America has made a larger contribution to the history of music than any other nation... no really!
There’s a big new word looming on the horizon. Trouble is, nobody can agree what it is. Some say it’s semiquincentennial, others bisesquicentennial. There’s also a fierce lobby holding out for sestercentennial. Very confusing for those of us who gave up Latin at 16.
In fact, all three words refer to the same thing. This July the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding: the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The rejoicing will take many forms, but I hope America’s music and musicians are strongly featured. And here I am going to voice a controversial thought: it’s that when you take into consideration how comparatively young the US still is, compared with the ancient civilisations of Europe and the Far East, it has made a more significant contribution to the history of music than any other nation.
Ok, I’m reaching for my flak-jacket. My Italian friends will be recalling their vast heritage – from Gregorian chant and the composers of the Renaissance to the great 19th-century outpouring of operas, and spluttering, ‘Non dirai sul serio, Riccardo!’ German colleagues will have much the same reaction. The Russians? The French? People living in Cheltenham who listen only to Elgar and Vaughan Williams? All will think I’ve lost my marbles.
5 reasons for America's outstanding contribution to music
1. World-class institutions
So let me list five reasons for my assertion. First, although the US was a late arrival at the ball, the determination of the millions who had emigrated to the New World to set up musical institutions as good as those in the countries they had left was incredible. By the late 19th century, nearly all the major American cities had professional orchestras, and New York had built one of the world’s great opera houses. And this young country’s policy of welcoming those fleeing famine or persecution elsewhere meant that thousands of talented musicians found a home in the US too, fuelling this artistic surge.
2. The birthplace of the Broadway musical
Second, although America’s music initially mimicked European models, its composers quickly veered off in new directions. From William Billings to Charles Ives and on to such mavericks as John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow in the 20th century, they delighted in subverting musical conventions. That happened in concert halls but even more in the theatre where the tuneful but genteel traditions of European operetta were transformed by the likes of Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and the Gershwins into a new artform that swept the world: the Broadway musical.
3. The birthplace of jazz and the blues
Hand in glove with that radical development came another. America was the birthplace of jazz, the blues and the most significant trends in rock and pop. And that’s my third reason, because this huge revolution in popular musical taste undoubtedly changed the world – even for people who predominantly make and consume classical music.
4. Hollywood's contribution to music
My fourth reason? It’s Hollywood. Yes, we know every country has its own film industry, but America’s eclipses all others not just in terms of output but global influence. And the giant Hollywood film, TV and (now) streaming studios employ thousands of musicians, composers, orchestrators, sound engineers and producers. OK, you could argue that music is merely a small cog in the giant Hollywood machine. But this small cog generates the music industry’s biggest income stream.
5. The advent of minimalism
And my final reason for admiration of the US and all its musical works? I believe that if it hadn’t been for what that trio of minimalist giants – Philip Glass, Steve Reich and John Adams – did in the 1960s and ’70s, serious contemporary music could well have disappeared down its own plughole, so great was the disconnect between atonal, serial and post-serial European art music and the ears of ordinary music lovers.
Yes, I know there were other minimalist pioneers, not all American. And I also know that Adams, in particular, subsequently expanded his thinking into forms and harmonies that go way beyond minimalism. But those three composers (all, happily, still producing new pieces) reminded the world, and particularly young composers, that there was a way forward for orchestral and operatic music that audiences found exhilarating rather than alienating.
America: home of the most exciting young composers in the world
I spoke to Adams a couple of months ago, and he suggested that, right now, America is producing the most exciting young composers in the world. That’s a contentious view, but it’s another reason to tune our ears to the music coming from across the pond in this coming anniversary year – whatever long-winded name we call it.
