The Great American Symphony: Music, the Depression, and War

Preface

vii PREFACE This study discusses works that I have lived with and enjoyed for years. It is meant to establish the importance of the American symphonists active in the years extending from the mid-thirties to the end of the forties. It holds that they have contributed some of the most vital artistic works of the twentieth century to the world’s culture. Indeed, several respected writers on music have designated these fifteen years as the “Golden Age” of American music. When you include swing music, popular songs, and Broadway musicals in the American musical equation, the United States stands alone among nations in the fertility and diversity of musical accomplishment during this period. Classical music was well represented on the radio throughout these years. The National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia Broadcasting System even had their own symphony orchestras, led by outstanding conductors. It was in fashion then to build movies around classical music and its musicians. In addition, symphony orchestra concerts were made available to the public at little or no cost, owing to initiatives carried out by the federal government. This is not to say that everyone loved classical compositions. As always, such music occupied a cultural niche. However , that niche grew to be a large one during this time. Among the most worthy of the era’s musical contributions are several symphonies of significance. These orchestral compositions managed to attract not just a select few but a large portion of the music-loving public. Various knowledgeable Americans of the era hoped for or thought a native composer might possibly produce “the Great American Symphony.” viii · Preface Some insisted this designation should go to at least two works, Roy Harris ’s Symphony No. 3 and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Because several American artists of the time succeeded in composing symphonies of extraordinary power and unusual merit, because I have a great regard for their achievements, and because much of this symphonic music has been either put to one side or forgotten, I have decided to bring these compositions to the perceptive reader’s attention. This is not a book primarily about other books or other secondary studies—that is to say, about what one author or another has had to say on the subject. Nor is it about the nitty-gritty questions that researchers ask and try to answer. These approaches have been the grist for a great deal of academic writing. Valuable as they may be to the specialist, such methodologies can get quite deadly for the usual music-lover and leave him bored silly. I prefer to write so as to hold the reader’s interest and, at the same time, contribute to the knowledge of the music created in the Depression and World War II years. My focus is as much personal as learned and has grown out of my own listening experience and regard for the literature. In short, this book is a labor of love about artistic works that I prize. My aim is to bring these symphonies to life again and call them to the public ’s attention. My hope is to win new adherents for them. Over the years I have explored and written about every aspect of American music, especially as it relates to American society. Several books and numerous articles attest to my efforts. In the past my writings have employed the term “art music” to distinguish the formally and artistically more sophisticated and enduring types of music from those of popular music. In the pages that follow, I have decided to use the term “classical” instead of “art,” since the term “classical” to most of my potential readers means a body of works from all ages of history that require thoughtful listening, some reflection on what is heard, and other additional efforts for appreciation. Scarcely any “classical” compositions are commercially viable, and they are not composed chiefly for financial profit. On the other hand, “popular” indicates music intended for immediate and widespread acceptance. The term is applied to compositions that are generally less complicated, instantaneously enjoyable, and, for the most part, disposable. Its composers, its performers, and the music industry regard their contributions as open to commercial exploitation. Preface · ix I do not desire to get stuck in the quagmire of what music—classical, popular, folk, or ethnic—is valuable and what is not. Every sort of music exhibits its own unique qualities...