Serge Koussevitzky : the Boston symphony orchestra and the new American music / By Hugo Leichtentritt.
| Author/creator | Leichtentritt, Hugo |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1947, ©1946. |
| Description | 5 preliminary leaves, [3]-199 pages : frontispiece (portrait) ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- Koussevitzky's first seasons in Boston -- Two older generations of American composers -- Second phase of American symphonic writing -- French impressionism and exoticism in American music -- First wave of Americanism in music -- Illustrative American program music -- Judaism in American music -- The Russian-American school and others -- The neo-classicism of Stravinsky and Hindemith in American music -- The new Americanism of the thirties and forties -- Retrospective glance -- The artist Koussevitzky -- Koussevitzky as an educator. |
| Abstract | With the turn of the century, American music began to develop a language of its own, and when Serge Koussevitzky became the world-renowned conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra he made that language familiar to an ever-widening public both at home and abroad. This illuminating study of American symphonic music is focused, therefore, on the history of its presentation during the last quarter of a century by Dr. Koussetvitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All students and amateurs of music will welcome this informed and authoritative volume. Dr. Leichtentritt begins his book with a general picture of the slow growth of a real American style and of the many factors which influenced its development--jazz; Indian and Negro music; the discovery of American folklore of English origins; and the arrival in this country, after the rise of totalitarianism, of notable European musicians. The author then discusses the one hundred odd American symphonic scores which were performed by Koussevitzky from 1924-1946. His aim is to present a critical appraisal of these scores within the framework of a classified stylistic analysis of the various trends in American music, from the older generation of American composers represented by Foote, Chadwick, MacDowell, and Hadley to the new Americanism of Copland, Harris, Schuman, Barber, Creston, and Leonard Bernstein. No study of modern American music could be complete without an appraisal of the art and the influence of its most notable ally among conductors. The final section of this work consists of a detailed analysis of Dr. Koussevitzky as a major cultural force and as an educator of the first rank, and describes his art as a conductor more precisely and exhaustively than has yet been done. Dr. Leichtentritt, historian of music, critic, essayist, and teacher, is well known to the musical public of America by his Music, History, and Ideas (Harvard University Press). |
| LCCN | a 47000096 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML422.K7 L4 1947 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |