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Dvořák's prophecy : and the vexed fate of Black classical music / Joseph Horowitz ; [foreword by George Shirley].

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2022]Edition: First editionDescription: xxiii, 229 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780393881240
  • 0393881245
Subject(s):
Contents:
Foreword / by George Shirley -- Preamble. Using the past -- Dvořak, American music, and race -- In defense of nostalgia -- Nostalgic subversions -- Oedipal revolt -- The bifurcation of American music -- Classical music Black and "Red" -- Using history: a personal quest -- Summing up.
Summary: "A provocative interpretation of why classical music in America "stayed white"--how it got to be that way and what can be done about it. In 1893 the composer Antonin Dvorák prophesied a "great and noble" school of American classical music based on the searing "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would found popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall. Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, he looks back to literary figures--Emerson, Melville, and Twain--to ponder how American music can connect with a "usable past." The result is a "new paradigm" that makes room for Black composers including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Dawson, and Florence Price to redefine the classical canon"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction Adult Display - Second Floor 780.973 H816 Black Music Month Available 33111010748933
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In 1893 the composer Antonin Dvor??k prophesied a "great and noble" school of American classical music based on the searing "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would found popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall.

Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, he looks back to literary figures?Emerson, Melville, and Twain?to ponder how American music can connect with a "usable past." The result is a ?new paradigm? that makes room for Black composers including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Dawson, and Florence Price to redefine the classical canon.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-214) and index.

Foreword / by George Shirley -- Preamble. Using the past -- Dvořak, American music, and race -- In defense of nostalgia -- Nostalgic subversions -- Oedipal revolt -- The bifurcation of American music -- Classical music Black and "Red" -- Using history: a personal quest -- Summing up.

"A provocative interpretation of why classical music in America "stayed white"--how it got to be that way and what can be done about it. In 1893 the composer Antonin Dvorák prophesied a "great and noble" school of American classical music based on the searing "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would found popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall. Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, he looks back to literary figures--Emerson, Melville, and Twain--to ponder how American music can connect with a "usable past." The result is a "new paradigm" that makes room for Black composers including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Dawson, and Florence Price to redefine the classical canon"-- Provided by publisher.

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