Give a sketch of the work of the composers, Balakireff, Moussorgsky, Cui, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakoff and Glazounoff.
What composition and by whom is it considered one of the most difficult pieces written for the piano?
What composer’s influence is shown in the works of Arensky?
Name other prominent Russian composers.
Theodore Thomas.
Lowell Mason. Stephen C. Foster.
LESSON LVII.
Music in the United States.
The Cavaliers and the Puritans.—The English settlers who came to this country and located at Jamestown, and their successors, brought with them from their home the songs they sang there—gay songs, cavalier songs, love-ditties and the countryside tunes; but they left them at this, making no attempt to adapt them to their new surroundings. Indeed, it was as much a matter of fashion to be able to play or to sing some new ballad just brought from London as it was to have the latest fashion in dress. The Cavaliers were not the people to give a distinctive tone to music in their adopted home. The stern, severe, religious atmosphere of the New England Colonies did more for the beginnings of American music, although the first efforts were unpromising enough, since the Puritans discountenanced all music except that of Psalm tunes, which were probably sung in unison, since at that time there could be little question of singing in parts. Owing probably to a scarcity of hymn-books, it was customary to read the hymn line by line, and to sing in alternation with the reading, a custom observed in some sections of the United States even in the latter part of the 19th century. It was inevitable that the more progressive among the clergy and the people should demand better singing of the Psalms; and from this came the first singing schools, the beginning of musical education in the Colonies. A singing school is noted in Boston in 1717. As this movement spread, choirs were organized, since those who had gained some skill in singing and in reading from notes would naturally draw together, at first informally, later in regular organizations. This occurred as early as the middle of the 18th century.
Hymn-Tune Composers.—The prominence given to the singing of Psalms and hymns is doubtless due to the fact that the first composers developed in the Colonies confined their efforts to the production of hymn-tunes. The first to gain prominence was William Billings, born in Boston in 1746, died there, 1800. He was a tanner by trade and was, of course, self-taught. His efforts at harmonizing were rather crude, as is to be expected, since he had but few models in composition. He introduced a somewhat florid style, although without training in counterpoint. Yet the critic can see in the work of the early composers such as Billings, a rough vigor and a striving for a more distinctive melodic and rhythmic character than is to be found in the tunes brought over from England, showing traces of the forces already at work to differentiate the American character from the English. Billings’ first collection of tunes was published in 1770. Other composers of this period were Oliver Holden, who wrote the widely-sung “Coronation,” Andrew Law, Jacob Kimball, Daniel Read and Timothy Swan. The two other important cities, Philadelphia and New York, had some musical activity during the Colonial period. In 1741, Benjamin Franklin published a collection of hymns, performances were given of operas, and concerts for charitable purposes were organized, yet nothing in the way of native composition developed.