John Alden Carpenter Charles Edward Ives Aaron Copland and Ned Rorem by Annette Whitney A ...

64 Pages·1610·1.33 MB·English

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ART SONG:
John Alden Carpenter
Charles Edward Ives
Aaron Copland and
Ned Rorem
by
Annette Whitney
A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of
Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
Honors Degree of Bachelor of Music.
Department of Music
University of Utah
August - 1966
Approved:
/___r —r*
Principal Supervisor Head, Major Department
/—
_L
Honors Add(vv.iser Director, ^Honors Program
I (i)
Preface
Last winter as I thought over the prospect of writing a senior
dissertation in conjunction with my senior recital, the subject of contem­
porary American art song seemed an interesting possibility. I assumed
there would be little material on the subject and few composers, allowing
complete coverage of the entire twentieth century, but upon beginning*my
studies, I found so many composers and such diversified idealogies and
techniques of composition that I decided to limit my studies to the four
composers of most interest to me and perform one song from each of them
as the concluding section of the recital. Interestingly enough, the four
composers under consideration represent the entire century and its trends,
with styles ranging from late Romanticism to atonality.
From the first half of the century I chose John Alden Carpenter.
His songs have long held a special place in the singer's repertoire be­
cause of the clarity of his musical ideas and the ease with which the
performer can communicate them to an audience. On the other hand, I
decided to investigate Charles Edward Ives because of the mystery which,
even after half a century, continues to surround him. To most people he
was merely a name in a music history class- a peculiar bearded New Englander
who wrote some "interesting" songs. As I did my research I was intrigued
by several things. Every article about the man was unusually enthusiastic.
His musical career was extraordinary, and his songs ranged from banal "moon-
tune-croon" songs to pieces of fantastic intricacy both rhythmically and
harmonically. But the most intriguing thing of all was my difficulty in
obtaining copies of his songs. A University of Utah graduate student had
(ii)
a first edition of Ives' 114 Songs which he held on to so avariciously
that each time I approached him with that "I-need-to-study-the-songs"
expression, he retreated like an injured puppy. In spite of the diffi­
culties and perhaps even because of them, I have become a sincere follower
of Charles Ives and will probably sound somewhat devout as I write about
him. This is a small warning to those who do not care for such writing
and definitely not an apology, for as far as I am concerned, Ives and his
songs deserve much more notice than they now receive.
Aaron Copland is not as well known as a composer of art song
as he is as a composer of instrumental works. One day, however, while
browsing through a song collection in the library, I discovered his
"As it Fell Upon a Day", written for clarinet, flute and soprano as long
ago as 1923, when Copland was studying with Boulanger in Paris. It
seemed a good addition to the projected recital and the idea of discover­
ing more about Copland's contribution to the form was irresistible.
My final choice was Ned Rorem, chiefly because he was in his
first year as Composer-in-Residence at the University of Utah and I felt
I ought to know and perform some songs by the man who is described as the
"greatest composer of art songs alive today."
(iv)
Table of Contents
I Preface page i
II Introduction page 1
III John Alden Carpenter page 10
(1876-1951)
IV Charles Edward Ives page 19
(1874-1954)
V Aaron Copland page 33
(1900 - )
VI Ned Rorem page 40
(1923 - )
VII Appendix
a. Lists of Songs page 50
b. Bibliography page 58
XL -1-
Introduction
Before the songs of these four composers can properly be dis­
cussed and their musical ideas understood, there are a few things about
the general trends of music composition in America and the American
musical culture itself that ought to be understood. Before World War I
•
America imported her art from Europe. She sent her performing musicians
as well as her composers there to learn the "correct skills," and they
5. .
come home with European methods, sounds, and expressions. In Europe as
well as in America, the idea of an American composer or an American musical
expression was unthinkable. But after the first World War, the rest of
the world began looking to America for leadership in world affairs, and
it was only natural that Americans should begin to take pride in everything
about themselves, including their music. The cry went up for "American
composers," and a so-called "American style" is still in the process of
maturation. As Aaron Copland has said, "We don't have musical maturity
yet, but we do have a daredevil quality of youth.""*' By this he means that
as the "American style" has been evolving, her composers have not been
afraid to experiment in new methods of expression and in new sounds.
