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CHAPTER 45

A Good Beat: American Vernacular Music at the Close of an Era

OVERVIEW

This chapter discusses the marches of John Philip Sousa, noted for their emergence in late-

nineteenth-century American vernacular entertainment, their reliance on formal models, and their

success in the world of sheet-music publishing.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the American military band tradition and John Philip Sousa’s role in it, as

well as his success in commercial touring and music publishing

2. To recognize the formal components of Sousa’s famous marches through studying The

Washington Post march

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Before introducing the lecture material for this chapter, play Sousa’s Stars and Stripes

Forever for the class. Ask students what kinds of associations the music suggests (students

will invariably respond with the theme of American patriotism). Ask students to identify

what about the music invites this sort of reading and whether these musical cues/gestures

resonate with a “national” sound of other countries.

2. Compare a performance of Washington Post as recorded by Sousa’s own band

(http://youtu.be/nG0UxrBvabo) with a modern performance by the U.S. Marine Band

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxrh1CrMmTY). Begin a class discussion about the role

of continuity and tradition in the performance of Sousa’s marches as well as the variable

elements of performance style from Sousa’s time to our own.

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. “What is scurrilously called ragtime is an invention that is here to stay. Syncopations are no

indication of light or trashy music, and to shy bricks at ‘hateful ragtime’ no longer passes

for musical culture.” —Scott Joplin, School of Ragtime (1908)

In this disclaimer to his 1908 instructional book School of Ragtime, Joplin alludes to

questions of musical taste and legitimacy associated with the ragtime craze of the early

twentieth century. What specifically about the musical style of ragtime contributes to

Joplin’s recognition of the tension between “low” and “high” inherent in the public reception

of this musical genre?

2. As the textbook mentions, Sousa expressed concern about the emerging technology of

recorded music and its negative impact on the livelihood of performing musicians in the

future (p. 251). Fast forward to the present day and reflect on Sousa’s prediction.

3. Play the recordings of Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag and Sousa’s Washington Post and have your

students focus on the similar approach to form of these two pieces (the unfolding of

episodic strains). Afterward, ask students to comment on the stylistic differences between

the two (namely the presence of syncopation in the Joplin piece), taking this opportunity to

introduce students to the African American tradition of ragtime simultaneously emerging

onto the American commercial sheet music scene.

TEACHING CHALLENGES

Recorded music playback inventions such as the wax cylinder and the seventy-eight rpm disc

might be unfamiliar to some of your students. Taking time to introduce these early recording

technologies might help ground your classroom instruction on the early history of recorded

music.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

Sousa: Semper Fidelis, The Stars and Stripes Forever

Joplin: The Entertainer

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bierley, Paul E. The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa. Urbana and Chicago: University

of Illinois Press, 2006. A scholarly account of Sousa’s band from 1892 to 1932. Chapters

5 and 6 discuss the band’s significance in the world of sound recording and radio.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

A Good Beat: American Vernacular Music at the Close of an Era (Chapter 45)

I. Sousa and the Band Tradition

A. Vernacular tradition: music for brass bands

1. outgrowth of British military band

2. wind bands: first as Revolutionary War regimental bands

3. US Marine Band, most famous 18th-century band

4. Civil War regiments marched to brass and woodwind bands

5. postwar: bands reorganized as concert and dance ensembles

6. United States Marine Band

a. established 1798, act of Congress

b. “The President’s Own,” 1801 inauguration of President Thomas Jefferson

c. John Philip Sousa, bandmaster under five presidents

B. John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)

1. most famous American bandmaster, “March King”

2. conducted U.S. Marine Band (1880–92)

3. toured North America and Europe with his own band

a. arrangements of ragtime

b. radio broadcasts, 1920s

c. large ensemble, attracted best players

4. most famous marches

a. Semper fidelis (1888), official Marine Corps march

b. The Washington Post (1889)

c. The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897)

5. created national music for America

a. sheet music sales; campaigned for American copyright law

b. mass-marketing of recordings

6. major works: 135 marches for band, other works for band, operettas, songs and other

vocal works

C. The Washington Post

1. commissioned by The Washington Post newspaper, awards ceremony

2. spawned two-step dance craze

3. one of the first marches to be recorded

4. The Washington Post

a. 6/8 meter, dancelike quality

b. standard march structure

c. written in strains (regular sections, each repeated)

D. Listening Guide 34: Sousa, The Washington Post (1889)

1. introduction, then A-A-B-B-C-C-D-C-D-C

2. bass drum, cymbals prominently keep beat

3. A strain: strongly accented second beat

4. B strain: rising line in woodwinds, answered by trombones

5. C strain (trio): different key area (usually ends the march)

a. mellow tone, smooth-sounding clarinets

6. D strain, “break strain”: four-note idea passed between low- and high-range

instruments

7. closes with fortissimo “stinger” chord

Part 5: Classroom-Ready Activity 1

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This activity explores the competing concepts of program music and absolute music in the

nineteenth century. Drawing on debates surrounding the “Music of the Future” controversy,

students will come to a closer understanding of the aesthetic categories and boundaries that were

placed on music during the Romantic nineteenth century.

