| Contents |
Introduction -- The harmonic language of the popular ballad -- Rhythmic features of the popular ballad -- Melodic design: descriptive categories -- The lyric: its qualities and melodic roles -- Form: nomenclature and templates -- The large-scale view: a primer -- Ballads of Jerome Kern -- Ballads of Irving Berlin -- Ballads of Cole Porter -- Ballads of George Gershwin -- Ballads of Richard Rodgers -- Ballads of Harold Arlen -- Ballads of Richard Whiting, Walter Donaldson, Harry Warren, Jimmy McHugh, Vincent Youmans, Duke Ellington, and Kurt Weill -- Ballads of Hoagy Carmichael, Arthur Schwartz, Vernon Duke, John Green, Burton Lane, and Jimmy Van Heusen -- Ballads of Kay Swift, Bernice Petkere, Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, and Ruth Lowe -- Concluding reflections. |
| Abstract |
Allen Forte uses modern analytical procedures to explore the large repertoire of beautiful love songs written during the heyday of American musical theater, the Big Bands, and Tin Pan Alley. Covering the work of such songwriters as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Harold Arlen, he seeks to illuminate this extraordinary music indigenous to America by revealing its deeper organizational characteristics. In so doing, he aims to establish it as a unique corpus of music that deserves more intensive study and appreciation by scholars and connoisseurs in the broader fields of American popular music and jazz. |
