Providing information about American composers

from the 19th century,

such as as the best known Professional Song Composer,

 

Stephen Foster

 

to the 20th century,

such as the Dean of American Composers,

Aaron Copland


The Celebrity Composers

We live in a time when more emphasis is given to music celebrities and that includes some composers. It is unfair to concentrate on just a few well-known composers.

Over the past fifty years or so, most of the attention has been paid to only a handful of American composers from the 20th century who might be called...

 

"The Big Five"

Samuel Barber

Leonard Bernstein

Aaron Copland

George Gershwin

Charles Ives

[Aaron Copland with Leonard Bernstein]

 

 

While The Big Five composers are all worthy of great respect and admiration, there are also other American composers that are worth more research and discovery.


The Neglected Composers

Other American composers have had some of their music available on recordings, but not nearly as much as The Celebrity Composers.

Three of the American composers were all born in the 1850s:

George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931)

Edwin Arthur Jones (1853-1911)

George Templeton Strong (1856-1948)


Three other American composers deserving more attention are:

Dudley Buck (1839-1909)

Charles T. Griffes (1884-1920)

Randall Thompson (1899-1984)

And there are many more composers who could be added to this list of Neglected Composers.

Among classical record labels, there is a tendency to pay attention to only the
well-known American composers, like Copland, Gershwin or Ives.

One of the few exceptions is Naxos Records which has had
an excellent American music series.

To help correct this deficiency there is a need to encourage research and performances of lesser known American composers and their music in colleges, universities and music schools.

Another way is to distribute information, such as on this web site.

One formerly neglected area now receiving more attention is film music.
For more information on this subject, go to
Film Composers and Soundtracks

See also the list of rare music and interviews with classical composers available
in the
American Music Recordings Archive [AMRA]

Also look at the names of composers on the web poll of

Top Ten Favorite American Composers

 


Recommended For Your Bookshelf...

 

A Composer's Notes: Remembering Miklós Rózsa - A Personal Recollection by Jeffrey Dane

And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey by Studs Terkel

For The Love of Music: Invitations to LISTENING by Michael Steinberg and Larry Rothel

George Gershwin: His Life and Work by Howard Pollack

A Guide To Film Music: Songs and Scores by Roger Hall

Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life by John Adams

A History of Film Music by Mervyn Cooke

Hitchcock's Music by Jack Sullivan

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross

 


Web Submissions

 

CD Review: SERENADA SCHIZOPHRANA (Danny Elfman)

Essay: Leonard Bernstein: The Total Musician by Jeffrey Dane

Essay: The Vanishing American Composer by Steven A. Kennedy

 

 

If you have researched or performed music by a lesser known American composer from the past and would like to submit a short essay or review, click on this link for the

Guidelines

 


AMP Links

American Music Recordings Archive [AMRA]

CD Review: Songs in Transit

CD Reviews 2006

Favorite American Composers (Web Poll

Film Music Review (online magazine)

New England Music Archive [NEMA]

Society for Earlier American Music [SEAM]

Store for Music Publications and Recordings

Tunemaker Hall of Fame

 


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please give credit to

American Music Preservation.com

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American Music Recordings Archive

Essential American Recordings Survey

New England Composers No. 1: Edwin Arthur Jones

New England Composers No. 2: George Whitefield Chadwick

New England
Music Archive (NEMA)

PineTree Music

Society For
Earlier American Music [SEAM]

Tribute To
Leroy Anderson

Leonard Bernstein:
The Total Musician

Tribute To
Aaron Copland

Tribute To
Edward MacDowell

Tribute to
George
Templeton Strong

 

 

     
   
   
   
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