INSTRUCTIONS

Have the class form groups of three to five students and then pass out the activity worksheet,

which contains four quotes that support the goals of either program music or absolute music.

Allow the groups about five to ten minutes to label each quote as either pro-absolute or pro-

program. Then have them discuss and summarize the arguments using their own words. After the

arguments have been sorted and summarized, instruct group members to side with the position

they agree more with. Next, by a show of hands, divide the class into two larger groups: pro-

absolute and pro-program. Spend another ten minutes moderating a debate among the class about

the merits of each position.

Student Worksheet

Name:

1. “It has been the composer’s goal to develop different situations in the life of an artist, insofar

as they are susceptible of musical treatment. The plot of the instrumental drama, lacking the

help of the spoken word, needs to be present beforehand . . . [which] serves to introduce

musical pieces whose character and expression it motivates.” —Hector Berlioz, 1830, from

Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, Music in the Western World (Belmont, CA: Thomson-

Schirmer, 2008), p. 301.

Position:

Summary:

Support/oppose, and why?

2. “If you ask me what I was thinking of when I composed it [Songs without Words], my

answer is: the song exactly as it stands. And if I did have a particular word or particular

words in mind, I would not breathe them to anyone, because a word does not mean to one

person what it means to the other, because only the song says the same thing to one,

awakens the same feeling in him, as in the other—a feeling that cannot be expressed by

the same words.” —Felix Mendelssohn, 1842, from Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin,

Music in the Western World (Belmont, CA: Thomson–Schirmer, 2008), pp. 325–26.

Position:

Summary:

Support/oppose, and why?

3. “The poet-symphonist, who takes it upon himself to convey clearly an image distinctly

perceived in his own mind, a succession of feelings unambiguously and definitely present in

his consciousness—why, pray, should he not strive to be fully understood by the aid of a

program?” —Franz Liszt, n.d., from Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, Music in the

Western World (Belmont, CA: Thomson-Schirmer, 2008), p. 327.

Position:

Summary:

Support/oppose, and why?

4. “Thus the program. All Germany is happy to let him keep it: such signposts always have

something unworthy and charlatan-like about them! [. . . ] In a word, the German, with his

delicacy of feeling, and his aversion to personal revelation, dislikes having his thoughts so

rudely directed.” —Robert Schumann, 1835, from Hector Berlioz, Fantastic Symphony, ed.

Edward T. Cone (New York: W. W. Norton, 1971), pp. 246–47.

Position:

Summary:

Support/oppose, and why?

Part 5: Classroom-Ready Activity 2

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This activity requires students to apply their experience with and knowledge of nineteenth-

century music to national contexts. Although Chapter 38 explores nationalism centrally, this

activity extends the idea of national identity in music to several of the pieces discussed in Part 5.

INSTRUCTIONS

This activity works either as an individual in-class assignment or a group activity. The

accompanying worksheet lists an assortment of pieces covered in Part 5. Ask students to group

these pieces according to the composers’ countries of origin. Next, have students identify the

shared characteristics of these pieces, such as (but not limited to): genre, subject matter, program

or absolute music, musical style and form, performing forces, virtuosity and expression, and

aesthetic or stylistic conventions (bel canto, leitmotif, etc.). Finally, instruct students to formulate

a list of general musical characteristics for each country. Do any of the musical characteristics

define a nation’s musical identity? Do any countries seem to defy a cohesive national musical

identity?

Student Worksheet

Name:

Schubert: Elfking

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

Chopin: Mazurka in B-flat Major

Verdi: Rigoletto

Grieg: Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1

Foster: Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

Wagner: Die Walküre

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker

Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major

Sousa: The Washington Post

Hensel: Das Jahr

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Debussy: Prelude to The Afternoon of the Faun

Above is a list of several pieces covered in Part 5 of the textbook. In the space below, order

these pieces according to the composer’s country of birth and/or residence. Then identify the

shared characteristics of these pieces—for example, genre, subject matter, program or absolute

music, musical style and form, performing forces, virtuosity and expression, and aesthetic or

stylistic conventions. Next, summarize any musical characteristics that can be seen to define a

nation’s musical identity. Do any countries seem to defy a cohesive national musical identity?

