The Bulletin o f t h e S o c i e t y f o r A m e r i c a n M u s i c f o u n d e d i n h o n o r o f O s c a r G . T. S o n n e c k

Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 Fall 2011 Retreat from Fame: Margaret Ruthven Lang, the once famous Boston composer, rediscovered Schumann-Heink, Dan Beddoe and Alma The Heavenly Noel’s many performances – Donald George and Lucy Mauro Gluck. Lang’s publishers were Arthur P. in many places, with orchestra; with Schmidt, Oliver Ditson and Theodore piano; and once at request, with organ, I am glad, very glad, not to be active in Presser; she received royalties into the piano, and harp; - for much-involved any musical way, but only a thankful lis- early 1950s. Yet, about 1917, at the age housekeeping took place during my tener. So wrote the once noted American of 50, Lang stopped composing. She lived mother’s last housebound years.” (Lang) composer Margaret Ruthven Lang, in some 50 more years and devoted much of Theodore Presser published her final her 88th year, in a letter to Mrs. Edward her remaining years to religious work and composition, Three Pianoforte Pieces for MacDowell on June 5, 1955. (Johnston) taking care of her elderly mother. While Young Players, op. 60, in 1919. Margaret Lang, some fifty years earlier, she kept meticulous business records of With the outbreak of WWI many was known as “among the most promi- her published pieces, she destroyed many German-trained composers turned away nent American women, whose position of her works, including her orchestral from the country of their studies and in the front rank of the best modern com- scores, following perhaps in the footsteps sought other models. Was Margaret Lang posers is no longer a question” (Program of her father who had all of his works also a part of this turning away from the Notes, Baltimore Symphony Concert, destroyed at his death. German model? If her training was no March 14, 1901). Indeed, so well- Margaret Lang was from the Lang fam- longer a part of American culture and known and regarded was Lang and her ily of Boston, the daughter of the promi- the public was no longer pro-German works, particularly her songs, that, in nent musician Benjamin Johnson “B. J.” in feeling, perhaps she stopped compos- 1912, Ethel Syford in The New England Lang (organist, pianist, conductor and Magazine described Lang thus: “It is the founder of the Cecilia Society and the continued on page 34 more sensitively poetic truth and beauty Apollo Club) and Frances Burrage Lang, which she strives for and attains, and it a singer. She was raised in an exceptional- is this unfailing quality which makes her ly musical home where she knew Dvořák in this issue: songs of a higher order than those pro- and Paderewski as guests. The Langs duced by any other American composer.” knew Liszt and his daughter Cosima, Margaret Ruthven Lang 33 (Syford, 22-23) Hans von Bülow and Richard Wagner, Rediscovered Why would someone who was an and Margaret knew the Wagner chil- established composer, indeed who was “in dren as playmates. Margaret Lang studied the front rank” stop composing and allow with her father, Chadwick, Paine and The Doug Seroff 34 herself to be forgotten? Margaret Ruthven Parker and also, as did many American Collection Lang (1867-1972) published her first composers in the late 19th century, in works in 1889 and went on to compose Germany. Her music shows the influence New Instrument some 140 songs, solo piano pieces and of the German Romantic tradition, along 35 chamber and orchestral works. Lang was with some French and occasional Eastern Collection at Nicholls State the first American woman to have a work styles, all combined to create her own University performed by a major American orchestra American sound. with her Dramatic Overture, Op. 12 per- When asked in 1967 why she stopped formed by the Boston Symphony under composing, Lang’s answer was: “Why did SAM Bulletin Moves 35 the direction of Arthur Nikisch on April I stop, I had nothing to say.” (Mullins) Online 7, 1893. Her works were championed In her own biographical notes in 1960 by Edward MacDowell and noted per- she states, not without a bit of pride, formers of the day including Ernestine “My music writing stopped soon after Reviews 39 continued from page 33 Margaret Lang also turned to reli- ciousness and of any suspicion of seeking ing for this reason. Her great-nephew gion and started publishing missives and after virility; it is so sincere, so true to the Fletcher DuBois often visited Margaret, booklets which she called “Messages from underlying thought, that it seems to me his “Aunt Blossy” as she was known in God.” These writings seem to have occu- to have an unusual chance of interesting the family, and said the family did not pied much of her time and she was attention and stirring emotions increas- know why she stopped and that she never very happy to write them, publish them ingly with the years.” (Hughes, 438) mentioned her compositional career to and send them to churches at her own him, although he was familiar with her expense; she described this as being done Works Referenced charming limericks and children’s songs “anonymously, but with deep devotion” Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Program as they were played in his family. DuBois and “my life’s best work”. (Lang) Did this Notes, March 14, 1901. first realized Lang’s importance in music creative activity then act as a substitute for Blunsom, Laurie Katharine. “Gender, when he “discovered” her in the Boston composition? Margaret Lang lived out Genre and Professionalism: The Songs Library. (George and Mauro) her life on Brimmer Street, in Boston’s of Clara Rogers, Helen Hopekirk, Amy The “much-involved housekeeping” Back Bay. As a “thankful listener” she Beach, Margaret Ruthven Lang and Mabel was expected of women in the late 19th and also has the distinction of being the lon- Daniels, 1880-1925.” PhD diss., Brandeis early 20th centuries. Lang was responsible gest subscriber to the Boston Symphony University, 1999. George, Donald and Lucy Mauro. “An for maintaining the household, hiring Orchestra. The Orchestra performed a Interview with Fletcher DuBois, Great concert in 1967 in honor of Lang’s 100th servants, and taking her mother’s place at Nephew of Margaret “Blossy” Lang,” many social functions as was expected of a birthday and installed a plaque on her http://www.sequenza21.com/naxos/?p=912 proper Boston lady of the time. Does this seat, first balcony right, B1. Not one for (accessed March 23, 2011). perhaps explain also her ceasing to com- ostentation, she could not be found at the Hughes, Rupert. Contemporary American pose? She felt an intense responsibility to reception honoring her after the concert Composers. Boston: L.C. Page and Co., her mother, to the detriment perhaps of because she had left early to catch the last 1900. her own artistic creation? Laure Blunsom train home as she had always done. Johnston, Jim. Margaret Ruthven Lang cites two interesting events concerning Although Lang destroyed most of her & Family, “1925-1972.” http://www.dog- Margaret’s work in “Gender, Genre and orchestral music and her studies, most of boyproductions.com/margaretruthvenlang. Professionalism.” Lang’s mother Frances her songs and some piano works survive com/ (accessed March 23, 2011). Lang (an excellent musician) wrote in in libraries and collections throughout Lang, Margaret Ruthven. Diary, Sept. 29, one of her diaries: “Maidie (Margaret) is the US. Lang’s life, career and music 1892, Lang Family Papers, Boston Public writing another overture. She has finished represent a fascinating contribution to Library as quoted in Blunsom. Gretchen’s blanket;” thus Lang combined America’s musical history. As Rupert ------. Scrapbooks. Boston Public Library, her musical work with her “female” obli- Hughes said in Contemporary American as quoted in Johnston. gations. (Lang) When Lang’s father held Composers in 1900, “Personally, I see in Mullins, John J. “Composer Margaret a reception for Dvořák, Margaret Lang Miss Lang’s compositions such a depth of Lang, 101, just ‘wants to live forever.’” stayed upstairs until all guests had gone, psychology that I place the general qual- The Boston Globe, 19 February 1967 as and then she came down to show Dvořák ity of her work above that of any other quoted in Johnston. her compositions. (Blunsom, 55) woman composer. It is devoid of meretri- Syford, Ethel. “Margaret Ruthven Lang,” The New England Magazine, March 1912. The Doug Seroff Collection at the Center for Popular Music SAM Bulletin Moves The Center for Popular Music at Fisk Jubilee Singers. The personal manu- Middle Tennessee State University has scripts of John Battle, a founding mem- Online recently added an exceptional collection ber of the Grammy winning Fairfield on southern music to its holdings. The Four quartet of Nashville, Tennessee, are Beginning with the Winter 2012 issue Doug Seroff African American Gospel included. Other highlights include audio of the Bulletin, the Society will be dis- Quartet Collection contains materials and video recordings of historic perfor- seminating this publication primarily gathered and developed over thirty years mances, radio/TV appearances, quartet electronically. You will need to indicate of research by Seroff on the history of this rehearsal sessions, and interviews with on your renewal notice if you would important and influential musical style. performers. A detailed finding aid for prefer to have a print version mailed. If It includes audio and video recordings, the contents of the collection is available you do not communicate a preference over 300 photographs (many unique), from the Center for Popular Music. To on your renewal form, it will be assumed research notes, files of newspaper articles, access the collection, contact the Center that you are content with an electronic and manuscripts dating from the 1870s for Popular Music by phone 615-898- version of the Bulletin. through the 2000s documenting the rich 2449, e-mail at [email protected], or Please make sure that we have your cor- history of quartet singing in Tennessee visit the Center online at http://popmu- rect email address in the database. Check and Alabama. sic.mtsu.edu/. your Membership Directory! If you have The collection primarily chronicles any questions, please contact the SAM the golden era of gospel quartet singing office at [email protected] or as practiced by groups like The Spirit of call us 412-624-3031. Memphis, The Swan Silvertones, and the

34 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 New Instrument Collection at Nicholls State University board and triangle) as well as historic instruments (Western Art music), music therapy instruments, instruments for the disabled, and world music instruments. The grant also supports an interactive space for curriculum materials and col- laborative learning for music instruction/ the teaching of music within the library. New computers and keyboards will help engage students who wish to learn how to read music notation, play an instru- ment, study music theory, or compose. Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, nology match for $44,000, the collec- The space will eventually become the LA, is in the process of building a new tion, headed by Nicholls librarian Melissa new Arts-Media center—a self-contained instrument collection. Supported by a Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, the collection interactive learning center that will Louisiana Board of Regents’ Traditional will include folk instruments (for exam- include instruments, multimedia, scores, Enhancement Grant institutional tech- ple, a zydeco accordion and a Cajun rub sound recordings, and music resources. 2011 Meeting of the Music of Latin America and Caribbean Interest Group: Music of the Americas and the College Curriculum During the 2011 SAM conference in lack of consideration for other kinds of itself and suggested that scholars broaden Cincinnati, participants of the Music of music important to African American the content being taught by address- Latin America and Caribbean Interest communities. ing the socio-political contexts (poverty, Group gathered together for a session on Madrid called for a revolution of peda- slavery, imperialism) that led to the cre- ways to integrate American music, spe- gogical practices within our music edu- ation of the music. Additionally, Romero cifically the music of Central and South cation system. He advocated for “the insisted that musicologists grapple with America, into the college curriculum. study of sound, its meaning, and its the extra-musical issues of racism and Two panelists, Alejandro Madrid and organization within specific cultural and prejudice in order to convey accurately Brenda Romero, and a respondent, J. social contexts” within a postnational the development of music in Central and Peter Burkholder, were invited to share framework, which would allow for a South America, and she recommended their thoughts on the importance of more cosmopolitan understanding of the book Skin: A Natural History by including Latin American music within music free from nation-State boundaries Nina Jablonski as a helpful reference for the broader music history sequence. They and ideologies. As an example, Madrid someone trying to dismantle these topics. were encouraged to offer their experiences noted the absence of Latin American Romero also encouraged the inclusion with incorporating Latin American music music within music history survey texts, of live performances by local immigrant into existing courses, as well as to suggest stating that this absence reflected the musicians (when available) within the pedagogical techniques they have found “invisibility of [Latin American] culture classroom. As Romero stated, live perfor- useful in teaching this material. within the mainstream discourse of U.S. mances “make visible and tangible” those The first speaker, Alejandro Madrid national identity.” Instead of broaden- who make the music, thereby allowing (University of Illinois at Chicago), pre- ing the current canon of repertoire to students to connect the music itself to sented a provocative paper that chal- include select works from Latin American the people and their socio-political con- lenged the core foundation on which countries, Madrid proposed an approach ditions. our music education system is built. He that “recognizes the historically transna- After thanking Madrid and Romero for asserted that the current practice of teach- tional musical flows between the U.S. their presentations, J. Peter Burkholder ing American music has been shaped by and Latin America; an approach that (Indiana University) offered his response. nationalism and argued that this method ultimately aims at dismantling the myth He began by summarizing his perspec- is largely outdated in today’s age of post- of U.S. exceptionalism.” This type of tive on Western music, which he had nationalism and multiculturalism. To postnational discourse would be aligned outlined in a recent article, “Music of illustrate his point, Madrid reflected on with current trends in cultural studies, the Americas and Historical Narratives,” how nationalism has affected our under- breaking through the walls of the field of published in American Music (2009). standing of music in the United States, music and connecting to the questions Burkholder argued that musicologists stating that musicology has validated a being asked by the larger intellectual should acknowledge the importance of bifurcated racial (black-white) view of community. the “transatlantic tradition”—the trans- “American music,” thereby elevating jazz Brenda Romero (University of Colorado mission of music between Europe and the and classical art music above other types. at Boulder) also called for rethinking the Americas that occurred in parallel to the In turn, this has led to a marginalization current pedagogical attitude toward Latin musical developments within Europe—in of various ethnic groups (and their music) American music. She emphasized the order to understand and communicate that are part of the U.S. and caused a need to teach beyond the musical work continued on page 36

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 35 continued from page 35 tion), Burkholder included thirty musical mental change is change.” He noted the full historical narrative of Western works from the United States and three that many music programs now include music. He described how this viewpoint Latin American selections in the current courses in jazz, popular music and non- influenced his revision of A History of anthology. Western music in addition to standard Western Music, stating “I have tried to Burkholder commented positively on courses in the classical tradition, and he include music of the Americas, from the innovations proposed by the other also cited examples of scholars who have Argentina to Canada, as part of the nar- two panelists, but he also defended been grappling with the more radical rative and repertoire taught in traditional his position as a reformer who makes concept of “what music does” in excit- music history surveys that use a textbook small but significant modifications. He ing and interesting ways. In light of like [A History of Western Music]. Music addressed how his editorial role allows Burkholder’s philosophy, each of us— of the Americas now takes up about 13% him “to broaden the coverage and refocus whether a reformer or a revolutionary— of the textbook, up from less than 1% in the emphases [of the text]…[but] not can help transform how the music of the its first edition.” In addition to weaving to write a completely different book.” Americas is integrated into the classroom. the narrative of American music from the He contended that making reforms and 16th century to present day throughout rethinking the discipline are not neces- Jennifer L. Campbell, co-chair the textbook (now in its eighth edi- sarily mutually exclusive, arguing “incre- from the president

make our conference more distinctive- by Joe Horowitz (SAM) and Alan Lessoff -less dominated, for example, by the (SHGAPE), and were accepted by the paper-session format that is the norm Program Committee. This was done in in our discipline. This is particularly rather an ad-hoc manner this year, but appropriate because, according to the the Board will be discussing in September survey, many SAM members consider the the viability of jointly sponsored sessions national conference to be one of our most in the future—perhaps with small and important activities. Several years ago, more-specific music-related organizations in fact, the Board started to discuss new (The Charles Ives Society comes to mind, approaches, and recently implemented or the North American British Music two changes: poster sessions and the Studies Association), or—perhaps even Dear Friends and Colleagues, seminar format. The former have been better—with societies outside our disci- The Officers and Board of the Society popular and widely accepted; the jury is pline (history, American studies, theatre for American Music have been hard at still out, however, on the latter. We will or art history, sociology, and so forth). work this past spring and summer think- probably give the seminar format a trial of Such joint sessions might open up our ing about, discussing, and exploring ways several more conferences before making a research and thinking to input by schol- to implement many of the suggestions final decision on whether or not to keep it ars in disciplines completely outside of that emerged in our Long-range Planning as regular part of our conference. music, whose work could valuably inform retreat last September, and from both In the last several months, however, our own, but whose scholarly societies the online survey that we conducted last we have been discussing two other con- would probably not be interested in a January and the subsequent open forum ference-related ideas. The first is to make joint meeting. If you have ideas or opin- at the our conference in Cincinnati. I our meetings more interdisciplinary. We ions about this concept, please let me would like to describe some of the ideas have long attempted to reach out to know. and proposals we have been discussing scholars in other fields (mostly music- Another conference-related idea that since last meeting as a Society in March related) by holding joint conferences we have been discussing, and that is 2011. with other scholarly organizations. The also coming to fruition, is the proposal The various discussions and comments problem, however, is that such multiple- that SAM sign on as a co-sponsor of made it quite clear that one of the most society conferences tend to be simultane- smaller regional or niche conferences. In important goals facing our Society is the ous meetings rather than joint ones, with a late February 2012, in fact, the Alfred need to define clearly our mission as a minimum of the true meeting-of-the-the Newman Symposium for Musicological scholarly organization, and to ensure that minds that is our goal. For this reason, we Film Studies will be co-sponsored by our efforts are all designed to further are experimenting with the idea of setting SAM, the USC Cinematic Arts Library that mission. This means, in short, that aside several time-slots in the conference and Warner Bros. Archive, and the we need to identify our niche and put program to accommodate sessions that Institute for Film Music Studies. By our efforts into activities that might help are co-sponsored by SAM and another the time you are reading this, you will distinguish our society from others (like society. A good example of this is a pair of have seen the call for papers. There are AMS, SEM, IASPM, etc) whose mem- sessions that will be part of our upcoming probably many other “niche” conferences bers also study American music topics. meeting in Charlotte, organized in con- that many of us attend that would be We have been exploring some ideas with junction with the Society of Historians perfect events for co-sponsorship from these goals in mind. of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era SAM. One example is the second bien- One way to set ourselves apart is to (SHGAPE); these sessions were planned continued on page 37

