Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXV, no. 3 (Fall 1999)
Reviews of Books
Edited by Sherrill V. Martin, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
AARON COPLAND: THE LIFE AND WORK OF AN UNCOMMON MAN. By Howard Pollack. New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1999. ISBN 0-8050-4909-6. Pp. xi, 690, ill. $37.50.
Howard Pollack's weighty tome, Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man, provides a unique
perspective on American music. Pollack gives two reasons for this offering: his dissatisfaction
with Copland scholarshiop, and a desire to examine Copland's life in a "more contextual study" (x).
In the process he omits musical examples and states that he is dispensing with excessie terminology.
By the early 1990s there were six scholarly books on Copland, one book cataloged as children's non-fiction,
numerous articles, and published interviews. Additionally, many of Copland's privately held items became
available for examination after 1989 when Copland donated the majority of his personal collection to
his archives in the Library of Congress.
Although the primary focus of the book is intended to be Copland, interesting tangential sections
found throughout the book seemed to this reader to interrupt the conversational style of Pollack's prose.
The treatment of Copland's personal life is of questionable taste and relevance to his music; Copland
was careful to keep his private life separate from his professional persona during his entire career.
Despite Pollack's stated desire to use fewer technical terms, his descriptions of compositions require
that readers either be familiar with musical terminology or skim such passages as beyond his/her
understanding. A few musical examples would easily clarify such written descriptions as "The motto
theme, now rhythmically augmented and modally ambiguous, returns, slowly weaving its way back to the
original major modality" (Third Symphony, 413).
In addition, certain slight inaccuracies present difficulties, as do statements that do not seem
to connect with citations. For example, in his discussion of Grohg, Pollack states: "The
thrid dead ... begins an 'apache dance'" (83). The term "apache dance" does not appear in any of
the 30 scores associated with Grohg. it does materialize, however, in Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
(scene 8), where the music is a direct quotation from Grohg. Pollack's third book, Aaron Copland:
The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man, provides an intriguing contribution to the field of
American music scholarship.
--Roberta Lindsey
Indiana University
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC: MACDOWELL THROUGH MINIMALISM. By John Warthen
Struble. New York: Facts on File, 1995. ISBN: 0-8160-2927-X. Pp. 444.
Free-lance composer and author John Warthen Struble tackles a challenging topic in his history of
American classical music. He begins with the premise that an indigenous classical music tradition does
indeed exist in America. While definition of that tradition may prove difficult for some peoiple, as well
as identification of the music belonging to it, nonetheless. Struble thoughtfully advances and
supports his ideas.
First, Struble gives a cursory glance at the forerunners of American classical music prior to the
Civil War: New England pslamody/hymnody, the genteel tradition of mid-Atlantic cities, the folk
music of southern Appalachia, music of the Native American tribes, the Creole and Gulf Coast music,
music of the African-American slaves in the South, and balladry and minstrelsy. Then, after a
sketch of major activity following the Civil War, the book begins seriously with Edward MacDowell and his
contemporaries in New England. Struble's approach to this history is through biography moving
chronologically. He discusses many facets of the composer's life, points out significant compositions,
and then tells how the composer and those compositions influenced others and the American classical
tradition. He devotes much space to such giants as Charles ives, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland,
Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, and John Cage, and gives biographical sketches of many others. He lifts up several
composers often slighted in the treatment of American classical music: Arthur Farwell, Charles Griffes,
and Edgard Varese, for example. He investigates the university music scene in its formative years, and
the composers associated with it. From the mid-century he singles out Samuel Barber, Gian-Carlo Menotti,
Elliott Carter, and Leonard Bernstein in particular. Then he moves on to the composers setting the stage
for the rebellious 60s (including Carl Ruggles and Henry Cowell), the aleatoric revolution lead by
John cage, post modernism as set forth by George Rochberg, and the minimalism of La Monte Young,
Steve Reich, Philip Glass and others. (By the way, Philip Glass wrote the extremely fine
"Forword" for this book.)