Germany

Works:

Shared characteristics?

France

Works:

Shared characteristics?

Italy

Works:

Shared characteristics?

Russia

Works:

Shared characteristics?

United States

Works:

Shared characteristics?

Norway

Works:

Shared characteristics?

Poland

Works:

Shared characteristics?

Part 5: Listening Quiz:

Name:

1. Schubert: Elfking (0:00–1:51)

What marks this piece as appropriate for professional performers at a private recital?

a. Wide range for the voice with an active, dramatic piano part

b. Minor key and subject matter

c. Presence of sonata-allegro form

d. Homophonic for voice and piano

2. Chopin: Mazurka in B-flat Major (0:35–1:21)

This piece was inspired by .

a. Italian opera

b. the German Lied

c. French symphonic music

d. Polish folk music

3. Fanny Mendelsohn Hensel: September: At the River, from The Year (0:00–1:23)

This excerpt illustrates the Romantic era’s fascination with

a. Exotic locales

b. Childhood

c. Love

d. The individual

4. Foster: Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (0:00–1:28)

What makes this piece appropriate for amateurs at home?

a. Polyphonic texture

b. Virtuoso passages

c. Homophonic for voice and piano

d. Associations with arias of the operatic repertory

5. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Fisk Arrangement) (0:00–0:23)

The opening of this melody is derived from a scale.

a. Pentatonic

b. Chromatic

c. Major

d. Whole-tone

6. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, IV (0:24–1:31)

This piece is an example of a/an .

a. Symphony in the absolute music tradition

b. Concerto

c. Program symphony

d. Overture

7. Grieg: Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (0:00–1:11)

In this excerpt, we hear an expression of .

a. Absolute music

b. Musical nationalism

c. Musical Impressionism

d. The parlor song

8. Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, III (0:00–3:27)

How does the composer delineate form in this excerpt?

a. Marks different thematic sections with contrasting orchestration

b. Repeats the entire form (A-B-A´) three times

c. Repeats individual sections in different keys

d. Keeps the main theme in the violins at all times

9. Verdi: Rigoletto, Act III, “Bella figlia dell’amore” (06:01–6:52)

What is notable about this particular moment of this excerpt?

a. The music reflects the sorrowful meaning of this text from the Requiem Mass

b. The music reflects the emotions of each of the four characters

c. Cadenzas allow the characters to express their emotions

d. The homophonic texture unites the feelings and emotions all four characters

10. Wagner: Die Walküre, Act III “Magic Fire Music” (01:03–2:03)

What technique does the composer employ in this excerpt to add layers of meaning and

symbolism to the music?

a. Cadenza

b. Bel canto

c. Canon

d. Leitmotif

11. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Trepak (entire excerpt)

From what great nineteenth-century tradition do these excerpts originate?

a. Italian opera

b. German Lied

c. Russian ballet

d. American ragtime

12. Debussy: Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (0:00–1:00)

The style of this music has been closely linked to that of

a. Schumann’s Lieder

b. Impressionist painters

c. Neoclassical architects

d. Brahms’s symphonies

13. Sousa, The Washington Post (0:00–1:11)

In this excerpt, we hear repeated episodes of sixteen measures each, called

a. Strains

b. Refrains

c. Interludes

d. Leitmotifs

CHAPTER 46

Calculated Shock: Stravinsky and Modernist Multimedia

OVERVIEW

This chapter introduces the music of Stravinsky as impor-tant early examples of modernist music

of the twentieth century. It discusses The Rite of Spring as a collaboration among Stravinsky and

other prominent French and Russian artists, who together created an enduring modernist work

that both shocked and amazed its first audience.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the ballet The Rite of Spring as a collaborative work of modernist multimedia

that both shocked and amazed its first audience

2. To understand Stravinsky’s music for The Rite of Spring as pioneering a modernist style

through the use of polyrhythm and metrical dissonance, polyharmony, and unusual

approaches to instrumentation

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Without alluding to the program of the ballet, play for students audio excerpts from The Rite of

Spring and ask them to postulate a plausible program for it. What do they imagine is the

subject of the ballet? If students already know the program, can they think of other contexts or

scenarios that fit the music? How and why? What qualities of the music do they think

contributed to the shock and amazement of the audience at the premiere in 1913? How does

the audience’s reaction contribute to the legacy of this work as a modernist masterpiece?