36 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 continued from page 36 there would be little financial cost to us. discussed creating an undesignated fel- nial North American Conference on 19th- Third, by lending our name and prestige lowship (perhaps named for a major con- Century Music, which I attended at the to the smaller organization or meeting, tributor) to help pay for travel to a library University of Richmond this past July. we both help the niche conference and or archive (similar to the Dena Epstein The papers presented there were almost benefit from the publicity. The Board will fund of the MLA), and are also investigat- evenly divided between European and be discussing this idea at our September ing the possibility of creating collabora- American topics, and the synergy was meeting, but informal conversations sug- tive short-term residencies at one or more marvelous. Attendance was strong, but gest a real interest in pursuing this idea major libraries or repositories around co-sponsorship from an organization like vigorously, and we solicit ideas and sug- the country (see Larry Hamberlin’s essay SAM might have created a higher pro- gestions for collaborative opportunities below for further information). At the file for the meeting. We consider such in the future. moment we are just in the talking stages, collaborative events to be beneficial in Finally—and again, in response to issues so please do not flood us with applica- many ways. First, it can be a viewed as discussed by the LRPC and raised in the tions! But we solicit your ideas about such a response to some of our members who survey—the Development Committee residencies and fellowships. And if you suggested (in the survey) that we cre- has been hard at work identifying ways are interested in helping the Society raise ate local chapters for regional meetings. that the Society can facilitate research in funds for—or even to endow--fellowships Although the LRPC believes that we are American music, which was identified by of this nature, please be in touch. not ready yet to go to that level, piggy- an overwhelming majority of respondents I am always interested in your ideas, backing onto smaller regional meetings as the principal raison d’être of the Society. comments, opinions about the Society. might serve much the same purpose by The committee has had four conference- If you have such, please zap me an email being part of a conference that is more call meetings over the summer, and we are ([email protected]). I hope to see many of local in nature. Second, since the Society currently exploring the establishment of you at the meeting in Charlotte! would be co-sponsoring (not organizing), travel-to-collections fellowships. We have A Note from the Development Committee student forum As you probably know, earlier this collaborative short-term residencies at year SAM’s Long-Range Planning the Library of Congress, the Newberry Looking ahead to Charolotte Subcommittee conducted an online Library, the Center for Black Music The annual meeting in Charlotte is survey or our membership, which has Research, the Huntington Library, the still months away, but preparations for yielded valuable information about our Harry B. Ransom Center, the American the Silent Auction and Student Forum shared values and priorities. A report Antiquarian Society, and the New York Panel are already underway. The Student on the survey at our March meeting in Public Library. Forum organizes additional events at Cincinnati spurred some lively discus- Also in the works are new sources of the meeting, and we are always looking sion and a sense that now is the time for funding for travel to these and other for volunteers to help. If you’d like to our organization to make concrete plans collections. A third project in devel- get involved, please contact one of the based on this information. As chair of the opment will support the creation and co-chairs: Brian Jones (jonesbl@email. Development Committee, I am please to maintenance of online digital collections. unc.edu) or Jennifer Myers (jennifer- say that work is underway to make SAM Further down the pipeline are efforts to [email protected]). To find out an even more effective organization for support publication, conference travel, more about the Student Forum, visit our the promotion of American music. and greater diversity and inclusivity with- page on the SAM website and sign up for Foremost among our shared values is the in our membership. the Student Forum Listserv. Also, look importance of scholarship on American All of these initiatives are currently for us on Facebook! Sarah Suhaldonik music, which 95% of our respondents in the planning stages. Your ideas and has created a group specifically for the ranked as a core value. Likewise, our suggestions are welcome, whether they Student Forum. Please join us! greatest challenge is a dearth of fund- pertain to creating new opportunities for ing for that scholarship. While this is research or—better yet—to raising funds Silent Auction certainly not the only area in which for these projects, which ideally would The Silent Auction, held annually at the progress can be made, it clearly stands be endowed. Feel free to contact me at Society meetings, supports the Student out as a top priority for those of us on [email protected]. Travel Endowment. As always, we will be the Development Committee. For that seeking donations of books, audio/visual reason, we have focused our work to date Larry Hamberlin record­ings, and other related materials for on creating new opportunities for funded Middlebury College the auction. All donations are tax deduct- research in American music. Chair, Development Committee ible, and they can be shipped in advance At the forefront of these new oppor- of the meeting or brought directly to it. tunities are plans for residencies at some There will be an official call for donations of our nation’s leading research institu- in the next bulletin, but we encourage tions and collections, which SAM is cur- everyone (both students and the gen- rently developing in collaboration with eral membership) to start thinking about those institutions. Under discussion are items now to donate this year. continued on page 38

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 37 continued from page 37 or running the auction, please contact We look forward to seeing you in The auction is coordinated entirely co-chair Brian Jones ([email protected]. Charlotte! by Student Forum. If you would like to edu). You just might end up finding your help with planning, acquiring materials, own treasures in the process. — Brian Jones and Jennifer Myers book review

Rave Culture: The Alteration and Decline of a Philadelphia Music Scene, Tammy L. Anderson. Temple University Press, 2010. 231pp. ISBN: 978-1-59213-934-7. Paperback. Journal of the Society for – Luis-Manuel Garcia (hereafter, EDM), usually in unlicensed American Music venues like warehouses, lofts, and studios. http://journals.cambridge.org/sam In Rave Culture: The Alteration and Although the American EDM scenes Volume 5, Number 4 (November 2011) Decline of a Philadelphia Music Scene, of the mid-1980s (i.e., garage in New York City, techno in Detroit, house in Tammy L. Anderson provides a sociologi- Contributors cal analysis of the Philadelphia rave scene, Chicago) featured events that fit this using qualitative, ethnographic methods. description, it was not until the late Articles Notably, the historical scope of her eth- 1980s, when Chicago’s “acid house” sub- A “League Against Willan”? The Early genre caught on in England and fused Years of the Canadian League of nography (2003–2005) encompasses nei- Composers, 1951–1960 ther the emergence of the rave scene nor with a neo-hippie ethos brought back from summers in Ibiza, Spain, that the Benita Wolters-Fredlund its pinnacle, but rather a period of waning The Origins of “Dissonant Counterpoint”: that is characterized by uncertainty and term “rave” was coined to label this par- ticular cultural phenomenon. Henry Cowell’s Unpublished Notebook change. John D. Spilker Raves can be loosely defined as all- Raves went global during the next decade, spreading through hotspots in “I Got That Something That Makes Me night parties where DJs perform vari- Want to Shout”: James Brown, Religion, ous genres of electronic dance music continued on page 39 and Gospel Music in Augusta, Georgia Carrie Allen The Society for American Music is pleased to welcome these new members Reviews Books Nicolas Cherone, Newton, MA Tamara Livingston, Roswell, GA Beverley Diamond, Native American Music Russell Clark, Urbana, IL Erin Maher, Carrboro, NC in Eastern North America: Experiencing Judy Core, Tampa, FL Megan Murph, Baton Rouge, LA Music, Expressing Culture Gregg Geary, Honolulu, HI Susan Taffe Reed, Wyalusing, PA Chad Hamill Mary Kunz Goldman, Buffalo, NY Meghan Schrader, North Andover, MA Marie Elizabeth Labonville, Juan Bautista James-Christopher Kilbourne, St. Petersburg, Stefan Wolf, St. Paul, MN Plaza and Musical Nationalism in FL Leah Weinberg, Ann Arbor, MI Venezuela Tiffany Kuo, Claremont, CA Andrew White, Washington, DC Walter A. Clark Kery Lawson, Iowa City, IA Natalie Zelensky, Alexandria, VA Robin Moore, Music in the Hispanic Caribbean David García The Bulletin of the Society for American Music Recordings Welta’q “It Sounds Good”: Historic The Bulletin is published in the Winter (January), Spring (May), and Summer (September) Recordings of the Mi’kmaq, produced by by the Society for American Music. Copyright 2008 by the Society for American Music, ISSN Janice Esther Tulk Ann Morrison Spinney 0196-7967. The Oregon String Quartet, And All That Editorial Board Jazz: Jazz and Rock Influences in the Editor...... Kendra Leonard ([email protected]) Contemporary American String Quartet Julia Bullard Reviews Editor...... Patrick Warfield ([email protected]) George Crumb, Complete Crumb Edition, Design and Layout...... Allison Gallant ([email protected]) Vol. 11 Edward Pearsall Indexer...... Laura Pruett ([email protected])

Items for submission should be sent to Kendra Leonard in the body of or as an attachment to e-mail. Photographs or other graphic materials should be accompanied by captions and desired location in the text. Deadlines for submission of materials are 15 December, 15 April, and 15 August.

