Course Description:
Expand your knowledge of the western classical music tradition in the United
States by exploring the works of over a dozen American composers from Revolutionary era hymnodists to George Gershwin's 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Learn how U.S. music has been influenced by various regional locales and American life experiences. Other featured composers include the mixed-race composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk who composed patriotic songs for the Union during the Civil War, America's first important female composer New England romantic Amy Beach, William Grant Still, "the dean" of African-American composers, and iconoclasts Charles Ives and . Biographical information of each composer and a light amount of music theory will enhance understanding of the music.
Pulitzer Prize for Music Winners
Session 1 - Beginnings: 1770 - 1900
The First New England School
1800 - 1850 U.S. Music
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829 - 1869)
The Second New England School
Session 2 - The Early 20th Century
Henry Hadley Symphony No. 4 (Mvmt 3. "South" 1910)
Charles Ives
Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Henry Cowell
Session 3 - The 1920s
George Gershwin - Piano Concerto
George Antheil - A Jazz Symphony (1925)
Ferde Grofé - Mississippi Suite (1925)
Session 4 - The 1930s, Part 1
Carl Ruggles - Suntreader (1931)
Florence Price ???
William Grant Still
George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess (1935)
Session 5 - The 1930s, Part 2
Carl Ruggles
Florence Price ???
William Grant Still
George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess (1935)
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Roger Sessions
Walter Piston - The Incredible Flutist (1938)
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings, Cello or Piano Concerto, "Knoxville - Summer of 1915")
Session 6 - The World War II years
Roy Harris (1896-1973) Symphony #3 (1937-38, rev 1939)
Howard Hanson (1896–1981) Symphony #4 "Requiem" 1943
Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) Appalachian Spring 1944 / Finale: Billy the Kid
Walter Piston (1894 - 1976) Symphony No. 3 or 4 or The Incredible Flutist (1938)
William Schuman Concerto for Violin, New England Triptych
David Diamond
Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams (composer) John Cage, Miguel del Aguila
