Classical Music of the United States, Part I: From the Revolution to the Great Depression

    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