A mature musical culture takes time to develop. In the first
place music is usually the last of the arts to flower, probably because
an elaborate "superstructure" must be built before any substantial develop­
ment can take place. This superstructure consists of music teachers,
‘''Aaron Copland, Our New Music; McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
(N. Y.) 1941, p. 135.
-2-
performers, and schools; community organizations, symphony orchestras,
opera companies, concert halls, opera houses, composers and audiences
2 .
who listen to their composers' music. All of tnese things had been
slowly developing up to World War I, but after the war things began to
happen, and "the American composer" began to assert himself. The American
public, however, did not wish to listen to the new sounds, so, in onfer to
get performances of their works, composers began banding together in or­
ganizations such as the "International Composers Guild" (1922), the "League
. . . 3
of Composers" (1924), the "American Music Guild," etc. Aaron Copland
calls this era (1920-1930) the end of the "helpless period". With these
efforts the idea of an American Composer finally began to emerge in the
world, but now the problem was the audience. The American public was ,
interested in "masterworks" by bearded and dead composers and not these
new works which were obviously inferior to Bach, Brahms and Beethoven.
This is still the major problem in our American musical culture. People
pay scant attention to anything but the "masterworks". They do not
understand that "a composer does not have to be as good as or better
than to be worth listening to, he only must contribute."
5
To much of the American public music is a "passionate avocation";
many people go to concerts for sheer love of music, rather than for any
special prestige they might receive. There are more amateur concerts,
2Ibid, p. 131
3Ibid, pp. 138-9
4Ibid, p. 134
5 .
Jacques Barzun, Music m American Life, Indiana University
Press (Bloomington, 1956) p. 15. -
3
- - -
more festivals, and a greater listening audience through radio, television^
and phonograph than anyone would have dreamed of fifty years ago. But the
audience is sophisticated and tends to specialize. Some listen exclusively
to jazz, some to popular "dreamy" music, some to "classical," and those
who specialize in "serious" listening are themselves divided into camps.
Some prefer the eighteenth century, some prefer the nineteenth century and
some listen to twentieth century works. In spite of this diversity of
preference, one idea stands out prominently. Music is anything but a uni­
versal language, because it expresses and reflects the times in which its
composer lives. Logically, then, the music of an individual's time is the
music which will be best understood by him. People of every century have
always listened with interest to their "hew music" and expressed their
like or dislike for it one way or another but the observation of Jacques
Barzun^made only a decade ago, that the American audiences of today want
to hear music remote from their workaday life, seems still to hold true.
They dislike their own time, their work, and their industrial-democratic
fellowman.® But, again quoting Aaron Copland, "we cannot know anything
7
about the past unless we know about the present." Unfortunately many
listeners think music's future is its past and this causes their lack of
curiosity with the present. However, understanding and knowing the music
of our own time aids us in the understanding of the music of other periods.
"To my mind no one can adequately interpret the classics of the past with-
g
out hearing them through the ears of the present." The quality and in-
^ Ibid, p. 23. .
7
Aaron Copland, Copland on Music, Doubleday S Company, Inc.
(N. Y.) 1944, p. 43.
. 8 Ibid, p. 264,
tensity of emotional expression have changed, but the basic elements of
music - form, melody, rhythm, and harmony- still remain, even though many
people do not think sc. The thing people must understand is that all of
this is relative to how advanced one's musical understanding is. "All
chords are now judged alike, according to their appositeness to the situa-
. . 9
tion in which they are placed." Today's music is principally the expression
in terms of an enriched musical language of a new spirit of objectivity attun­
ed to our own times."'*'0 Nineteenth century music is the favorite of most
of the American public because it has more warmth of humanity. Un­
fortunately, when they listen to other types of music, including twentieth
century music, they seek this same emotional stimulus. If they would
listen with their own twentieth century ears instead of those of their
grandparents and put forth the effort necessary to comprehend today's
more difficult music, they would find enjoyment in the new music and an
even greater understanding of the music of the past. When Aaron Copland
hears a difficult piece he sard, "I'm not getting this. I shall have to
come back to it for a second or third try."'*’'*' Then, even if we do not
like a piece, at least we understand why, having made the effort. As
Charles Ives always said, we must stand up and use our ears like men.
