by Kyle Gann
Now available in stores!
Schirmer Books (1997), $39.95
American Music in the 20th Century is the first history of modern American music to extensively discuss the last quarter of the century. It is also the first to treat the indigenous American composition tradition as central, and to push European trends and traditions to the periphery. The book offers a brief survey of 18th and 19th-century American music, but begins in earnest with Charles Ives and Carl Ruggles, and explores the era decade by decade up to composers born in the late 1950s such as Eve Beglarian and Joshua Fried. The book's table of contents is provided below, along with the primary composers focused on (among dozens more) in each chapter.
Read an excerpt from Chapter 7
Read an excerpt from Chapter 13
AMERICAN MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Table of Contents
Prelude: WHAT IS AMERICAN MUSIC?
1. FOREFATHERS
Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Charles Tomlinson Griffes
2. ULTRAMODERNISM - THE 1920s
Henry Cowell, Edgard Varese, Ruth Crawford
3. POPULISM - THE 1930s
Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson
4. EXPERIMENTALISM
Harry Partch, Conlon Nancarrow, Lou Harrison, Henry Brant, Alan Hovhaness
5. ATONALITY AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCE
Roger Sessions, Stefan Wolpe, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter
6. CAGE AND THE NEW YORK SCHOOL REVOLUTION
John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff, David Tudor
7. POST-CAGE CONCEPTUALISM
Robert Ashley, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Lucier, James Tenney, Roger Reynolds
8. MINIMALISM
La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk
9. NEW TONALITIES I: THE NEW ROMANTICISM
George Crumb, John Adams, Frederic Rzewski, George Rochberg, Nancy Van de Vate, Jacob Druckman
10. ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS
Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Charles Dodge, Morton Subotnick, Paul Lansky, Carl Stone, Richard Teitelbaum, Laurie Spiegel, Trimpin
11. INTERFACES WITH ROCK AND JAZZ
Laurie Anderson, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, Diamanda Galas, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, John Zorn
12. NEW TONALITIES II: POSTMINIMALISM
William Duckworth, Janice Giteck, Daniel Lentz, Elodie Lauten, Paul Dresher
13. TOTALISM AND THE 1990s; Postlude - THE ROAD FROM 4'33"
Mikel Rouse, Michael Gordon, Lois Vierk, Eve Beglarian, Peter Garland, John Luther Adams, David First, Bernadette Speach, Larry Polansky