The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
In this pioneering work, Denise Von Glahn explores how the nation's places have inspired American classical music composers over the centuries. Situating her study within the broader context of literary and visual arts traditions, as well as cultural history, the author examines how the celebration of place in music reflects, defines, and enriches America's ever-changing identity.
Focusing on instrumental works of high-art music, Von Glahn analyzes thoroughly the soundscapes of fourteen diverse composers who have commemorated a broad spectrum of places ranging from the enduring natural wonders of Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon to the urban landscape of New York City. Organized chronologically, the volume looks at such distinctive American musical voices and works as Anthony Philip Heinrich's "The War of the Elements and the Thundering of Niagara," Charles Ives's "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" and "From Hanover Square North, at the End of a Tragic Day, the Voice of the People Again Arose," Aaron Copland's Quiet City and Music for a Great City, Duke Ellington's Harlem, Roy Harris's Cimarron, Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite, Robert Starer's Hudson Valley Suite, and Steve Reich's Vermont Counterpoint and New York Counterpoint.
Von Glahn's meticulously researched examination of these and other musical pieces discusses the composer's purpose and motivation in memorializing a place, how he related personally to that environ, and the compositional techniques employed to evoke the landscape or cityscape. The Sounds of Place reveals how music is as important as literature and art in reflecting the evolving sense of a unique American character over time, and it fills an important gap in the scholarship of cultural geography and music history.
From the Publisher
7 illus.
The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape
The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape,Denise Von Glahn,Northwestern University Press,1555535836,20th century,Americana,Composers,General,Genres & Styles - Classical,History & Criticism - General,History and criticism,Music,Music and geography,United States
The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape
Books:
Books
Revised and Updated (Fun Places to Go with Children)