38 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 continued from page 38 This condensed summary gives some idea of change and uncertainty and assumed Continental Europe, India, Australia, and of the intense proliferation of typologies that the accounts she received of “authen- the Americas. In North America, this in this book, which engendered some tic” raves were disinterested reports, thus began in the early 1990s in urban centers problems that I will discuss later. failing to take into account nostalgia and like New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, The main strengths of Anderson’s study the cultural work of historiography. Her and San Francisco; by the middle of the are its richly detailed ethnography, its definition of an “authentic” rave is based decade, raves had exploded in popular- synthesis of a broad range of sociological on the reports of scene “insiders,” for ity and could be found in nearly every scholarship, and its focus on an EDM whom rigid and conservative definitions mid-sized city across the US and Canada. scene in decline, which produces an origi- may have served the rhetorical purpose of Although there now exist several book- nal contribution to the study of change registering dissatisfaction with the current length accounts of EDM scenes—many in music scenes. Anderson situates the scene or barring entry to new forms of of them grounded in a specific city— Philadelphia rave scene in its historical, EDM nightlife. Anderson’s is the first to focus on a social, and spatial context, providing the While preparing this review, I men- declining EDM scene; and, correspond- sort of descriptive detail that both bolsters tioned the title of Anderson’s book to ingly, her most innovative and useful her analysis and lends a vivid immediacy a fieldwork contact hailing from the contributions come from her analysis of to the anecdotes that populate the book. Philadelphia rave scene who had been the factors that cause a scene to change, She blends observation, interviews, and active there during the time of Anderson’s and the kinds of cultural work carried out media-analysis to develop a rich ethno- research. “What decline?” he said, “The by the actors who shape this change. graphic archive that she mines deeply house scene is pumpin’ right now.” After an introductory chapter, Anderson and meticulously for insights on how Anderson’s book, however, has an answer prepares her analysis with a chapter dedi- the scene works—and, sometimes, how for him: these house music parties he was cated to EDM events, providing a six-fold it does not work. Anderson also displays describing are not raves, but inauthen- taxonomy: underground parties, corpo- a broad knowledge of sociological work tic and commercialized club events that rate raves, music festivals, monthlies, on relevant topics; nearly every chapter have abandoned much of what makes weeklies, and superstar one-offs. Chapter accumulates a bibliography that will be raves special. This may seem like a harsh 3 creates a typology of EDM participants of interest to scholars of music scenes and nostalgically conservative judgment, arranged symmetrically into two groups whose training is primarily anthropologi- but it follows directly from Anderson’s of three: insiders (loyalists, stakeholders, cal or humanistic. Ultimately, the greatest analysis (see, for example, her descrip- hustlers) and outsiders (clubbers, pre- value of Anderson’s work can be found tions of “weeklies” and “monthlies,” pp. tenders, spillovers); she also enumerates in the latter half of the book, where she 38–43). As I will argue below, the gap the biographical factors that attract peo- enumerates the factors that contributed between these two accounts of what a ple to EDM: social alienation, avoidance to the decline of the Philadelphia rave rave is—and the status of its continuity of dominant gender/sexuality norms, and scene (Chapters 4–6). She engages with in Philadelphia—reflects an analytic gap technological fascination. In Chapter 4, scholarship in social studies as well as in Anderson’s work regarding the politics Anderson catalogs the various forces of with interviews of people active in the of authenticity. change in the Philadelphia rave scene: rave scene to detail how these factors Anderson situates her study within generational schism, commercialization, impacted the scene and what people did the field of “scene studies,” drawing on formal social control, genre fragmenta- in response to these pressures. She then the work of Will Straw, Andy Bennett, tion, and cultural otherness/hedonism/ compares the rave scene in Philadelphia and Richard Peterson. There is some self-destruction. Cultural work is the to that of London and Ibiza in order conceptual and methodological diversity theme of Chapter 5, where she classi- to glean potential explanations for why in scene studies, however, and Anderson fies the activities of EDM participants— some scenes decline and others flourish. seems to side mostly with Straw, defin- particularly stakeholders—as restoration, The introductory chapter opens with ing a scene as a nexus of cultural activity preservation, or adaptation. Anderson a brief ethnographic anecdote, followed taking place in a geographically-bounded travels to London and Ibiza in Chapter by a short history of EDM, an account space; this organizational definition could 6, where she encounters still-vibrant— of the development of the project itself, be contrasted with Barry Shank’s semi- but altered—EDM scenes and compares a description of the research site, a review otic conceptualization, which describes them with Philadelphia to determine of the relevant scholarship (particularly a scene as an “overproductive signifying which factors contribute to alteration, on scenes, subcultures, and neo-tribes), community” (Shank, 122). In the for- and which contribute to decline. She and an overview of the book’s structure. mer case, a scene is defined by how it is closes the book with an epilogue (Chapter Anderson discloses here that she only dis- organized, in the latter, it is defined by 7) that summarizes the conclusions of covered the rave scene in the early 2000s, what it (over)produces. In both cases, previous chapters, ponders the future of cleverly making her entry into the Philly music scenes are distinctively animated by EDM scenes (in brief: not very good), rave scene part of her ethnographic meth- activities that blur the lines between per- and provides brief descriptions of two odology as well as the narrative framing former and audience, producer and con- “twenty-first century” nightlife scenes: device for her interest in the twilight years sumer. While Straw’s model may be most gay men’s “circuit parties” and “mash- of the scene: having arrived after the peak compatible with the goals of her project, ups.” She also includes an appendix that years, she found herself surrounded by perhaps Shank’s definition of a scene as details the project’s methods of ethnog- talk of a bygone era of plenitude. This semiotic overproduction might have pro- raphy, data collection, and data analysis. also foreshadows a problem in Anderson’s vided a subtler instrument for tracing the analysis; she entered a scene in the midst continued on page 40

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 39 continued from page 39 at EDM events through convenience or ized point of reference. Furthermore, boundaries and continuities of the rave accident, but have no affinity with EDM why is commerce necessarily the opposite scene. Additionally, while Anderson’s lit- or rave culture. of authenticity? This opposition seems erature review provides a valuable archive According to Anderson, these “ideal to reproduce subcultural discourses of of work from sociology, communication, types” were developed in dialogue with authenticity without deconstructing it. and media studies, prominent anthropo- her insider informants (p. 55); how does Admittedly, one advantage to this binary logical work by scholars such as Anthony this impact the manner in which this is that it strips away the ideological cov- D’Andrea, Charity Marsh, and Graham typology describes insiders and outsiders? ering of the underground/mainstream St. John is virtually absent. She admits that there is possibly a gate- binary; nonetheless, it does not prompt Each chapter in this book is structured keeping agenda at play in her informants’ the author to rearticulate or expand Sarah around the development of a typology of definitions, and so she reminds us that Thornton’s groundbreaking deconstruc- some aspect of EDM scenes (e.g., types these labels have no real-life referents; tion of the underground/mainstream of events, types of participants, forces of but what is the explanatory power—the binary. Ultimately, creating a continuum change for the Philadelphia rave scene). descriptive usefulness—of using terms and does not solve the problem of false bina- Although Anderson provides detailed eth- distinctions that carry such pejorative ries. As a result, Anderson ends up declar- nographies of interviewees and thorough (or valorizing) charges? What are the ing that a corporate mega-rave is the next- analyses of interview data, her consistent consequences of presenting a photo of a closest thing to an authentic rave, while a drive to schematize (and occasionally young man—centrally framed with his weekly gathering of house fans around a quantify) her qualitative data ultimately face clearly visible—accompanied by a local DJ is the second-most distant and diminishes the descriptive richness of her caption labeling him a “pretender” (p. commercialized. To me and to most of work. Considering the messy complexity 69)? At points such as these, it is not clear my fieldwork contacts in a variety of and constant flux of EDM scenes (and whether Anderson is describing or per- urban centers (Chicago, Toronto, Paris, music scenes anywhere, I would venture), forming the cultural work of her insiders. and Berlin), this ordering is jarringly the static tidiness of her categories already A related problem that subtends this counter-intuitive. raises concerns. She initially defines them book is Anderson’s notion of authentic- This authentic/commercial binary car- as heuristic, Weberian “ideal types”—that ity, which carries a lot of analytic freight ries into her chapter on cultural work is, abstract types that do not correspond in her work but remains underdeveloped. (Chapter 6), where it is already appar- to any real phenomenon, but instead help In Chapter 2, for example, she observes ent in the way that she establishes her to make sense of the chaotic diversity of EDM events, interviews insiders, and terms of analysis. She begins by quoting the social world. Through the course of analyzes print media to assemble an inven- the world-famous DJ (and Philadelphia the book, however, these ideas come to tory of eighteen elements characteristic to native) Josh Wink, who describes the be reified; they drift from “ideal” to “real” “authentic” raves (p. 32). This already changes taking place in EDM scenes as types that determine the limits of what is raises concerns about salience, as she “restoration, preservation, and transfor- legible as a “rave” event, person, factor, does not differentiate between the relative mation” (p. 114). Anderson takes up or activity. importance of these characteristics: do this tripartite formula to describe the For example, Anderson provides a glow-sticks matter more to ravers than a kinds of cultural work that participants typology of EDM participants in Chapter multinational beverage corporation’s logo in the EDM scene undertake, but she 3 that happens to fall into two symmetri- plastered all over the event space? Which makes one alteration: “transformation” cal columns of “insiders” and “outsiders” characteristics contrast most strongly with becomes “adaptation,” thus implying a (pp. 54–56). Insider loyalists identify other nightlife scenes? She then takes this sort of passive acquiescence rather than strongly with rave culture and show alle- eighteen-dimension descriptive space and a positive or aspirational metamorphosis; giance to the scene through frequent flattens it out to a one-dimensional line: this is rather strange, considering the attendance at events and patterns of the “rave-club culture continuum,” which utopian and futurist ethos that charac- consumption typical of connoisseurs also doubles as an authentic-commercial terizes many rave scenes. This occurs (e.g., the collection of rare vinyl records), continuum. In the position most similar because Anderson’s logic of authentic- whereas outsider clubbers are committed to “rave” (and therefore most authentic) ity leaves no room for benign change; to attending EDM events, but are more she places underground parties, while she derives authenticity from historical general in their tastes and less aware of superstar “one-off” events occupy the priority (i.e., earlier instances are more subcultural markers. Insider stakeholders most club-like (and therefore most com- authentic), making any transformation to are mostly DJs and promoters, taking mercial) pole. In between these two poles, the scene necessarily a loss of authenticity. an active role in organizing the activities from most to least authentic, are corpo- Although she acknowledges that change of the scene and maintaining its health, rate raves, music festivals, monthly par- does not necessarily mean the decline of a while outsider pretenders seek temporary ties, and weekly parties. scene (in the following chapter, she takes and “counterfeit” loyalty to the scene This linear model is problematic London and Ibiza as her examples), she in order to garner some form of social because it implies an a priori cultural nonetheless frames this flourishing as a capital. Finally, insider hustlers are oppor- difference between rave events and club kind of defeat. Scenes that continue to tunistic entrepreneurs that provide sup- events, between which gradations of dif- flourish do so by “adaptation,” which she port services (e.g., maintaining websites ference can be traced, whereas raves and describes solely in terms of commercial- and discussion forums) and work in a clubs are more like overlapping cultural ization, which, in turn, she has already secondary economy (e.g., selling drugs), fields within a larger field of EDM, with defined as the opposite of authenticity. while outsider spillovers find themselves rhizomatic connections and no central- continued on page 41

40 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 continued from page 40 scene participants can sometimes seem to while also confusing or misleading for One can see this in how she frames these be acting at cross-purposes. others. On the other hand, these typolo- three types of cultural work: a subsec- Similarly, Anderson’s work in Chapter gies also provide footholds for critical tion in her discussion of restoration is 4 on the various factors (social, cultural, reading, as students can engage with spe- entitled, “The Restoration Challenge” economic, legal, pharmacological) that cific definitions and trace how concepts (p. 121), while the corresponding sub- have placed pressure on existing EDM impact analysis. Similarly, Anderson’s section on preservation is entitled, “The scenes is invaluable. Not only does she clear and accessible writing style will Preservation Quagmire” (p. 125), and assemble a tentative vocabulary for articu- help students follow the trajectory of her the subheading for adaptation simply lating scene change, but she also synthe- argument and evaluate her claims. In an reads, “Integration of EDM into the sizes previous scholarship on EDM from upper-level undergraduate or graduate Commercial Music Industry” (p. 128). two intellectual streams that often remain course, it may be illuminating to read this These subheadings imply that restoration isolated: deviance-oriented paradigms book alongside another EDM ethnogra- is difficult but productive, preservation is (criminology, epidemiology, and public phy that is less schematic or even explic- futile and unproductive, and adaptation policy in particular) and ethnographies/ itly anti-structuralist, which could spark is all too easy and destructive (or over- historiographies. She also begins to theo- a discussion about contrasting meth- productive, if one is tracking the capitalist rize how these forces interact with each odologies and theoretical frameworks. production of value). other and what kinds of reactions they There is no conceptual space here for elicit from EDM scenes. This is expanded Works Referenced rave scenes to transform into something in the penultimate chapter (Chapter 6), Bennett, Andy, and Richard A. Peterson. new and remain faithful to their “roots.” where she conducts similar fieldwork in Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual. What if, for example, certain changes London and Ibiza. Although the ethno- Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, in the rave scene are considered a move graphic data for these locales is thinner 2004. towards authenticity by EDM partici- and still analyzed through a problematic D’Andrea, Anthony. Global Nomads: pants? Anderson already points out that set of typologies, it illuminates her analy- Techno and New Age as Transnational Countercultures in Ibiza and Goa. New York: many of her informants appreciated the sis of the Philadelphia rave scene and allows her to hypothesize which forces Routledge, 2007. shift to nightclub events and the reliable Marsh, Charity. “ ‘Understand Us Before amenities of these spaces, e.g., function- tend to steer scenes toward alteration rather than decline. You End Us’: Regulation, Governmentality, ing toilets and a sound-system that works and the Confessional Practices of Raving Anderson’s book remains innovative (pp. 84, 90), but “improvement” is not Bodies.” Popular Music 25, no. 3 (2006): an operative term in her analysis. What in many regards and richly descriptive 415–30. if some ravers see the raves of the “golden of a particular place and time, although Shank, Barry. Dissonant Identities: The era” as aspiring towards a plateau that has its claims are weakened by its reliance Rock ‘n’ Roll Scene in Austin, Texas. Hanover, not yet been reached? Transformation, on typologies that alternately reproduce NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994. then, would be the most authentic kind social hierarchies and flatten differ- St. John, Graham, ed. Rave Culture and of work. Picking up again on rave’s his- ence. The chapters on forces of change Religion. New York: Routledge, 2004. tory of utopianism and futurism, if one (Chapter 4) and cultural work (Chapter Straw, Will. “Systems of Articulation, wishes to retain some notion of authen- 5) will be of interest to any scholar of Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes ticity, then one must also consider the EDM scenes and scene transformation in Popular Music, ” Cultural Studies 5, no. 3 possibility of being authentic to a scene in general, although it may be difficult to (1991): 368–88. that is yet to be realized. Nonetheless, disentangle these valuable insights from Thornton, Sarah. Club Cultures: Music, if one drops the authentic/commercial the problematic typologies upon which Media and Subcultural Capital. Hanover, binary and keeps a critical distance from they are built. In a classroom setting, this NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996. the concept of authenticity, this tripar- book has both advantages and disadvan- tite division of scene-maintaining labor tages. On the one hand, the proliferation is useful and helpful. It can give clarity of labels and categories can be frustrating about how energies are directed, and why for those closely acquainted with EDM

Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Salvatore Basile. New York: Fordham University Press, 2010. 288pp. ISBN-978-0-8232-3187-4. Hardcover.