Struble seems to have an "insider's" understanding of many of these composers and what makes them
"tick." There is a wealth of intriguing material to digest; however, this reader would like to
have seen more documentation as to the origin of some of the information. Although Struble's
introductory and concluding statements present overall context, so much of the book is biography
that it is easy for the reader to become lost in it. Indeed, Struble presents statements that
place the composers in context, before or after biographies in particular, but more of an
overall view within the book would be helpful.
Concluding his history and discussion of the composers who have shaped the American classical scene, Struble
devotes his final chapter to an examination of the major problems and opportunities facing contemporary
composers of American classical music as he understands them: a proliferation of composers, lack of
financial support, censorship, difficulties in audience development, the double-edged sword of
elecronic sound reproduction, and the lack of public school education in music. On the other
hand, new technologies, new ways of finding audiences, and interactive music create opportunities
for contemporary composers of classical music.
Three extremely valuable appendices complete the book: The first gives a time line of American music history
from 1562 to 1993 and includes a listing of births and deaths of famous people, works permiered, as well
as important events in music and sometimes other historical events. The second appendix lists
245 significant American composers, including foreign-born composers identified principally as Americans.
These names, with birth and death dates, are listed by state (or country) of origin and are cross-referenced
alphabetically. The final appendix provides a roughly chronological list of nearly one thousand
works of American classical music by almost one hundred composers from the past two hundred years
and constitutes a repertoire the author considers of major musical or historical importance.
The bibliography of over on-hundred-fifty entries provides an excellent starting place for readings
in American classical music. The book is extensively indexed, although a larger type size wold be in
order as would an updating of the bibliography. No musical examples are given; in fact, by and large,
music is not discussed in any detail. A variety in kind of photographs would make the book more
attractive as almost all of the 53 black and white pictures are portraits of composers. No doubt
American Classical Music wil take its place on the shelf with other books addressing
American music, and it should. Mr. Struble's insightful study of composers shaping the American
classical scene is a useful contribution to literature of the period.
--Eleanor F. McCrickard
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
GIVE THE BALLOT TO THE MOTHERS: SONGS OF THE SUFFRAGIST. A HISTORY IN SONG. By Francie
Wolf. Springfield, Missouri: Denlinger's Publishers, Ltd., 1998. ISBN 0-87714-191-6. Pp. xv, 144.
Francie Wolff, a musician, songwriter, and librarian at Southwest Missouri State University, has put
together an attractive collection of twenty-six songs related to women's suffrage in Give the Ballot to
the Mothers. Since women's suffrage is no longer an issue in the United States, it is no wonder that
these songs have fallen out of use. Yet, even in broad histories of American song, suffrage songs
have been given short shrift. In the late fifties, Irwin Silber paved the way for Francie Wolff's work in an
article published in Sing Out! and in liner notes accompanying a Folkways recording. (Irwin
Silber, "Singing Suffragettes Sang for Women's Votes, Equal Rights," Sing Out! 6, no. 4 (1957): 4-12,
and idem, liner notes to Songs of the Suffragettes, Folkways FH 5281, 1958). Wolff builds
on his work here. Aside from two melodies, Silber reproduced only the texts of suffrage songs, whereas
Wolff's collections brings together lyrics, melodies, and piano accompaniments. Her collection,
moreover, is enhanced by the inclusion of political cartoons, old photographs of suffragists, and
color reproductions of sheet music covers, as well as an abbreviated history of the women's suffrage
movement and some commentary on song types and styles. A companion video to the songbook which Wolff
wrote and produced is also available.
