the historical stream through minimalism, neo-Romanticism, and the breaking into the many rivulets of today. One finds considerable variety, both in intention and musical style, among the composers he chose from the 1930s and 1940s. Aaron Copland meets the author's standard, both in attitude and accomplishment, but Roger Sessions does not. Tawa also provides brief discussion of approximately 20 other symphonic composers from 1950 until today. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. -- W. K. Kearns, emeritus, University of Colorado at BoulderChoice At a time when the relationship between composer and audience seems to be at the crux of the health and even survival of the classical music world, Nicholas Tawa's The Great American Symphony offers critical and telling insights into an important epoch in American musical history. -JoAnn Falletta, Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic A prolific writer, scholar, and advocate for American music, Tawa (emer., Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston) does not argue for a single symphony as the 'great American symphony' but instead nominates a dozen symphonic composers prominent from 1930 to 1950 among whose works a 'great American symphony' might be found. The author's excellent vignettes on these composers encompass factual and anecdotal material along with his own informed evaluation of the oeuvre of each... Highly recommended. -Choice The Great American Symphony is a significant contribution to the history of American art music. -Fanfare Out of tragedy emerges great art. This is the message contained in the well-documented book by Nicholas Tawa. He reminds us of rich treasures, both known and yet to be rediscovered. The work will be a valuable resource for musicians, as well as lovers of perhaps, the most creative time in American music. -Leonard Slatkin, Music Director, Detroit Symphony Orchestra


Author Information

Nicholas Tawa is co-founder of the Sonneck Society, now the Society for American Music. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

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