– Robert R. Grimes pointed with it because it did not meet that this is true throughout most of St. my expectations—expectations raised by Patrick’s history. While the author does the work’s subtitle; this is more a history provide titles of some musical pieces per- Salvatore Basile has written a fas- of musicians at New York’s St. Patrick’s formed at the Cathedral, the book does cinating book, but one that took me Cathedral than it is a history of the music. not delve deeply into the musical, cul- some time to appreciate. Even before I The author admits that in the early days tural, and sociological questions involved had been asked to review Fifth Avenue of the twentieth century music at the in a period of American urban Catholic Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music church “would for a while be less inter- liturgical music that emerged from the at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, I had begun esting than the image of its musicians” reading the work. I was initially disap- (p. 63), but his work seems to indicate continued on page 42

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 41 continued from page 41 to enter a nursing home in his final days. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis was apparent- operatic repertory of the late nineteenth Fortunately, his request was approved. In ly sung by the Cathedral choir in a litur- century, developed in the Gregorian- the 1970s and 1980s, John Grady dou- gical context “on extraordinary occasions” revival of the early twentieth century, and bled as music director at the Cathedral (p. 47); these must have been extraordi- underwent remarkable changes during and organist for the Metropolitan Opera. narily long occasions. The Italian organ- the second-half of the twentieth cen- Since the earliest days of Christianity, ist and composer, Pietro Yon, director tury. What Fifth Avenue Famous does, there has been tension over the role of of music at the Cathedral from the late and does well, is chronicle the careers of music in Christian worship, and the 1920s into the early 1940s, tutored Cole the men and woman (the incumbent is years since the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral Porter in music theory and composition. the only female director of music at the opened in 1879, right up to the present Roy Harris was commissioned to write Cathedral) who have led the musical life are among the most tumultuous. It is a setting of the mass for the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s through the years. Once I clear the author does not side with the in 1948—a commission completed but had adjusted my expectations, I enjoyed late nineteenth-century Cecilian move- never performed at St. Patrick’s. Mary the book considerably. ment that sought to return Catholic Lou Williams’ Mass no. 3 (better known In the mid-nineteenth century, a num- Church music to plainchant, Renaissance as Mary Lou’s Mass in its choreographed ber of Catholic churches in Manhattan polyphony, and modern compositions form by Alvin Ailey) was performed in vied for the reputation as the most musi- modeled on these. Nor is he sympathetic the Cathedral in 1975. There are, how- cal in the city. St. Peter’s on Barclay Street to the motu proprio, Tra le Sollecitudini, of ever, a few inaccuracies; for example, (the first Catholic parish in the city), Pope Pius X in 1903 that banned orches- Mozart’s Requiem was not performed at St. Stephen’s on East 28th Street, and St. tras, “theatrical” music, and women from John F. Kennedy’s funeral, but rather in Francis Xavier on West 16th Street, devel- Catholic choir lofts. He never directly his memory at the Cathedral of the Holy oped formidable musical reputations, and mentions the work of the monks of Cross in January of 1964 (p. 183). were said to receive the latest Italian Solesmes on plainchant, and gives only For musicologists—and perhaps espe- compositions in manuscript form even an oblique reference to them in men- cially for graduate students in musicol- before they were published. The city’s tioning that the assistant organist of the ogy—this work is most valuable for both newspapers at times “reviewed” the musi- Cathedral spent three months studying the history it records and the questions cal performances at Sunday High Mass, “the method of singing and teaching the it leaves unanswered. What was the real and often parishes appeared to compete chant” with the Benedictines on the Isle impact of the 1903 instruction of Pope with one another for bragging rights of Wight, where the French monastery Pius X that banned women from sing- as to the best prima donna or the new- was in exile during the first decades ing in Catholic choirs—only reversed est composition. The author sometimes of the twentieth century (p. 68). The in 1955 and actually honored at St. seems to engage in this rivalry. For exam- approach of the Second Vatican Council Patrick’s, unlike many other Catholic ple, he writes that William Pecher, who was greeted with “rumors of extravagant, parishes in the United States? Why is would become the first musical director possibly unwelcome, change” according there no scholarly work on Pietro Yon, of the cathedral on Fifth Avenue, was to the author (p. 173), although the an influential musician in New York City in 1862 at St. Peter’s on Barclay Street, changes that ensued did lead to the dis- and beyond through much of the first a church whose musical significance, he missal of the all-men’s choir and brought half of the twentieth century? This work writes, was then “anchored in the past” a new ensemble of men and women, as could easily serve as a springboard for a (p. 2). That very year Dwight’s Journal well as the return of orchestral music, to number of doctoral dissertation topics. of Music reported that St. Peter’s “has the cathedral. The author, who is a soloist and cantor been celebrated among fine-art critics We also see the delicate negotiations at St. Patrick’s, is clearly in love with the and church-goers for the sublimity of its that take place between the musical direc- Cathedral and its tradition of music mak- sacred music” (June 28, 1862: 100). Old tor and the clergy as competing goals ing. That love shines through, and he at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, located between come into conflict. In the 1930s the rec- times minimizes the difficulties and prob- Mulberry and Mott Streets on the lower tor of the Cathedral lamented that Pietro lems for music there, for example, the East Side (and still functioning today as Yon, perhaps the finest musician to head need to amplify the choir to overcome the a Catholic parish), did not have an equal the music at St. Patrick’s, “has a great air-conditioning system in the vast build- musical reputation. Basile’s work, how- reputation as a musician but he rarely ing. There is undoubtedly a great tradi- ever, focuses almost exclusively on the gives us the sort of music our people care tion of music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, present St. Patrick’s. for” (p. 115). In the 1980s John Cardinal and each year on Christmas Eve there The book gives us a close look at what O’Connor informed then music director is no hotter ticket in town than one to the life of a church musician in New York John Grady that Offertory anthems were Midnight Mass at “St. Pat’s.” Salvatore City must have been like over the last 150 “to run no longer than three minutes and Basile has done a wonderful service in years. Even for a musician as successful twenty seconds” (p. 241). Mozart was not documenting the work of those who have as the director of music at St. Patrick’s the last musician to have trouble with his made the tremendous musical history of Cathedral, life was difficult—long hours archbishop. the Cathedral possible. and low pay. James Ungerer, the second There are so many fascinating facts director of music at the new Cathedral, contained within its pages that I wish had to petition the Archdiocese for an the book included more documentation increase in his pension so he could afford than it has. A few examples will suffice.

42 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 Five Lines, Four Spaces: The World of My Music, George Rochberg. University of Illinois Press, 2009. 307pp. ISBN: 978-0-252-03425-1. Hardcover.

