Musical Offerings Volume 9 Number 2 Fall 2018 Article 1 10-3-2018 The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music Audrey S. Rutt Cedarville University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings Part of the Composition Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Education Policy Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Music Education Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Performance Commons, Music Theory Commons, and the Social Welfare Commons DigitalCommons@Cedarville provides a publication platform for fully open access journals, which means that all articles are available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. However, the opinions and sentiments expressed by the authors of articles published in our journals do not necessarily indicate the endorsement or reflect the views of DigitalCommons@Cedarville, the Centennial Library, or Cedarville University and its employees. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their work. Please address questions to [email protected]. Recommended Citation Rutt, Audrey S. (2018) "The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music," Musical Offerings: Vol. 9 : No. 2 , Article 1. DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2018.9.2.1 Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol9/iss2/1 The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music Document Type Article Abstract After World War I, America was musically transformed from an outsider in the European classical tradition into a country of musical vibrance and maturity. These great advances, however, were deeply threatened by the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the consequent Great Depression. The nation that, for the first time, was developing an international reputation in the arts now faced a crisis of how to support them. Government sponsorship of the arts through the New Deal Federal One projects allowed struggling artists to survive economically during this era. In the realm of music, however, the Federal Music Project (FMP) had consequences that reached far beyond economics and into the realms of politics and culture. This article surveys the important impact of the Federal Music Project on American music in both the East and the West by using statistics, examples, and stories, specifically with egarr ds to new music, populism, American nationalism, minority involvement, and ethnomusicology. Keywords Federal Music Project, Federal One, Works Progress Administration, New Deal, Depression, Classical Music, New Music, American Music, Composers' Forum-Laboratory, Populism, Music Education, Ethnomusicology Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This article is available in Musical Offerings: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol9/iss2/1 Musical Offerings 2018 Volume 9 Number 2 43 ⦁ ⦁ ⦁ The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music Audrey S. Rutt Cedarville University fter World War I, the United States was musically transformed from an outsider in the European classical tradition into a A country of musical vibrance and maturity. Especially during the 1920s, the formerly young musical nation saw classical music reaching new heights in the hearts and minds of the American people. In fact, it might be argued that “the World War was the most important single factor, up to that time, in converting America into a musical country.”1 Because of the war, American students were less likely to study abroad in Europe and instead sought American teachers. At the same time, the American music scene became more “European;” conservatories, symphonies, and orchestral music flourished like never before.2 The quality of music education in public schools rose significantly.3 Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Los Angeles began to develop new orchestras rivalling those that were already established in Boston, Chicago, and New York.4 During the 1920s, orchestral music became more prominent than any other form of classical music in the States. Toward the end of the decade, even chamber music, which had none of the spectacle of the symphony orchestra or opera but was music only “in its purest form,” became popular with audiences.5 Internationally, 1 David Ewen, Music Comes to America (New York: Allen, Towne, & Heath, 1947), 135. 2 Ibid., 135–136. 3 Cornelius B. Canon, “The Federal Music Project of the Works Progress Administration: Music in a Democracy” (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1963), 6. 4 Ewen, Music Comes to America, 141. 5 Ibid., 153. Musical Offerings 9, no. 2 (2018): 43–59 ISSN 2330-8206 (print); ISSN 2167-3799 (online) © 2018, Audrey S. Rutt, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) 44 Rutt An American Voice musicians were impressed by the “remarkable efforts⦁,” “great progress,” and raised standards of musical life in America by 1930.6 These great advances, however, were deeply threatened by the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the consequent Great Depression. Unlike in Europe where music was government-subsidized, American arts were primarily sponsored by private patrons up until 1929. When the Depression hit, many of these arts patrons lost their fortunes.7 The nation that was developing an international reputation in the arts for the first time now faced a crisis of how to support them. Despite the bleak economic circumstances that the Depression held for all Americans, especially musicians, this period from 1929 through the 1940s also fostered extraordinary musical growth and success. In response to the economic downturn, government sponsorship became prevalent in all major industries through Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt especially desired to support the arts because the “American Dream” offered “the promise not only of economic and social justice but also of cultural enrichment.”8 Each of these aims—economic justice, social justice, and cultural enrichment—was fulfilled in a unique and substantial way by the Federal Music Project (FMP), which sought to address the needs of the national music community. Unfortunately, the Federal Music Project is perhaps the least researched and least understood of the New Deal Federal One projects, receiving less scholarly attention today than the similar Federal Arts Project (FAP), Federal Theatre Project (FTP), and Federal Writers’ Project (FWP).9 Although this is the case, the Federal Music Project is significant to the discussion of twentieth-century American music due to its extensive economic, political, and social consequences. With a wide-reaching impact, the Federal Music Project elevated the role that music played in the lives of the American people, empowered the minorities who were in the American music industry, and encouraged all Americans from East to West to join forces as a unique voice in the world of music. 6 Ewen, Music Comes to America, 209. 7 Ibid., 201. 8 Audra Bellmore and Amy S. Jackson, “The New Mexico Federal Music Project: Embodying the Regional Spirit of Roosevelt’s New Deal,” Notes 69, no. 1 (2012): 23, doi:10.1353/not.2012.0125. 9 Peter Gough, Sounds of the New Deal: The Federal Music Project in the West (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015), 4. Musical Offerings 2018 Volume 9 Number 2 45 The most immediat⦁ e ⦁consequence⦁ of the FMP was in economic assistance to musicians across the nation. According to an estimation by the American Federation of Musicians, two-thirds of AFM members were unemployed by 1933.10 Even internationally acclaimed teachers in New York City lost up to ninety-nine percent of their pupils.11 Publishers and instrument technicians alike suffered when the figure for annual piano sales dropped from 400,000 to 90,000.12 As a result, major orchestras all over the country struggled financially; the Philadelphia orchestra took a ten percent salary decrease in 1932 and an additional nine percent decrease the very next year.13 Performers faced the added challenge that their jobs were actually being taken by technological substitutes.14 For example, live performances all over the country declined as recordings played by studios and radio stations replaced live bands.15 Although audio recording had already been existent in American musical life, “the depression merely helped the sound film, the radio, and the phonograph to become firmly entrenched in the American economy.”16 In fact, while other industries were struggling to make ends meet the first year after the crash (1930), the phonograph industry hit a five-year peak in sales.17 Unemployment due to technological replacement proved to be such a lasting issue that the American Federation of Musicians held a recording ban from 1942–1944 in order to promote live performances and to reevaluate protocol for royalties.18 Roosevelt founded the Works Progress Administration (WPA) by executive order in 1935 as a response to such widespread unemployment. The purpose of the WPA was to “recommend and carry on small useful projects” that would preserve the “self-respect,” “self-reliance,” “courage,” and “determination” of the working public.19 In particular, the Federal Project No. One (commonly referred to as Federal One) sought to support those in the fields of art, music, theatre, and writing. 10 Canon, “The Federal Music Project,” 9. 11 Ibid., 8. 12 Ewen, Music Comes to America, 210. 13 Ronald L. Davis, The Modern Era, 1920–Present, Vol.