The Classical Music Book

216

MUSIC IS A

LANGUAGE OF

THE INTANGIBLE

WOODLAND SKETCHES ( 1896 ),

EDWARD MACDOWELL

T

he first music published

in North America were

tunes in the Bay Psalm

Book, a compilation selected

from European psalters by the

17th-century emigrants who settled

in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

By the late 18th century, however,

American-born composers such as

William Billings and Daniel Read,

who formed part of the First New

England School, began to publish

music that marked a distinct

departure from European models.

These composers, who were

usually self-taught, were writing

new types of sacred music, such

as the “fuguing tune,” in which a

choral melody is sung in unison

and then in counterpoint but with

scant regard for traditional Western

standards of harmony.

America’s first

The Bohemian-born Anthony

Heinrich, who lived in the United

States from 1810, is generally

considered the first “professional”

American composer. Inspired by

different parts of the United States,

he developed a more dissonant

harmonic language than had been

heard elsewhere and was the first

American to write for a symphony

orchestra. More famous, however,

was the virtuoso pianist, Louis

Moreau Gottschalk, who studied

in Paris and was feted by Chopin

and Liszt. Returning to America in

1853, he toured widely, performing

his own works that would often

reference the indigenous music

and instruments of the New World.

As American tastes evolved, a

new group of composers emerged—

now known as the Second New

England School. The strongest

influence for these composers was

the German Romantic tradition,

and a number of them studied in

Europe. The best remembered of

this group is Edward MacDowell.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

American nationalism

BEFORE

1640 The Bay Psalm Book is

published in Massachusetts.

1834 Anthony Heinrich

composes The Treaty of

William Penn with the Indians,

a concerto grosso.

1848 Stephen Foster publishes

the song “Oh! Susanna,” which

becomes an instant hit.

1863 Louis Moreau Gottschalk

publishes Battle Cry of

Freedom, based on an

American Civil War song.

AFTER

1897 John Philip Sousa’s

march The Stars and Stripes

Forever premieres.

A house of dreams untold,

it looks out over the

whispering treetops, and

faces the setting sun.

Edward MacDowell

US_216-217_Edward_MacDowell.indd 216 26/03/18 1:01 PM