The Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXV, no. 1 (Spring 1999)
Reviews of Books
Edited by Sherrill V. Martin, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
The American Opera Singer: The Lives and Adventures of America's Great Singers in
Opera and Concert from 1825 to the Present.
By Peter G. Davis. New York: Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 0-385-47495-4. Pp. 626. $40.00.
Using everything from comtemporary newspaper and magazine accounts to memoirs and interview,
Peter G. Davis paints a picture of the struggle of American musicians to define exactly
what an "American singer" is. The American Opera Singer is a colorful, whirlwind exploration
of the development of a tradition of American-born and American-trained vocalists. The author's detailed
knowledge of performance issues and biographical intimacies makes this an enticing volume. The book
is accompanied by a two-CD set, The American Opera Singer: 36 Great American Singers.
The 29 November 1825 arrival of the Garcia troupe in New York for the first performance of Rossini's
Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Park Theater marks the initial acquaintance of American
audiences with "grand opera." Davis notes the critics' attempts at educating New York audiences
on the differences between aria di bravura and aria di mezzo carattere, and their notes
to fashion-concious opera patrons about "proper dress for the occasion" (10).
Davis continues through an in-depth discussion of several prominent divas, including Jenny Lind,
Adelina Patti (who, although born in Madrid, spent her childhood in New York City), and Clara Louise
Kellog of Sumterville, South Carolina, who made her professional stage debut in 1861 at New York's
Academy of Music as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. Davis gives details of her difficulties
in that performance, including a jealous Adelaide Phillips as Maddalena, and Georg Stiegele as the
Duke, who smelled intensely of beer and cheese, thus requiring "an extra amount of imagination and
self-control" on the part of Ms. Kellog (55).
Of special interest is the chapter about American vocalist Olive Fremstad, who performed at the
Metropolitan Opera between 1903 and 1914, and was haile dfor her interpretations of the music of
Wagner. Davis suggests that she was what American opera had lacked: "a homegrown singer of true
incandescence" (165). Her final performance at the Met was on 23 April 1914 as Elsa in Lohengrin,
and although it was suggested that she be invited to return during the 1917-18 season to perform
more Wagnerian works, German opera had been banished from the Met during World War I, and Fremstad strenuously
objected to the projected compromise -- she refused to sing Wagner in English. (She later relented).
Davis traces the development of the modern American opera singer from African-American vocalists
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, Marie Selika, Sissieretta Jones (the "Black Patti"), and Roland Hayes,
through the glamorous era of movie musicals and media darlings, to Maria Callas, Dawn Upshaw, and the
age of the Three Tenors.
The conclusion Davis draws is that the internationalization of American voices has created a type of
"global mix," and that "although new native operas have once again begun to reach the stage in
quantity, few have offered music that inspires the voice to what it can do best. Only music
of a lyrical, expressive eloquence . . . can reanimate the age-old, mutually beneficial
relationshop between singer and composer" (581). Lamenting the absence of any "lyrical native
operas," Davis suggests that The Ghost of Versailles, Einstein on the Beach, and
Nixon in China are not the sort of works that would allow for a development of a
distinct, American school of singing. His concluding challenge to American vocalists is to
encourage them to "reinvent" themselves once again, suggesting that "perhaps when they do, a
truly distinctive school of American singing will arise at last" (582).
--Kristen K. Stauffer
Eastern Kentucky University
Leonard Bernstein
By Paul Myers. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1998. ISBN 0-7148-3701-6. Pp. 240. $19.95.
What we have here is a splendid, "easy-read" introduction to the life and works of Leonard Bernstein.
The book part of a series featuring some forty disparate twentieth-century composers, assumes no
knowledge of specialized terminology or musical notation. Paul Myers, a one-time European
representative of CBS/Columbia Records and Bernstein's producer for some eighteen years in such
locales as London, Paris, and Vienna, knows his subject intimately and writes about it in vivid,
compelling fashion. He has organized his five chapters with a sense of heroic sweep: "The Early
Years, 1918-45"; "The Road to Stardom, 1945-57"; "Years of Glory, 1957-69"; "Frustrations and
Successes, 1969-79"; and "The Final Decade, 1980-90." These are buttressed, on the one hand,
by an insightful introduction, and, on the other, by useful end matter consisting of an
epilogue, a classified list of works, suggestions for further reading, a selective discography,
and an index.