After all, the century is more than half over and if we continue listen­
ing only to the music of the past we will never be able to enter the next
century adequately. Howard and Lyon?in their book Modern Music, have said
9 Ibid» P- 264'
10 Ibid, p. 5Cf .
^ Copland, Copland on Music, p. 45,
-5-
^ well: '
For unless we listen to our new music, it will not
exist. When music is not performed, it is merely a
set of symbols on paper. None of us can tell who
the Mozarts or the Beethovens of the future will be,
but we must make sure that when they come, if they
are not-hece already, they will have a chance to be
heard.
Having observed the basic situation of the American musical
culture, we ought to look at the major technical trends in American music
of this century. In a sense it is understandable that people still cling
to the nineteenth century with such ardor, for the music of today is far
more radical and breaks more sharply with tradition than the music of any
other period has ever done. In order to understand this music we must
understand the basic tenets of the composers' methods and how they differ
from those of the past.
The first word that occurs to people concerning the new music
• 13
is "dissonance". Howard and Lyons call it the "salt and pepper of music."
It is a relative term since the dissonances of one period have characteris­
tically become the consonances of the next. At one time even thirds and
sixths were considered dissonances. Today, modernists use dissonances
alone. Harsh dissonances "resolve" only to those less harsh. It must be
noted, however, that through constant repetition even the dissonances of
Stravinsky's Firebird, once considered "biting", seem mild compared to some
of the sound combinations in Schoenberg and other atonal composers.
Impressionism ought to be defined in order to understand the
works of John Alden Carpenter, who used many of its techniques, and
Charles Ives, who was in some ways sympathetic to it. The musical >
12 .
John T. Howard and James Lyons; Modern Music^ The New American
Library of World Literature Inc. (N. Y., 1942), p. 16.
13 Ibid, p. 27-
6
- -
impressionistic style was developed by Debussy as a reaction against realism.
It pqints in musical terms the "impression" or mental image an object has
made upon the composer. It deals in shadows and pale shimmering colors,
and uses, among other things, parallel motion (all tones in a chord moving
in the same direction) seventh and ninth chords, the whole-tone scale,
... 14
dissonance for sensuous effect, and freedom and flexibility of rhythi*.
Atonality must be defined, because Ives used it often. It is
probably the most difficult of all modern systems to understand, because
it breaks so sharply with all previous listening habits. Each of the
twelve half steps contained in an octave is treated as an independent
tonal center and has a separate relationship to each of the eleven other
tones. There are no long or extended sections in the music; it is, rather,
very condensed. The system also avoids consonant combinations and rigidly
insists on dissonant chords, arguing that pleasant sounds are objectionable,
because they have not the strength to stand alone as well as dissonances
can. All tones of the twelve-tone "row" must be sounded before any of
them is heard for a second time. The music is then developed from the
. . 15
initial arrangement of the row in the manner of a variation form. There
is no key signature. Of this system Aaron Copland wrote:
Actually, it is rather difficult to foresee what the
future has in store for most music written in the atonal
idiom. Already it begins to sound surprisingly dated,
hopelessly bound to the period of the twenties when it
was first played extensively. No doubt we are badly
placed to judge it at present. But admitting our lack
of sufficient perspective for judging it fairly, one
can even now see certain inherent weaknesses; for what­
ever reasons, atonal music resembles itself too much.
It creates a certain monotony of effect that severely
^ Ibid jp. 50-55.