American Modernism

Ives

Charles Ives

Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-1860, Third Movement: The Alcotts

Piano Sonata

Eclecticism; Ives’ human faith melody; Polytonality; Heavy Quotation

Cumulative Form

The piece is supposed to capture the feeling and atmosphere of Concord, Massachusetts

Hyperprism

Edgard Varese

Hyperprism

Percussion Music

Music as organized sound; sound masses; novelty effects

N/A

“I dream of instruments”

The Banshee

Henry Cowell

The Banshee

Prepared piano; string piano

Rubbing the strings of the piano

N/A

The sounds of the piano are reminiscent of a banshee

The Blues

Bessie Smith

Lost Your Head Blues

Classic Blues

The blues; performer centered

12 Bar Blues

N/A

Pine Apple Rag

Scott Joplin

Pine Apple Rag

Ragtime

Debussy’s “Cakewalk” rhythm

March Form

N/A

Ol’ Man River

Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern

Ol' Man River

Broadway Show

Changing styles (Spiritual and Work Song)

Verse/Chorus form (Chorus AABA); Show Boat, Act I, Scene 1:

It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love.