The United States:Some Themes and Myths Debunked

Freedom/Equality – Liberty/Democracy

Manifest Destiny

The New World

The Melting Pot

In Music: The “American Experimental Tradition”

The situation around the turn of the 20th century

Two distinct ethics emerge:

•Europe is seen as the source of history and culture – to be taken seriously, a composer must have studied in Europe, and must cultivate a style in reference to established European musical practices

•American music needs to emerge from the shadow of Europe – a variety of creative approaches seek to find a uniquely and authentically “American” style/approach

Charles Ives (1874-1954):American Maverick

•Musical “experimenter”•Classically trained•Poly-stylistic – freely mixed elements from folk, popular, religious, patriotic and classical music•Collage

Composed:•Songs•Symphonies•Sonatas•String Quartets•Choral Works•Orchestral Sets•Miscellaneous programmatic works

Henry Cowell (1897-1965):New Musical Resources

Early book, New Musical Resources, introduces radical new ideas for expanding the possibilities in music – complex ideas about harmony, rhythm, and texture

Experiments with the piano: invents “inside the piano” techniques, which greatly expand the sonic possibilities of the instrument

Experiments with style: utilizes a self-conscious approach to musical style (including folk-elements) which parallels Stravinsky’s ideas

Edgard Varése (1883-1965):New Sonic Awareness

“Music is organized sound”

Developed a uniquely sensitive sense of sonic immediacy

Music emerges as a “plastic” experience, rather than a traditionally expressive, or narrative-based type of communication

Elements of “pure sound” color, rhythm, pitch, texture, emerge as the defining aspects of the music

Piet MondrianComposition with Yellow, Blue, and Red

Harry Partch (1901-1974):Hobo Inventor

“Harry Partch: composer, microtonal theorist, instrument-builder, writer, visual artist, satirist, philosopher, flunky, musicologist, copy editor, hobo, man of letters, publisher, iconoclast, record-producer, eccentric, teacher…”

Diamond Marimba

Chromelodeon