American Experimental Music 1890-1940

Description:
From the end of the nineteenth century a national musical consciousness gradually developed in the USA as composers began to turn away from the European conventions on which their music had hitherto been modelled. It was in this period of change that experimentation was born. In this book, the composer and scholar David Nicholls considers the most influential figures in the development of American experimental music, including Charles Ives, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell, and the young John Cage. He analyses the music and ideas of this group, explaining the compositional techniques invented and employed by them and the historical and cultural context in which they emerged.

Review:
'...musicians will enjoy seeing a British composer/scholar trace an American experimental movement with an objectivity that only a transatlantic outsider could muster.' Kyle Gann, Voice '...a coherent guide to the inner workings of compositions by Charles Ives, Charles Seeger, Carl Ruggles, Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell and John Cage. Nicholls writes eminently readable prose- no small acheivement in an analytic text- and provides insightful findings. Notes

Table of Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: the new and the experimental; 2. In Re Con Moto Et Al: experimentalism in the works of Charles Ives; 3. 'On Dissonant Counterpoint': the development of a new polyphony, primarily by Charles Seeger, Carl Ruggles and Ruth Crawford; 4. New Musical resources: radical innovation in the music of Henry Cowell; 5. 'The Future of Music: Credo': the development of a philosophy of experimentation in the early works of John Cage; 6. Conclusion: unity through diversity; Select bibliography; Appendix: musical editions and selected readings.