University of Pennsylvania music librar- the Concord Quartet, were ridiculously – James Wierzbicki ian Richard Griscom, the book deliber- anachronistic; there is no explanation ately focuses on the brighter aspects of an of why he felt it so necessary to severely The American composer George up-and-down, still controversial career. ‘tighten’ his Violin Concerto after Stern Rochberg (1918–2005) continues to Rochberg does not exactly dodge the premiered it in Pittsburgh in 1974 and fascinate, although perhaps less for his big question. He admits that his rejection then felt it just as necessary to ‘restore’ music than for his famous ‘conversion’ of serialism remains a “thorny” issue, “a it in 2001, or of the possible reasons from hard-core serialism to old-fashioned matter of sufficient magnitude to war- as to why his one and only attempt at tonality. The most popular story, circulat- rant returning to any number of times” opera (an adaptation of Melville’s The ed widely in program notes and radio com- in a valedictory memoir. But he alludes Confidence Man, premiered at the Santa mentaries, has it that Rochberg embraced to it far more often than he addresses it, Fe Opera in the summer of 1982) was nineteenth-century harmonic procedures apparently feeling that he had dealt with generally regarded as a theatrical disaster. because he found that an atonal vocabu- it quite enough, and with due intellectual As is the privilege of an octogenarian, lary was incapable of expressing the range rigor, in earlier writings. (See, for exam- Rochberg here opts to paint a rosy pic- of grief he felt in the early 1960s when his ple, “The New Image of Music” (1963), ture of his life in music. Yet it is a picture teenaged son was stricken with and even- “The Avant-Garde and the Aesthetics washed over with bitterness. tually succumbed to brain cancer. A less of Survival” (1969), “Reflections on Even in the first terse description of the romantic but more credible story, easily Schoenberg” (1972), “Reflections on the “powerful negative” one finds reference to gleaned from a careful reading of certain Renewal of Music” (1972), and “On the “false prophets” of modernism and of the essays collected in The Aesthetics of the Third String Quartet” (1974), all the “acrimonious modernist proselytes Survival: A Composer’s View of Twentieth- in the Aesthetics of Survival collection.) and zealots who still linger on in aca- Century Music (University of Michigan Preferring to make short what obviously demic nooks and crannies” (pp. 32–33). Press, 1984/2004), attributes the shift could be a very long story, Rochberg Later one reads about “the oppressive, in style to a crisis of artistic conscience. notes that his radical change of style was radical aesthetics of the avant-garde of Writing on the centennial of Arnold “the outgrowth of a powerful positive, bal- Europe and America” (p. 64), about Schoenberg’s birth, Rochberg, in an arti- anced by an equally powerful negative.” “the aesthetic death grip, the domina- cle for Perspectives of New Music, likened He sets up the dichotomy in no uncertain tion and intimidation of serialism” (p. the inventor of the twelve-tone method terms: what Rochberg calls “the positive” 104), about student composers with “few to the central character of Hermann has to do, in essence, with craft, tradi- or no observable skills” and attitudes Hesse’s 1927 novel Steppenwolf. In a tion, beauty, expressiveness, and sincer- “strongly tinged with solipsism” (p. 125), paragraph remarkable as much for its lit- ity; in contrast, “the negative” equates to about people who equate composing with erary grace as for its insight, Rochberg the modernist movement that “from its “arbitrarily throwing together abstract observed that just as Hesse’s protagonist inception sought to obliterate all vestiges conglomerates” (p. 144), about the “pow- suffered less from genuine lycanthropy of the past in all art, not just music” (pp. erful polemicists” who launched a “direct as from a “sickness of the soul” triggered 31–32; emphases original). attack” on musical virtue (p. 260). Digs by his being caught “between two ages, That having been stated, up front and of this sort permeate Rochberg’s osten- two modes of life,” so Schoenberg was a with a commendable economy of words, sibly cheery memoir, and they lead one comparable “genius of suffering” whose the rest of the book is by and large a to wonder why the author, toward the “internal experiences, particularly those recital of all the wondrous things that end of his supposedly ‘resolved’ career, recorded in his works from 1908/09 on, Rochberg experienced over the years. still kept such a chip on his shoulder. present us with an almost precise parallel The reader will find here a bounty of They lead one to wonder, too, about why to [Harry] Haller’s spiritual journey into lyrically descriptive praise for this or that Rochberg never explains exactly what it hell.” Informed by other essays in the performer who responded sympatheti- was that drew him, in the first place, so Aesthetics of Survival collection, a reader cally to whatever Rochberg was trying to strongly to the modernist techniques that need not spend much effort to realize that get at both before and after his famous later he repudiated. Rochberg, in his eloquent comparison of ‘time of turning.’ There is considerable One does not read a memoir such as Schoenberg’s spiritual agonies to those detail, for example, on his relationships this in the hopes of ‘catching’ the author of Hesse’s fictional werewolf, was in fact with Isaac Stern, the Concord String in a contradiction. It is easy enough to writing in large part about himself. Quartet, guitarist Eliot Fisk, and con- set Rochberg’s dismissal of modernist An uninhibited first-person account of ductor Christopher Lyndon-Gee (who music in general as mere “illustrations of the agonies experienced by an artist “born” in 2002 undertook the recording of theoretical-analytical thought processes” into one tradition yet at heart committed all of Rochberg’s orchestral works with (p. 106) alongside his descriptions of the to another surely would make for a good the Saarbrücken Rundfunk Orchestra). enthusiasm with which he once explored read. Such an account, alas, is not to be But there is virtually no engagement “the inner workings and uncharted sub- found in Five Lines, Four Spaces. Penned here with the many critics who thought tleties of the twelve-tone world” (p. 254), in the few years before Rochberg passed, the Schumann- and Brahms-like quar- or to juxtapose his demonization of “the then edited by Rochberg’s widow and tets (nos. 4–6), written in 1977–78 for continued on page 44

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 43 continued from page 43 me on. I was simultaneously repelled and gets the discomforting impression that mad-for-change modern” (p. 152) with drawn to it. . . . The music sounded ugly the “love-hate” that so propelled him proud citations of his own novelties (p. and unbeautiful to my ears. Yet I was in his early years was never completely 90, in the case of the simultaneous tem- driven to keep at Schoenberg’s ‘secrets’ in resolved. But inner conflict, even though pos in the last movement of his 1960 order to forge for myself a language with it often hurts, can be fruitful; it was String Quartet No. 2; p. 157, in the case which to say, in terms of my own time during the period of his most unsettled of the “piano harmonics” he “invented” and experience, those things I wanted ambivalence, after all, that Rochberg pro- for the 1965 Contra Mortem et Tempus). and needed to say, and to express them as duced his most enduringly interesting But to do that would simply be to dem- consummately well as I could according works. (For commentary on the 1965 onstrate the obvious. to my lights” (p. 72). Music for the Magic Theater and the In one of the few passages that actually That is as close as he comes to ’fessing 1972 String Quartet No. 3, see James do reveal something of his early involve- up to his allegiance to modernist musical Wierzbicki, “Reflections on Rochberg ment with serialism, Rochberg writes practice. Clearly, for most of his career and ‘Postmodernism,’ ” Perspectives of of Schoenberg’s Quartet No. 4 and “the Rochberg was a composer in conflict New Music 45, no. 2 (2007): 108–32.) deep ambivalence of love-hate that drove with himself, and from this memoir one bulletin board David Ake has been named the new French Quarter. Methodological Considerations and Case Director of the School of the Arts at the Roger Lee Hall has been working on a Studies.” University of Nevada, Reno. series of multimedia discs. His latest project Benjamin Piekut (University of Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, is available on a multimedia CD-R titled, Southampton/Cornell University) and Associate Professor/Reference and Arts- “Weeping, Sad and Lonely” – Songs and Jason Stanyek (New York University) have Multimedia Librarian at Nicholls State Hymns of the Civil War Era. This disc con- won the 2011 Outstanding Article Award University in Thibodaux, LA, was awarded tains 20 songs and hymns from the years from the Association for Theatre in Higher a Louisiana Board of Regents’ Traditional between 1859 and 1869. Hall also offers Education, for their article, “Deadness: Enhancement Grant with institutional several titles in the Multimedia Americana Technologies of the Intermundane” (The technology match for $44,000. (See related Music Series [MAMS] including music Drama Review, Spring 2010, 14-38). Piekut article above.) Goldsmith is the first librar- of the Shakers, Lincoln’s era, and New has also been awarded a Summer Stipend ian in many years in Louisiana to receive a England. from the National Endowment of the BoR grant as well as early promotion. Ralph P. Locke (professor of musicology Humanities. He will use the grant to work Thomas Jacobsen wrote a feature piece, at the University of Rochester’s Eastman on his new book project, No More Songs: “The Century Mark, Lionel Ferbos turns School of Music) is a board member of Henry Cow and British Experimental Music, 100 this month,” for the July issue of the Journal of the American Musicological which analyses the history of British experi- the New Orleans jazz mag OffBEAT. Ferbos Society. He contributed an editorial to the mental music in the 1970s through the (to whom Jacobsen’s new book, Traditional most recent issue of that journal. Locke is lens of the ensemble Henry Cow; and an New Orleans Jazz, LSU Press, 2011, is dedi- presenting a paper at the AMS November Early Career Fellowship from the Arts and cated) still plays at least one night a week 2011 meeting (in San Francisco), enti- Humanities Research Council (UK). at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe in the city’s tled “Musical Exoticism 1500-1750: Some

conference calendar CFP: The Alfred Newman Symposium for historical analysis and synthesis, such CFP: Volume! The French journal for Musicological Film Studies presents that individual studies can be related to a of popular music studies is proud to From Nineteenth-Century Stage Melodrama more comprehensive perspective in which announce that a special issue on “Music & to Twenty-First-Century Film Scoring: music of the cinema is understood in the counterculture(s): rock’n’roll, the Sixties, Musicodramatic Practice and Knowledge broader historical context of theater music. the US and beyond” will be co-directed by Organization in association with USC The Symposium will focus on exploring Prof. Sheila Whiteley (University of Salford). Cinematic Arts Library and Warner Bros. this system of musicodramatic knowledge Deadline for submissions is October 15, Archives, the Society for American Music, organization and on understanding both 2011. For full details please visit http:// and the Institute for Film Music Studies at its origins in stage melodrama and how www.seteun.net/spip.php?article255. USC Doheny Memorial Library, February the practice continues as a living tradition CFP: “Hard Times” or “Great 23–24, 2012. The musicological study in film scoring today. To a greater or lesser Expectations”? How the Victorians of film is exemplified today by interpre- extent current practice can be seen as “new Saw Themselves: Midwest Victorian tive “readings” of individual films, of film wine in old bottles,” because while musical Studies Association Annual Conference genres, or of some narrative aspect of film, styles have changed, the same underly- Bloomington, Indiana, April 20-22, 2012 thereby following the lead of literary criti- ing musicodramatic schema has remained In commemoration of the 200th anniver- cism and film studies more than musicol- relatively unchanged. Papers and proposals sary of Dickens’s birth, we invited papers ogy. Because of that proportionately less for panel sessions and roundtables on this on his writings and influence, but the con- attention is devoted to examining musical topic or other musicological aspects of film ference will also consider issues of Victorian practice in film within the traditions of study should be sent to William H. Rosar at dramatic musical art. There is a need now [email protected] by October 15, 2011. continued on page 45

