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Words on Music, Perhaps: the Writings of Arthur Berger ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: WORDS ON MUSIC, PERHAPS: THE WRITINGS OF ARTHUR BERGER Jennifer Miriam Kobuskie, Doctor of Philosophy, 2020 Dissertation directed by: Olga Haldey, Associate Professor, Musicology and Ethnomusicology Division, School of Music When Arthur Berger (1912–2003) is mentioned in the history books, it is often as a mid-20th century American composer, or a practitioner and teacher of music theory who, during his tenure at Brandeis University, had trained a generation of theorists and composers. This dissertation aims to demonstrate that Berger made one of his most significant contributions to the history of 20th-century music as a writer of prose. As a full-time critic, his work was featured in major newspapers of New York and Boston, and nationally distributed periodicals. He helped found two music journals, contributed regularly to others, and authored two books. For decades, his voice was widely heard and broadly influential. His aesthetic views, stated boldly and unapologetically, helped shape the post-WWII discourse on modern, particularly American music, and continue to impact both public and scholarly debate on this topic. This study surveys Berger’s personal history as a writer, including his career as a music critic, his involvement with the creation of the scholarly journal Perspectives of New Music, his pioneering biography of Aaron Copland, and his seminal article on Stravinsky’s octatonicism. The dissertation also offers a detailed, comprehensive analysis of Berger’s voluminous corpus of writings, both published and unpublished, as well as his personal archive of notes, drafts, and correspondence, in order to elucidate his aesthetic principles, and his views on a broad variety of subjects related to modern music, such as neoclassicism, nationalism, innovation and tradition, the music of Stravinsky, Copland, and their American successors, as well as the role of classical music in American culture, and the place of American music in the world. Finally, the study is concerned with the reception of Berger’s ideas, his personal aesthetic evolution, and his lively involvement in his own reception. WORDS ON MUSIC, PERHAPS: THE WRITINGS OF ARTHUR BERGER by Jennifer Miriam Kobuskie Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020 Advisory Committee: Dr. Olga Haldey, Chair Dr. Robert Gibson Dr. Scott Trudell Dr. Patrick Warfield Dr. Daniel Zimmerman © Copyright by Jennifer Miriam Kobuskie 2020 Dedication In memory of Shelley G. Davis (1935-2015) ii Acknowledgements I am pleased to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Olga Haldey, my advisor and always patient advocate, and to my committee members, Dr. Robert Gibson, Dr. Scott Trudell, Dr. Daniel Zimmerman, and Dr. Patrick Warfield. For advice, counsel, and inspiration through the years, I am indebted to professors Dr. Barbara Haggh-Huglo, Dr. Richard King, Dr. Robert Provine, the late Dr. Shelley Davis, and the late Dr. Richard Wexler of the University of Maryland, College Park and to Dr. James A. Davis of the State University of New York College at Fredonia. For their indispensable assistance with my research, I thank Dr. Jonathan Hiam and staff of the Music Division of the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, Maggie McNeely of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections at Brandeis University, Mary Scott and Bruce Tennant of the University of Maryland’s Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, and Dr. Andrew Rindfleisch, professor of composition at Cleveland State University. The project would have been impossible without the remarkable kindness and generosity of the late Harold Shapero and Esther Geller, Dr. Christopher Kies and the late Dr. Arlene Kies, Dr. Howard Pollack, and Dr. Melanie Pinkert. It could never have been completed without the continuous moral support and intellectual stimulation of my friends Dr. Ronit Seter, Dr. Eugene Cobble, Dr. Bonny Miller, Dr. Ralph P. Locke, Dr. Immanuela Grunneberg, Laura Yust, and Ruth Mendelssohn, to whom I am also in immeasurable debt for her assistance with my dissertation’s formatting. iii Many other dear friends stood by me throughout this process, and offered me both emotional and professional support, including Dr. Jessica Abbazio, Dr. Deborah Byrd, Dr. Jennifer DeLapp-Birkett, Dr. Frank Latino, Robert Lintott, Jessica Manor, Alyssa Moquin, Dr. TTC, the Prono family, and my colleagues at Montpelier Elementary School, Laurel, Maryland. My husband, Dr. Paul Covey, offered me endless emotional and editorial support. My parents, John and Miriam Kobuskie, and my sister Elisa Lynch were paramount to my success. My in-laws, Robert and Judith Covey, along with Robin and Teddy, have been a wonderful presence in my life. Finally, I thank Rory, who has been by my side for the entire time. iv Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................ vi Editorial Procedures ................................................................................................ vii Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Biography ............................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Criticism................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 3: Perspectives of New Music ..................................................................... 79 Chapter 4: Berger’s Writings on “Americanism” ................................................... 102 Chapter 5: Aaron Copland ..................................................................................... 149 Chapter 6: Innovation in Composition ................................................................... 178 Chapter 7: Neoclassicism, Stravinsky, and the Stravinsky School .......................... 201 Chapter 8: Writings on Music Theory .................................................................... 230 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 256 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 258 v List of Abbreviations NYPL: New York Public Library OHAM: Oral History of American Music vi Editorial Procedures The following editorial conventions are used throughout this dissertation. 1. Names appear according to the most current criteria of correctness regarding diacritics and transliterations, even in quotations and titles, where original spellings are overridden for the sake of consistency and electronic searchability. 2. For ease of readability, minor typographical errors within quoted materials— including spelling and punctuation—that do not alter the meaning of text have been corrected. vii Introduction Arthur Berger stated that his career had involved “donning […] many different hats: critic, journalist, educator, theorist, and even at one time, musicologist.”1 All these involved writing, and indeed, for several decades, Berger’s words on music and the ideas they contained were subtly, perhaps clandestinely, considerably more significant in American musical discourse than conventionally realized.2 Berger’s influence was prominent. As a composer, his major works were programmed by prestigious orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra, while his chamber pieces appeared in more intimate concert settings, programed by esteemed performers such as pianist Charles Rosen and renowned ensembles including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Dinosaur Annex. As academic faculty at Brandeis University, and later the New England Conservatory, Berger trained a generation of American composers and theorists. He associated, both professionally and socially, with some of the most eminent composers and performers of the twentieth century. As a public intellectual, he hosted national radio shows, wrote books, and delivered lectures to audiences of both novices and experts. His criticism was featured in major newspapers of New York and Boston, as well as in a variety of nationally distributed periodicals. He helped establish and was a founding editor of two music journals, and a regular 1 Arthur Berger, Reflections of an American Composer (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 196. 2 The title of this dissertation is adapted from Berger’s first vocal work “Words for Music, Perhaps” (1939). 1 contributor to others. Beginning in the early 1930s, and continuing until the early part of the twenty-first century, Berger’s fingerprints can be traced through numerous aspects of American classical-music culture. Yet in the historiography of American music, he remains less central to the discussion than this significance warrants. Berger’s compositional career will not be discussed here in a systematic or comprehensive way, nor will specific pieces be analyzed unless
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