America's music [antikvár]

ForewordA serious study of American music is arrestingly important at this time. Music has become one of our leading industries; our performing standards are probably now higher than anywhere else in the world, and we are making rapid strides in music education. How large a part in all this activity is our own music to play? How good is it? How does it differ from European music?There are many signs of an awakened interest in American composition. More of it is being performed, published, and recorded than ever before. This interest is not confined to the United States alone. During the past few years Europeans who have always liked our popular music have discovered that we have several composers in the serious field well worth their attention. As for the foundations, fortunes are being spent to discover, to train, and to encourage our native talent.In America's Music Gilbert Chase, a musician and scholar who understands and enjoys all kinds of music, has collected all the strands that have gone into the fabric of our musical speechand a fascinating web of incompatibles they turn out to be. Who could imagine a pattern which would include Billings, Foster, Gottschalk, Chadwick, and Gershwin? Each of them contributed substantially to our musical tradition, and when we can grasp their interrelationship we perceive that there is indeed an American music, a hardy one just beginning to feel its strength and destined to stand beside our other contributions to world culture.There have been many problems, but apparently lack of public appreciation has not been one of them. From the time of the Pilgrims our people have liked music and made it a part of their lives. They have played and sung and fashioned their own songs for all occasions. There were, however, no European courts for the cultivation of art