Mavericks and Other Traditions in American MusicFrom colonial times to the present, American composers have lived on the fringes of society and defined themselves in large part as outsiders. In this stimulating book Michael Broyles considers the tradition of maverick composers and explores what these mavericks reveal about American attitudes toward the arts and about American society itself. Broyles starts by examining the careers of three notably unconventional composers: William Billings in the eighteenth century, Anthony Philip Heinrich in the nineteenth, and Charles Ives in the twentieth. All three had unusual lives, wrote music that many considered incomprehensible, and are now recognized as key figures in the development of American music. Broyles goes on to investigate the proliferation of eccentric individualism in all types of American music—classical, popular, and jazz—and how it has come to dominate the image of diverse creative artists from John Cage to Frank Zappa. The history of the maverick tradition, Broyles shows, has much to tell us about the role of music in American culture and the tension between individualism and community in the American consciousness. |
From inside the book
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... dissonance , a dissonance between a collection of maverick artists and the world in which they lived . Above all , it is about what that dissonance tells us of that world . Is there an us ? Many still think there is ; many are convinced ...
... dissonance between the musician so labeled and society. That dis- sonance allows an observer to get beyond platitudes and superficial notions to understand what attitudes about music really were. The friction 2 we, the rebels.
... to scientific European standards. But even the most zeal- ous reformer respected Billings's melodies. Were it not for some parallel oc- taves and fifths and some unresolved dissonances , Billings's place William Billings 23.
Michael Broyles. taves and fifths and some unresolved dissonances , Billings's place in Ameri- can music , and indeed the whole history of music in nineteenth - century America , might have been quite different . 12 The writer for the ...
... dissonance. The first part, addressed to the “Goddess of Discord,” describes war strategy for a battle between concord and discord. The second, shorter part discusses how to perform the piece and suggests appropriate effects. These ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
69 | |
PART 3 After the War | 151 |
PART 4 The Legacy of the Mavericks | 269 |
Notes | 337 |
Bibliography | 363 |
Index | 377 |