New World Symphonies: How American Culture Changed European Music - Hardcover

Sullivan, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300072317 ISBN 13: 9780300072310

Publisher: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1999

Synopsis

This groundbreaking book shows for the first time the profound and transformative influence of American literature music and mythology on European music. Acknowledging the impact of European tradition on American composers Jack Sullivan contends that beginning in the nineteenth century an even more powerful musical current flowed from the New World to the Old.

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Reviews

Sullivan, an English professor at Rider University (Words on Music: From Addison to Barzun), offers a brief but far-reaching book about cross-cultural influences. Dealing with literature, music, even mythology, Sullivan opines that the influence of America on the Old World was more profound than vice versa, and this assertion makes his book different from the usual Euro-originated views of the phenomenon (such as Wilfred Mellers's Music in a New-Found Land). Sullivan offers many detailed examples of New World-Old World cultural interrelations: Longfellow's influence on Dvor k and Poe's on Debussy and Ravel; how jazz inspired Stravinsky and Bart?k; and how Hollywood and Broadway worked their magic on Weill, Korngold and Britten. Based largely on secondary sources, the book is composed of fairly leisurely chapters of straightforward narrative, uniting a variety of familiar informationAparticularly the last two chapters, about the influence of Broadway musicals and jazz on European music. Probably the best chapter is the one in which the author's past as a horror anthologist (he edited the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural) is put to good use: "New Worlds of Terror: The Legacy of Poe." Sullivan ends the book with a discussion of jazz, sidestepping the greatest musical factor dominating European music in the last 35 years or soAAmerican rock music. This oversight, however, detracts only little from an otherwise agreeable read.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The influence of European culture on American music has been well documented, but the flow of ideas in the opposite direction has not been as widely acknowledged. In this fascinating volume, Sullivan (American studies, Rider Univ.) writes persuasively about several specific areas of influence, beginning with Dvorak's embrace of Native American melodies and African American spirituals in the 1890s. From there, Sullivan carefully documents the "Hiawatha" craze that swept England; the powerful effect of Edgar Allan Poe's writings on Ravel, Debussy, and others; the lure of Whitman's poetry for a bevy of British composers; the impact of American modernism; and the tremendously enthusiastic embrace of Hollywood, Broadway, jazz, pop, rock, and rap by the global community. It's a vast amount of material, and Sullivan makes no claims to thoroughness. The great value of the book lies in his remarkable perspectives on the relationship of literature and music and his beautifully crafted prose. Recommended for Americana and music collections.ALarry A. Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300072317
• ISBN 13: 9780300072310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 283