Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2003 Music for the Microphone: Network Broadcasts and the Creation of American Compositions in the Golden Age of Radio Akihiro Taniguchi Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC Music for the Microphone: Network Broadcasts and the Creation of American Compositions in the Golden Age of Radio By AKIHIRO TANIGUCHI A Dissertation submitted to the School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2003 Copyright ©2003 Akihiro Taniguchi All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Akihiro Taniguchi defended on 15 May 2003. ______________________________ Charles E. Brewer Professor Directing Dissertation ______________________________ Jane Piper Clendinning Outside Committee Member ______________________________ Denise Von Glahn Committee Member ______________________________ Michael B. Bakan Committee Member Approved: ________________________________________________________ Jon Piersol, Dean, School of Music The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ v List of Music Examples......................................................................................................... vi Abstract................................................................................................................................. viii INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 Background and Significance..................................................................................... 5 Review of Literature .................................................................................................. 12 Methodology.............................................................................................................. 13 Introduction to Chapters............................................................................................. 14 1. COMPETITIONS AND COMMISSIONS......................................................................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 14 NBC Orchestral Awards ............................................................................................ 21 The Columbia Composers’ Commissions 2. Technology, Radio, and Music .......................................................................................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 30 Technology and Music............................................................................................... 30 Columbia Composers’ Commissions and Their Technological Considerations........... 33 CBS’s “Music for Radio (Vocabulary of Music)” ...................................................... 35 Aaron Copland’s Music for Radio.............................................................................. 39 Radio Production and Radio Music............................................................................ 47 Louis Gruenberg’s Green Mansions: “A Non-Visual Opera” ..................................... 54 Other Composers ...................................................................................................... 68 Philip James’s Station WGZBX: A Technological Soundscape ................................... 70 Summary ................................................................................................................... 87 3. CULTURAL CONTEXT: POPULAR VERSUS SERIOUS .............................................. 89 Introduction: Radio and Cultural Perspectives............................................................ 89 Radio and Popular Culture ......................................................................................... 90 Radio and High Culture ............................................................................................. 96 iii Mixing the Two Cultures ...........................................................................................104 Summary ................................................................................................................... 115 4. SOCIAL CONTEXTS....................................................................................................... 117 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 117 Radio as Patron.......................................................................................................... 117 Musicians, Librarians................................................................................................. 121 Publicity of Composers.............................................................................................. 122 Radio Audience ......................................................................................................... 123 Radio’s Impact on Society .........................................................................................128 Accessible Musical Style ........................................................................................... 128 Nationalism ............................................................................................................... 131 Marc Blitzstein’s I’ve Got the Tune: “Today’s Music” on Radio ................................ 144 Summary .................................................................................................................. 156 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................... 158 APPENDICIES ..................................................................................................................... 161 A. List of Members of National Committee of Awards .............................................. 161 B. NBC Orchestral Awards (1932), The Script for the Presentation Program ............. 169 C. Competitions and Commissions Initiated by Radio Stations................................... 177 D. Philip James’s Response to Aylesworth in the Award-Winners Program............... 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ................................................................................................. 202 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1: Pieces written for the Columbia Composers’ Commissions................................... 22 Table 1-2: Manuscript compositions performed by the CBS Orchestra under Howard Barlow in 1938 ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Table 2-1: “Music for Radio” (Vocabulary of Music”), “Radiogeneric” features demonstrated by the CBS Symphony Orchestra (7 November 1936)................................................................ 36 Table 2-2: List of Copland’s “Special Sound Effects In The Orchestration” in his Music for Radio..................................................................................................................................... 40 Table 2-3: Copland, Music for Radio, Changes in Orchestration............................................ 45 Table 2-4: Gruenberg, An Excerpt from the Notes for Green Mansions, 1936 ....................... 58 Table 2-5: Gruenberg, Green Mansions, “Voices and Sounds” .............................................. 59 Table 2-6: Performers for the Premiere of Louis Gruenberg’s Green Mansions ..................... 62 Table 2-7: The Form of “In the Lobby,” Movt. 1 of Philip James’s Station WGZBX.............. 75 Table 3-1: The Number of Programs on the Air at New York Station WJZ between May and December 1923 ..................................................................................................................... 91 Table 3-2: Percentage of Time Devoted in 1935 to Various Types of Music Program in a Typical Month.................................................................................................................................... 93 Table 3-3: Family Income and Radio Ownership................................................................... 114 Table 4-1: Arrangers at NBC and Their Salaries.................................................................... 120 v LIST OF MUSIC EXAMPLES Example 2-1: Copland, Music for Radio, Notes Written by Copland...................................... 44 Example 2-2. William Grant Still, Lenox Avenue, Notes for the score (excerpts) .................. 47 Example 2-3: A page from Louis Gruenberg’s Green Mansions ............................................ 50 Example 2-4. Verna Arvey, “Continuation sheet” for William Grant Still’s Lenox Avenue (draft).................................................................................................................................... 51 Example 2-5: Gruenberg, Green Mansions, Voice of Rima...................................................