Dvořák's prophecy, and the vexed fate of Black classical music, Joseph Horowitz ; [foreword by George Shirley]
Type
Label
Dvořák's prophecy, and the vexed fate of Black classical music, Joseph Horowitz ; [foreword by George Shirley]
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-214) and index
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Dvořák's prophecy
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1253438121
Responsibility statement
Joseph Horowitz ; [foreword by George Shirley]
Sub title
and the vexed fate of Black classical music
Summary
A provocative interpretation of why classical music in America "stayed white"- how it got to be that way and what can be done about it. In 1893 the composer Antonín Dvořák prophesied a "great and noble school" of American classical music based on the "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while BLack music would foster popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall. Black composers found few opportunities to have their works performed, and white composers mainly rejected Dvořák's lead. Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Aaron Copland and Leonard Berstein, he looks back to literary figures--Emerson, Melville, and Twain--to ponder how American music can connect with a "usable past." The result is a new paradigm that makes room for Black composers, including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Levi Dawson, and Florence Price, while giving increased prominence to Charles Ives and George Gershwin. Dvořák's Prophecy arrives in the midst of an important conversation about race in America--a conversation that is taking place in music schools and concert halls as well as capitals and boardroooms. As George Shirley writes in his foreword to the book, "We have been left unprepared for the current cultural moment. [Joseph Horowitz] explains how we got there [and] proposes a bigger world of American classical music than what we have known before. It is more diverse and more equitable. And it is more truthful." --, From dust jacket
Target audience
adult
Contributor
Creator
Genre
Subject
- Music -- United States -- History and criticism
- Music -- United States -- African American influences
- Musique -- États-Unis -- Histoire et critique
- Music and race -- United States
- Informational works
- African American composers + History and criticism
- Musiciens noirs américains + Histoire et critique
- African Americans + Music + History and criticism
- Compositeurs noirs américains + Histoire et critique
- African American musicians + History and criticism
- Musique et race -- États-Unis
- Dvořák, Antonín, 1841-1904
Content
Author
writerofforeword
Other version
Mapped to
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1
Outgoing Resources
- Contributor1
- Creator1
- Genre1
- Subject12
- Music -- United States -- History and criticism
- Music -- United States -- African American influences
- Musique -- États-Unis -- Histoire et critique
- Music and race -- United States
- Informational works
- African American composers + History and criticism
- Musiciens noirs américains + Histoire et critique
- African Americans + Music + History and criticism
- Compositeurs noirs américains + Histoire et critique
- African American musicians + History and criticism
- Musique et race -- États-Unis
- Dvořák, Antonín, 1841-1904
- Content1
- Author1
- writerofforeword1
- Other version1
- Mapped to1