Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West

Description

Frontier Figures is a tour-de-force exploration of how the American West, both as physical space and inspiration, animated American music. Examining the work of such composers as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson, Charles Wakefield Cadman, and Arthur Farwell, Beth E. Levy addresses questions of regionalism, race, and representation as well as changing relationships to the natural world to highlight the intersections between classical music and the diverse worlds of Indians, pioneers, and cowboys. Levy draws from an array of genres to show how different brands of western Americana were absorbed into American culture by way of sheet music, radio, lecture recitals, the concert hall, and film. Frontier Figures is a comprehensive illumination of what the West meant and still means to composers living and writing long after the close of the frontier. Dedication Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: The Course of Empire Part One. Arthur Farwell’s West 1. The Wa-Wan and the West 2. Western Democracy, Western Landscapes, Western Music Part Two. Western Encounters: Charles Wakefield Cadman and Others 3. Encountering Indians 4. Staging the West Part Three. American Pastorals 5. West of Eden 6. Power in the Land 7. Harvest Home Part Four. Roy Harris: Provincial Cowboy, White Hope 8. How Roy Harris Became Western 9. Manifest Destiny 10. The Composer as Folk Singer Part Five. Aaron Copland: From Orient to Occident 11. The Saga of the Prairies 12. Communal Song, Cosmopolitan Song 13. Copland and the Cinematic West Conclusion: On the Trail Notes Selected Bibliography Index