2. Find a video recording of The Rite of Spring that features Nijinsky’s original choreography

and Roerich’s stage designs. (For the ballet’s centennial in 2013, the Joffrey Ballet

reconstructed the choreography and original costume designs. Several videos are on

YouTube.) Review with students the pioneering modernist musical techniques Stravinsky

employed in this work (metrical dissonance, polyrhythm, polyharmony, and unusual

orchestration). Remind students that the primitive style of the work (both in subject matter

and musical content) contributed to the ballet’s scandalous reception. Next, play both

excerpts from the ballet (audio only) and have students in pairs match the modernist musical

gestures with notions of the primitive. How does Stravinsky succeed in evoking primitivism

through music? Play the excerpts again with choreography and staging. Again, how do

Stravinsky’s collaborators succeed in establishing a primitive world?

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. The scandal surrounding the premiere of The Rite of Spring is one of the great events of

artistic modernism. Yet, as the textbook notes, Stravinsky and the Ballet Russes

management went to great lengths to ensure the success of this event. Can you think of any

recent examples of music or multimedia events that sparked a similar kind of controversy?

Can you think of any that were promoted as publicity stunts? If so, does this fact change the

value of the work for audiences? Do you feel that it cheapens the work or casts its creator(s)

as disingenuous? Why or why not?

2. The textbook notes that the bad press about The Rite of Spring among contemporary

conservative critics made Stravinsky a “darling of the avant–garde” (p. 262). How do you

define avant-garde? How is it possible for an artist to become loved and appreciated

because of bad reviews and negative reception? Have we seen examples of this in earlier

style periods and eras? How do the cultural politics of the avant-garde interact with the

aesthetics of modernism?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

The strong dissonance and metrical irregularities in The Rite of Spring might awaken the

listening prejudices of some students. Take the advantage of this opportunity to correlate the

reactions of these students to the scandalous premiere of the ballet in 1913.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

Stravinsky: Les noces

Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill, Peter. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. A

detailed account of the genesis, composition, and reception of The Rite of Spring.

Taruskin, Richard. Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through

Mavra. 2 vols. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996. A

comprehensive look into the Russian context of Stravinsky’s early works. Volume 2 details

these cultural connections in The Rite of Spring and Stravinsky’s other “Russian” ballets.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Calculated Shock: Stravinsky and Modernist Multimedia (Chapter 46)

I. The Rite of Spring: Collaborative Multimedia

A. Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

1. Russian composer, pianist, conductor

2. Ballets Russes commissions: The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring

3. WWI: refuge in Switzerland, then France

4. WWII: emigrated to United States, 1945 became U.S. citizen

5. concertized around the world

6. musical style evolved: post-Impressionism, primitivism, controlled Classicism,

twelve-tone works

7. great orchestrator: polished brightness, clear texture

8. output: orchestral music, ballets, operas, other theater works, choral music, chamber

music, piano music, songs

B. The Rite of Spring: Collaborative multimedia

1. subtitled “Scenes of Pagan Russia”

2. embodies cult of primitivism

3. composed for Paris-based Ballets Russes

a. near riot at Paris premiere

b. received negatively by traditionalists

4. fully integrated multimedia spectacle

a. Serge Diaghilev: Russian impresario

b. groundbreaking choreography: Vaslav Nijinsky

c. experimental stage designs: Nicholas Roerich

d. music: shocking, unsettling quality

5. performed later as independent concert piece

C. Musical Innovation

1. percussive use of dissonance

2. polytonality, polyrhythms

3. monumental orchestra

a. harsh, loud, constantly changing colors

b. strings: successive down bows, pizzicatos

c. full force of brass and barbaric percussion

4. Russian folk tunes quoted

a. extended repetitions, limited ranges, fragmented

5. minimized harmonic changes: ostinatos, pedal points, melodic repetition

6. innovative interaction between rhythm and meter

D. Listening Guide 35: Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps), Part I,

excerpts (1913)

1. Introduction

a. haunting mood: awakening of the Earth in spring

b. folk tune, high-range bassoon

c. pizzicato ostinato in violins

d. free, shifting meter

2. Dance of the Youths and Maidens

a. sectional form

b. Russian folk-song melodies alternate with nonmelodic sound blocks

c. forceful, high energy, huge orchestra

d. opens with polytonal, percussive chords by strings

e. constant eighth-note motion, unpredictable accents

f. expanding texture, loud dynamics build to climax

3. Game of Abduction

a. fast tempo, no established pulse, unpredictable accents

b. scurrying melodic figures and horn calls, brief folk tune

c. frenetic and primitive mood

d. harshly dissonant, crashing chords

e. dense texture, constantly changing timbres