Made in the U.S.A. Thoughts on American Song
2011; Routledge; Volume: 67; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Poetry Analysis and Criticism
ResumoAMERICAN ART SONG HAS a checkered and eclectic history. Its is uniquely its own, reflecting the ancestry and traditions of many cultures. defies a neat one fits all description, but instead continues to mirror the credo of individualism. In 1996, I wrote in the preface to the American section of Song: A Guide to Style and Literature: To hear the songs of Charles Ives, Charles Griffes, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem, Virgil Thomson, John Duke, Paul Bowles, Lee Hoiby, Dominick Argento, and William Bolcom is to experience a kaleidoscope of sound and color, drama and emotion.1 I used those composers as example names literature, although the section in Song also included Stephen Foster, Arthur Farwell, Aaron Copland, Theodore Chanler, Leonard Bernstein, Vincent Persichetti, Richard Faith, Richard Hundley, Thomas Pasatieri, Judith Lang Zaimont, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, John Musto, and Daron Aric Hagen. The 2006 revised edition of Song, now subtitled A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature, saw the addition of more composers with annotations of their music. These included H.T. Burleigh, Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Ernst Bacon, and Lori Laitman. In this edition, I observed: We have almost come full circle, from the popular music idioms of Stephen Foster's parlor songs to the integration of popular music idioms into the songs of Ricky Ian Gordon, Richard Hundley, John Musto, Jake Heggie, and Ben Moore.2 Today, 150 years after Stephen Foster's heyday, contemporary composers are adding to the body of without signs of stopping. Richard Pearson Thomas, Jake Heggie, Ricky Ian Gordon, Tom Cipullo, Judith Cloud, and numerous others are providing us a treasure chest of repertoire in our own language to explore and perform. In keeping with its cultural roots, the catalog of continues to be rich in diversity. poetry has also come of age, offering a colorful and varied array of texts, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, to Mary Oliver and Dana Gioia. GO TO THE BACK OF THE LINE seems to be the body of vocal literature that we, as English speakers, somehow put last on our list of repertoire. Our recital programs are filled with Italian, German, and French vocal repertoire before we get around to putting together a real honest-to-goodness group of songs. Despite the fact that songs are words set to music, we rarely stop to think that we can more easily bring varied nuances to words that we sing in our native language. Paul Sperry states: for singers not to feature our own music is foolish our own growth and the future of the form.3 A distinguished performer of and its long-time champion, Sperry, writes: We spend so much time on producing sound that it becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an artistic performance. And we compound the problem by ignoring our native language as long as possible.4 Sperry's enthusiasm and passion is manifested in commissions of numerous works and performances of repertoire in recitals and on CDs. Additionally, he has edited, compiled, and written prefaces numerous collections of songs a variety of publishers. His excitement about is infectious, as those who come in contact with him in master classes, lectures, and recitals can attest. The body of repertoire keeps growing, and in the process, continues to reinvent itself, taking on new influences and offering a wonderful array of songs by numerous gifted composers. In his book, Recent Art Song: A Guide, published in 2008, author Keith Clifton observes that in the past two decades, composers have adapted their style to the musical climate of the time, in many cases redefining the meaning of art song in the process. …
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