Week 5 - The Great Depression Into The 40's

Question 1

Important people born around 1900

Answer 1

• Louis Armstrong
• Duke Ellington
• Gershwin
• Aaron Copland

Question 2

Aaron Copland

Answer 2

• One a Pulitzer Prize for his score to ‘Appalachian spring ‘ a ballet with choreography by Martha Graham and sets by Noguchi
• premier American composer, born in 1900 in Brooklyn to Russian immigrant parents
• dissatisfied with his conservative music teacher he went over to Fontainebleau, France to study with Nadia Boulanger
• what’s the first recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in music
• in 1920 his piano composition entitled ‘the cat and the mouse’ was published by the famous French publisher Darand
• in 1930 gave music lectures New York City leading to his book ‘what to listen for in music’
• founded associations for composers and musicians example ACA worked at festivals example Tanglewood and artist colony examples Yaddo
• composed “fanfare the for the common man”, “rodeo”, “Lincoln portrait”

Question 3

Roy Harris

Answer 3

• Born in 1898 and a log cabin on Lincolns birthday and Lincoln county Oklahoma
• received a Guggenheim and studied in Paris with Boulanger
• orchestrated “when Johnny comes marching home” which together with his composition ‘symphony no.3’ led the way from the 20s modernism toward the populist Americana style in the 30s

Question 4

Samuel Barber

Answer 4

• Born in 1910 in West Chester PA
• was the recipient of three Guggenheims and to kill it surprises
• wrote the ‘adagio for strings” later heard in various movie soundtracks and even P Diddy’s first album
• title refers to tempo and instrument

Question 5

Ruth Crawford Seeger

Answer 5

• modernist composer born in 1901 in East Liverpool Ohio
• first woman to receive a Guggenheim grant 1930
• composed abstract “dissonant” music never changing to a popular style as Copeland and others did
• stepmother to the folk music icon Pete Seeger

Question 6

Edgard Varèse

Answer 6

• French immigrant conductor,, and composer of highly adventurous music forefather of electric music
• i’ve been a student of great European composer, including Strauss, Busoni & Satie
• composed and premiered “hyperprism” etc. in the 1920s in New York City

Question 7

Henry Cowell

Answer 7

• Maverick American composer and friend of Ives
• compose “the Banshee” and other works which delve inside the piano strings and incorporate other unusual techniques
• wrote an influential book called “new musical resources’

Question 8

The Great Depression

Answer 8

The great depression created a need for a populist music composers were no longer disenfranchise artist but rather had a new purpose.
FDR’s new deal allowed orchestra musicians to have work and to create an Americana style of upbeat music