Wolff divides the suffrage songs into three groups which she labels rally songs, songs of persuasion, and
popular songs. Rally songs, meant to inspire or rouse women to action when they were sung at political
equality club meetings, rallies, and the like, were often sung to the tunes of familiar hymns and
patriotic songs, although some had original music. Songs of persuasion, which set forth the arguments used
by suffragists and refuted those of anti-suffragists, might also be sung to familiar tunes. In the popular
song category, Wolff includes songs that were originally written for some form of secular stage entertainment;
these songs are more about suffragists than for suffragists. Included are a ragtime song humorously
portraying African-American suffragists ("The Darktown Suffragettes' Parade") and "That Ragtime
Suffragette" written for the 1913 Ziegfeld Follies.
In the various song lyrics, one can read a microcosm of American social and political discourse. There
are appeals to the rights of mothers; invocations of the American sense of justice, freedom, and equality;
arguments about women's "sphere"; revivals of the revolutionary cry about taxation without representation;
promises that women going to the polls will "put down the liquor traffic"; and play upon fears of
"the Negro, the Jap, and the Chink, the tramp, and the old wiskey bloat," etc. -- if they could vote
then so should women. In "That Suffragette" by Pauline R. Browne, a negative stereotype is challenged:
the "suffragette" is "not mannish enough to require a 'Gillette'." In "Wanted a Suffragette" by
Louise B. Richardson, the male protagonist offers to exchange gender roles with his wife. He will
keep the house all nice and warm while she goes to vote, but in spite of his enumerating many kinds
of women's work he will take over, he clearly implies that she has lead a life of leisure.
What I found most disappoionting was Wolff's failure to identify the specific sources of the lyrics and music of each
song. She tells us that many of the lyrics were published without melodies in song books and manuals for
meetings and rallies; thus, the music for these songs ahd to be taken from other sources. I wanted to
know, for example, in which old song books and manuals Rebecca Hazard's "Give the Ballot to the
Mothers" appeared, and which publication of Henry Clay Work's "Marching Through Georgia" was drawn upon
for its melody and piano accompaniment. I also longed for more information about the women and men who had
written the words and music of the newly composed songs although this surely would have been difficult
to find.
There are some details that mar the collection. In a few songs, some of the lyrics and music are put together
awkwardly, with weak syllables placed on strong beats and vice versa. Better editing might also
have corrected the occasional mistaken chord symbol (in the ten songs where they are provided),
typographical error, misplacement of comma, and omitted line (71). I was also disturbed by Wolff's
criticism of certain songs, such as her charge that the music of one was "simple and standard" or than
an original melody was "amateurish and poorly composed." Unless many undocumented changes were made in the
versions printed here (Wolff does acknowledge that mistakes in original sources were corrected), her
judgment seems too harsh.
Still, it was fun to sing and play through these songs, and the collection should well serve its
intended purpose -- for singing in organizational programs, by choruses, and in front of groups. It is
neatly printed and easy to read, with a spiral binding that allows the music to lie flat (although
some awkward page turns could have been avoided by printing two- and four-page songs from left to
right). Wolff's informative commentary should enhance singers' knowledge about women's history, and the
entertaining and striking illustrations make that history come alive.
--Jane Bowers
University of Wisconsin-Madison
BAND MUSIC FROM THE BENJAMIN H. GRIERSON COLLECTION. Ed. by Lavern J. Wagner. Recent
Researches in American Music, vol. 29. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 1998. Pp. xxiii, 167. Introduction,
Plates, Critical Report. ISBN 0-89579-390-3. $60.00.
Benjamin H. Grierson (1826-1911) is remembered mainly for his command of a Union cavalry raid in
Mississippi in the spring of 1863 known today as "Grierson's Raid." Before the Civil War, however, Grierson
was active as a professional musician in Youngstown, Ohio, and Jacksonville, Illinois, over a period of
about fifteen years between 1846 and 1861, specializing on the E-flat soprano clarinet.
The band music in this published collection is selected from repertoire of the Youngstown, Ohio, town
band from the late 1840s. The music is preserved in two sets of band part books and a manuscript full
score. the collection contains mainly dance and entertainment music for E-flat band. In this edition,
thirteen of the original fifty-five pieces appear in full score with original instrumentation.
The works include processional grand marches, quickstep marches, dance music (polkas, waltzes, and
gallops), medleys of both popular songs and operatic selections, and special occasional
pieces. According to the editor, this collection represents the earliest known repertoire in full
score of an American wind band and was collected by Grierson over several years from other bands'
part books.
Lavern Wagner has given us, through his many years of meticulous research, a monograph of importance to
scholars of American band and popular music of the mid-nineteenth century, but also editions that can
be performed representing some of the earliest American band music still in existence.
--Dianna Eiland
Alexandria, VA
NOTES IN PASSING
THE ANGLO-AMERICAN BALLAD. A FOLKLORE CASEBOOK. Ed. by Dianne Dugaw. Garland Folklore
Casebooks, vol. 8. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995. ISBN 0-8153-1747-6. Pp. xiv, 337.
The Anglo-American Ballad is a valuable addition to Garland's Folklore Casebook Series, designed
"to bring together from diverse sources critical essays relevant to a particular genre or theme" (xi).
Dianne Dugaw's judicious selection fo critical writings, chronological ordering of essays, informative
introductory headnotes to each section, and select bibliography make this volume an excellent introduction to the
study of ballads in English.
Dugaw begins her study with views from the eighteenth-century scholars Joseph Addison, Thomas Percy,
and Joseph Ritson; continues with Walter Scott, William Motherwell, Francis James Child, and Francis B>
Gummere in the nineteenth century; and concludes with Louise Pounds, PHillips Barry, Bertrand H. Bronson,
Samuel P. Bayard, D. K. Wilgus, Michael Pickering, David Buchan, Edward Ives, Eleanor R. Long,
Dianne Dugaw, Natascha Wurzbach, and Paul Oliver in the twentieth century. She admirably succeeds
in selecting her essays according to two principal aims: "(1) to present a coherent overview of
touchstone statements and key issues in the study of Anglo-American popular ballad traditions; and (2) to
suggest ways this panoramic view affords us a look at Euro-American scholarship in terms of governing
questions, concerns, and methods" (xv).
INTERLOCHEN. A HOME FOR THE ARTS. By Dean Boal; forward by Allen P. Britton. Ann Arbor:
The University of Michigan Press, 1998. ISBN 0-472-10882-4 (cloth: acid-free paper). Pp. vii, 219.
In this book, Dean Boal, President Emeritus of the Interlochen Center, presents a fascinating account of
Interlochen from its inception to its present status as a world-reknowned home for the arts. In 1928,
three venturesome men founded Interlochen and charted its direction: Joseph Maddy, professor of music
education at the University of Michigan, chairman of music in the Ann Arbor public schools, and the
first teacher of music on radio; T.P. Giddings, supervisor on music in the Minneapolis schools; and
Charles Tremaine, a New Yorkk businessperson from a family of piano manufacturers. Interlochen
glorified in being the largest youth center for the arts in the United States. Originating as the National
High School ORchestra Camp, a summer program for talented high school students, Interlochen became a
year-round institution when the Interlochen Arts Academy was incorporated in 1962, the first independent
high school for the arts in the nation. In spite of the Great Depression, World War II, and artistic battles,
Interlochen today has an enrollment of more than twenty-five hundred arts students, fifty thousand
alumni, a public radio station, and an arts festival. In addition, more than ten percent of the musicians
in the major symphony orchestras of the United States performed at Interlochen, and counted among the
alumni are some of the most famous names in the arts: actors Meredith Baxter, Tom Hulce, and Linda Hunt;
dancers Peter Sparling and Janet Eilber; musicians Jessye Norman, Peter Erskine, and Loren Maazel;
educators Ann Schein and Larry Livingston; and broadcaster Mike Wallace. Boal has enriched
his narrative with notes, a bibliography, an index and illustrations.
--Sherrill V. Martin
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Updated 12/15/99