44 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 continued from page 45 gmail.com. The deadline for proposals is Frederick Delius, Tippett’s King Priam). reflexivity and self-representation. Among Tuesday, November 15. Individual propos- Graduate students are encouraged to sub- topics to be considered might be: Victorian als should be 250 words with a 50 word bio. mit; the best student paper presented at the ideas of progress and degeneration; social Panel proposals should specify 90 minutes conference will be awarded the Temperley commentators, ethnologists and journalists; with three presenters, or 120 minutes with Prize. Abstracts of up to 500 words for 20 parliamentary reports and reform move- four presenters. They should also include a minute individual papers, for paper sessions ments; mirrors, disguises, and masquer- 125 word overview, 250 words for individ- of up to four papers, or for lecture recit- ades; visions of heaven and hell; utopias/ ual proposals, and a 50 word bio, or a 250 als lasting 40-50 minutes should be sent dystopias; photography and portraiture; word overview with multiple 50 word bios by February 1, 2012, to Kendra Leonard autobiographies, biographies and histories; for roundtable discussions. We welcome by e-mail to kendraprestonleonard@gmail. museums and exhibitions; and Victorian unorthodox proposals and those that target com. For additional information about the psychology and theories of identity. The a general interest audience. Registration is conference, see www.nabmsa.org. conference will include a panel on teach- FREE for presenters and the public. For Prize: Thelen Prize 2012 ing the Victorians, and proposals for topics more information on past Pop Conferences, IGEB (The International Society for the and speakers are also invited. Held on the go to http://www.empmuseum.org/pop- Promotion and Research of Wind Music) beautiful campus of Indiana University, conference. invites nominations for the 2012 Thelen the conference will include unique evening CFP: International Society for the Prize. Established to commemorate Fritz entertainment honoring Dickens, includ- Promotion and Research of Wind Music Thelen (1906–93), one of IGEB’s co- ing a special film screening of the 1917 A (IGEB) founders, the prize is awarded to the writer Tale of Two Cities with live piano accom- Proposals for papers or lecture-perfor- of an outstanding dissertation in the field of paniment, and a “Charles Dickens Variety mances are invited for the 20th conference wind music research. Nominations, includ- Show” including music and magic lan- onwind music of the International Society ing self-nominations, are invited for dis- terns. Accommodations are at the Indiana for the Promotion and Research of Wind sertations completed between 2009 and Memorial Union. Please submit an abstract! Music (IGEB) to be held in Coimbra, December 2011. Dissertations may be on Papers or full panels are welcome, and Portugal, July 12-17, 2012. The dead- any subject concerning wind music, in any should include 500-word abstracts and line for proposals is January 23, 2012. language, from any country, worldwide. In 1-page (only) vitas by October 20, 2011 to Papers focusing on the theme of the confer- addition to a plaque, the winner will be conferencesubmissions@midwestvictorian. ence, “On the Border: Bridging the Path invited to present a paper at the next meet- org. Between Tradition and Art” are especially ing of the Society, to be held in Coimbra, For more information, see our website, invited, but papers on any aspect of wind Portugal, July 12-17, 2012. The disserta- http://www.midwestvictorian.org/. music and research in progress are welcome. tion will also be considered for publica- CFP: Sounds of the City The lectures can represent the entire field tion in IGEB’s Reprints und Manuscripts IASPM-US Annual Conference, jointly of humanities in relation to wind music: or the Alta Musica series. The titles and held with 2012 EMP Pop Conference musicology, ethnology, philosophy, sociol- abstracts of all submitted dissertations will presented by NYU’s Clive Davis Institute ogy, and educational sciences. Presentations be announced in the Mitteilungsblatt, the of Recorded Music, New York City, March should not exceed 20 minutes, leaving 10 Society’s Newsletter. 22-25, 2012. minutes for discussion. Papers will be con- Nominations should include the following: Charlie Gillett’s pioneering The Sound of sidered for future publication in the Alta one paper copy; one pdf file; and curricu- the City declared, with its title, that the Musica series. Researchers are encouraged lum vita. electrified roots music of Elvis and Little to submit abstracts on works in progress. The deadline is October 24, 2011. Richard was an urban synthesis: “In rock Send a one-page abstract to Bernhard Habla Send to: IGEB, c/o Doris Schweinzer, and roll, the strident, repetitive sounds at [email protected] and Doris Leonhardstraße 15, A-8010 Graz, Austria; of city life were, in effect, reproduced Schweinzer at [email protected]. or [email protected]. For fur- as melody and rhythm.” But the metro- Registration materials and further informa- ther information see: www.igeb.net. politan modernities of popular music take tion may be found at www.igeb.net. Conference: “Charles Ives: A Life in many different forms: Nuyorican salsa, CFP: NABMSA Conference 2012 Music,” November 3-5, 2011 Ralph Ellison “living with jazz” in his The 2012 conference of the North American Hosted by the Arts Center at Strathmore apartment building, San Francisco open- British Music Studies Association will be (Bethesda, Md.) and supported by the NEA air psychedelia, double dutch and break- structured around the theme of Anglo- and the Ives Society, the Ives Project engag- dancing, Amadou & Mariam’s “fast food American music and musical relationships. es the pianist Jeremy Denk and the baritone Dakar,” and beyond. So for this year’s joint NABMSA is especially interested in papers William Sharp (both supreme Ives advo- International Association for the Study of that explore these connections, such as cates) in a strategy for better acquainting Popular Music-US branch gathering and those on British brass bands in America, American audiences with the Ives idiom. EMP Museum Pop Conference, present- British-American folk traditions, and other The Project includes songs, chamber works, ed by New York University’s Clive Davis transatlantic collaborations and influences. and the Concord Sonata; letters, essays, Institute of Recorded Music, we copy- Proposals for performances and lecture- and historic recordings; lecture/recitals by edit Gillett slightly and ask that presenters recitals of works with an Anglo-American both Denk and Sharp; and talks by Tom explore sounds of the city—the reverbera- angle are also invited, as are papers that draw Owens and myself. Further information: tions of people gathered en masse. All styles upon interdisciplinary or broader cultural http://post-classicalensemble.org/current- and eras of pop music are welcome. Please contexts and papers on figures or works program/. send proposals to organizer Eric Weisbard celebrating important anniversary years (University of Alabama) at Eric.Weisbard@ in 2012 (e.g., Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,

The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 45 New from Oxford

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46 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 Prices are subject to change and apply only in the US. 1 To order or for more information, visit www.oup.com/us. 588,500 items in Sibley Library 20 full-time faculty theorists and musicologists 5 full-time faculty composers One shared passion. Eastman celebrates 90 years of creating and studying American music.

Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon directing Eastman Broadband.

Priority application deadline November 1 Final application deadline December 1 www.esm.rochester.edu/apply The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 47

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awards of the society

Further information is available at the Wiley Housewright Dissertation Mark Tucker Award website (www.american-music.org) or by Award The Mark Tucker Award is presented at contacting the SAM office. This award consists of a plaque and cash the Business Meeting of the annual SAM award given annually for a dissertation conference to a student presenter who has H. Earle Johnson Bequest for Book that makes an outstanding contribution written an outstanding paper for delivery Publication Subvention to American music studies. The Society at that conference. In addition to the for American Music announces its annual recognition the student receives before the This fund is administered by the Book competition for a dissertation on any topic Society, there is also a plaque and a cash Publications Committee and provides relating to American music, written in award. two subventions up to $2,500 annually. English. Adrienne Fried Block Fellowship Sight and Sound Subvention Student Travel Grants This fellowship, endowed in honor This fund is administered by the Sight and Grants are available for student members of Adrienne Fried Block, shall be given Sound Committee and provides annual who wish to attend the annual conference to support scholarly research leading to subventions of approximately $700-$900. of the Society for American Music. These publication on topics that illuminate musical funds are intended to help with the cost life in large urban communities. Preference Irving Lowens Memorial Awards of travel. Students receiving funds must be shall be given to projects that focus on the The Irving Lowens Award is offered by the members of the Society and enrolled at a interconnections among the groups and Society for American Music each year for a college or university (with the exception of organizations present in these metropolitan book and article that, in the judgment of the doctoral students, who need not be formally settings and their participation in the wide awards committee, makes an outstanding enrolled). range of genres that inform the musical life contribution to the study of American music and culture of their cities. or music in America. Self-nominations are accepted.

48 The Bulletin of the Society for American Music • Vol. XXXVII, No. 3