Despite the book's relative brevity -- a total of 240 pages -- Myers spares the reader little of the high
drama that shaped the brilliantly theatrical, sometimes exasperating, multiple career of Bernstein
as pianist, composer, conductor, educator, and media personality. At the same time, he is keenly
aware of the extent to which Bernstein "seemed to be driven by Jekyll and Hyde forces which he
recognized in himself and which affected many aspects of his behavior" (7). Especially poignant is the
theme of anxiety, epitomized, of course, in the Auden-inspired Second Symphony (The Age of
Anxiety), but recurring in the autobiographical Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet
Place, not to mention his Third Symphony (Kaddish). The creation of this last-mentioned work
coincided with the Biblically resonant three-score-years and ten birthday of Samuel Bernstein, the
father with whom he had a strained relationshop for much of his life. What this does is help place
Bernstein's bisexuality and his search for surrogate fathers, whether in the guise of Aaron Copland,
Serge Koussevitzky, or Dimitri Mitropoulos. Then again, while seemingly insatiable in his need for
public adoration as a conductor and pianist, "I'm the only person who's paid to have a fit in public"),
Bernstein is presented as one haunted by the fear that all he will be remembered for are such
theater works as West Side Story. In this regard, Myers recalls a CBS-hosted party on the
occasion of Bernstein's fifty-fifth birthday that was held during the 1973 Edinburgh Festival.
By the end of the evening, Bernstein was weeping on Myers's shoulder, complaining bitterly that he
was now only two years younger than Beethoven at the time of his death, and that he had not
yet created a lasting musical masterpiece. We know otherwise.
--Joshua Berrett
Mercy College
The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music : Volume 3 (Supplement)
By William H. Rehrig, edited by Paul E. Bierley. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1996.
ISBN 0-9180-48-12-5. Pp. 1048. $90.99.
In his introduction to the present publication the author writes that when the first two volumes
of the encyclopedia were published there was little expection of recovering the investment made
by the foundation that supported its production. Five years latter, however, the initial
volumes are going into their third printing, and so much additional information has been collected
that this Supplement is very nearly as long as the initial two volumes together (which were reviewed
in the Bulletin XVIII/2, 81). Obviously there is a need for such a reference work!
As stated in volume 1, the encyclopedia seeks to document "all editions of all music ever published . . .
for concert and military band." Volumes 1 and 2 listed nearly 9,000 composers, with biographical information
where available, and nearly 55,000 titles of works for band. The Volume 3 supplement adds some
5,200 new composers in addition to presenting enlarged or revised biographical information and
work lists for many composers already included. Where substantial new information has been found, the composer's entire
revised entry is listed; otherwise, only the updated information is given. (Each entry states whether
it represents a new composer, a completely revised entry, or additional information to be read
along with the original volume 1 or 2 entry. References to the original page numbers, or to where
the new information would fit in the original pagination, are also given.) Anyone wishing to
look up a number of compositions or composers is going to have a job juggling three large volumes,
but the division of information is for the most part logical and is clearly indicated. The Suppliment
has its own bibliography -- which includes a number of additional references, mostly foreign, along
with many but not all of the items listed in the volume 1 and 2 bibliography -- and its own
title index.
As far as who and what are included, the Supplement (as did volumes 1 and 2) lists both works
composed for band and those arranged for band. Composers as diverse as John Philip Sousa, Johann
Sebastian Bch, and Joni Mitchell are included. (Mitchell is a "new composer" in the Supplement,
with two arrangemtns of her song, "Both Sides Now" listed. Sousa and Bach have new work lists. The
list of Bach's "known arrangements for band" now numbers 193 works, quite a few with multiple
arrangements.) Not included, however, are British-style brass band compositions, it being "beyong
the scope of this endeavor to include that vast library of works" (volume 1, v).
The Supplement includes a number of composers known only by last name and initial, with no birth
or death dates, and with only one known work for band, publisher unidentified. One may question
the usefulness of such a listing. Yet similar entires with minimal information in the original publication
have been updated in the Supplement with at least some biographical data and an expanded work
list -- from information sent in by readers of the original volumes. One may also deprecate the many
references listed as "correspondence with [John Doe], band historian with, however, no indication
as to where the person's information came. But these points of sometimes questionable fact do provide
a starting point from which furthur research may be carried out. That is one of the strong points
of the Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music -- it is proving to be a focus for basic research about
band music.
