In July of 1884, pianist Calixa Lavallee performed a recital of works by American composers that began a highly influential series of such concerts. Over the course of the next decade, hundreds of all-American concerts were performed in the United States and Europe, a movement that fostered both the development and the perception of American music as a unique art form. A Tidal Wave of Encouragement-the title of which is derived from one observer's description of the movement-is the first in-depth study of this significant period in American music. Providing a comprehensive history of the Concerts as well as detailed accounts of the intense critical debate surrounding them, author E. Douglas Bomberger reveals how one decade shaped the future of American classical music and very much impacted the way we hear it today.
Author(s): E. Douglas Bomberger
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 256
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
1. Prelude: All-American Concerts before 1884......Page 20
2. The MTNA Concerts, 1884–1888: An Idea Whose Time Had Come......Page 28
3. Henry E. Krehbiel, Critic......Page 42
4. Frank Van der Stucken's Novelty Concerts......Page 48
5. The Exposition Universelle of 1889: American Music on a World Stage......Page 64
6. Interlude: Flood Tide......Page 84
7. The MTNA Concerts, 1889–1892: An Idea Whose Time Was Past......Page 92
8. The Arens Tour of 1891–1892: Propaganda, Parochialism, and All-American Concerts......Page 106
9. Edward A. MacDowell, Reluctant Hero......Page 140
10. The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893: American Art Music Humiliated......Page 146
11. Manuscript Societies and the Ghettoization of New Music......Page 164
12. Postlude: Dvořák and New Directions in American Art Music......Page 184
Appendix 1: Selected American Composers' Concerts, 1881–1901......Page 192
Appendix 2: Frank Van der Stucken's American Festival, November 1887......Page 202
Appendix 3: Programs and Reviews of American Composers' Concerts in Europe......Page 208
Appendix 4: Repertoire Performed at Public Meetings of the Manuscript Society of New York, 1890–1901......Page 222
Bibliography......Page 232
A......Page 240
B......Page 241
C......Page 242
D......Page 243
F......Page 244
H......Page 245
K......Page 246
M......Page 247
N......Page 249
P......Page 250
S......Page 251
W......Page 253
Z......Page 254
