American Experimental Music 1890-1940
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New Ed, 9/5/1991
EAN 9780521424646, ISBN10: 052142464X
Paperback, 254 pages, 23.5 x 19 x 1.5 cm
Language: English
From the end of the nineteenth century a national musical consciousness gradually developed in the USA as composers began to turn away from the European conventions on which their music had hitherto been modelled. It was in this period of change that experimentation was born. In this book, the composer and scholar David Nicholls considers the most influential figures in the development of American experimental music, including Charles Ives, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell, and the young John Cage. He analyses the music and ideas of this group, explaining the compositional techniques invented and employed by them and the historical and cultural context in which they emerged.
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
the new and the experimental
2. In Re Con Moto Et Al
experimentalism in the works of Charles Ives
3. 'On Dissonant Counterpoint'
the development of a new polyphony, primarily by Charles Seeger, Carl Ruggles and Ruth Crawford
4. New Musical resources
radical innovation in the music of Henry Cowell
5. 'The Future of Music
Credo'
the development of a philosophy of experimentation in the early works of John Cage
6. Conclusion
unity through diversity
Select bibliography
Appendix
musical editions and selected readings.