--Carolyn Bryant
Bethesda, Maryland
Notes in Passing
Sherrill V. Martin, University of Carolina at Wilmington
Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians.
2nd ed. As sung by Jean Ritchie; forwords by Alan Lomax and Ron Pen. Lexington, Kentucky:
The University Press of Kentucky, 1997. ISBN 0-8131-2021-7; ISBN 0-8131-0927-2 (paper). Pp. xii; 100.
Slightly more than thirty years ago, Jean Ritchie, the best known and most respected singer of traditional
ballads in the United States, published Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians, a compilation of
Child ballads, lyric folksongs, play party and frolic songs, native American ballads, Old Regular
Baptist lined hymns, "hant" songs, and carols that she selected from the repertoire of the
unique "Singing Ritchie Family." This new edition, faithful in every respect to the original
Oak Publication, celebrates fifty years of public performances by Ritchie, the youngest of fourteen
children in the Singing Ritchie Family. All seventy-seven songs are represented in the lince scores
transcribed by Melinda Zacuto and Jerry Silverman, simple chordal indications are provided to
facilitate guitar or autoharp accompaniment for most of the songs, the wonderful headnotes introducing
each song have all been retained and the original photographs accompanying the pictures have all
been reproduced. In addition, four new songs have been included, three of which have not been
previously published: "Loving Hannah," "Loving Henry," and "Her Mantle So Green"; "The Reckless and
Rambling Boy" was previously published in a shorter version. Since music notation and the printed
word can only present a reasonable facsimile of any of the songs, a new audiography and videography
of current sources has been compiled to facilitate access to Jean Ritchie's recorded versions of the
music. This edition also includes two forwards: the original by Alan Lomax, plus a new one by
Ron Pen.
This remarkable collection of folk songs "contains the very essence of home, hearth, and porch
family lie -- the heart of Jean Ritchie's music and career" (ix).
Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions
by Ralph Lee Smith. American Folk Music and Musicians Series, No. 2. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow
Press, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0-8108-3378-6 (cloth: alk. paper). Pp. ix, 167. $34.50.
In Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions, Ralph Lee Smith focuses on the major Appalachian dulcimer
traditions and certain important personalities involved with these traditions. He begins with
a brief overview of the dulcimer's development, and continues with the unique musical features of
the dulcimer, the ancestors and "cousins" of the dulcimer, and the dulcimer's origins on the
early Appalachian frontier. Smith then discusses the contributions of the three major dulcimer design
traditions; the Melton family of Galax, Virginia; Charles M. Prichard of Huntington, West Virginia;
and "Uncle Ed" Thomas of Kentucky. A final chapter is devoted to four Appalachian dulcimer makers of the
folk revival transition.
In addition to a selected bibliography and index, Smith enriches his book with excellent photographs
and five appendices that inclued the measurements of hte representative instruments; the fretting
pattern of the Ache Scheitholt; winners of the dulcimer contest in Galax, Virginia; the newspaper
story on Nineveh Presnell and his dulcimer; and how to order dulcimers from "old-time" makers. Smith
also includes listings of dulcimer recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture of the LIbrary of Congress.
Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions represents an important introduction to the history of the Appalachian
dulcimer, one of America's major contributions to world music and folk art.
Choral Arrangements of the African-American Spirituals: Historical Overview and Annotated Listings
by Patricia Johnson Trice. Music Reference Collection, Number 66. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press, 1998. ISBN 0-313-30211-1. Pp. xiii, 235. $69.50.
In Choral Arrangements of the African-American Spirituals, Patricia Trice recognizes the
the contributions of the choral arrangements of the African-American Spirituals to choral art music
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She traces the history and cultural roots of the genre
through its inception and delineates the African and European characteristics common to the original
folk songs and arrangments. In the annotated list of arrangements, she includes publisher, ranges,
subject, key, meter, tempo, form, treatment, and comments. She also chronicles ensembles that
have significantly perpetuated the growth of the spiritual arrangements.
In addition the Title and Arranger Indexes, Trice groups titles into categories in a Subject Index
to assist conductors with liturgical and concert performance planning. Well-organized and
researched, this text is a valuable addition to music, choral, multicultural, and African-American
libraries.
--Sherrill V. Martin
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Updated 6/3/99