Music in Late 19th Century America

Question 1

Blackface Minstrelsy

Answer 1

• gained prominence in 1820s, but remained extremely popular after emancipation, well into the 19th and 20th centuries
• popularized by working-class white men including the songwriter Stephen Foster (1826-1864)

Question 2

Popularity of minstrelsy

Answer 2

• Meant largely white audiences in the North didn’t know what authentic black music sounded like

Question 3

Fisk Jubilee Singers

Answer 3

• Established in 1866
• In 1871, a vocal group from Fisk University in Nashville, TN set out to correct the wrongs of minstrelsy
• Sang four-part harmony arrangements of spirituals, Chrisitan songs created by black slaves

Question 4

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

Answer 4

• Czech composer
• early work best understood in the context of the nineteenth-century rise of European nationalism and its influence on music
• middle period work assumes a more cosmopolitan character

Question 5

Symphony No. 9 “New World”

Answer 5

• Composed by Antonin Dvorak
• American composers were split on what defined “American” music
  
  • some thought America should follow in the footsteps of German greats: Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann