New Book on Unsung American Symphonists

[dwshadle]

I am a longtime reader and admirer of this forum. Oxford University Press has just published a new title that will hopefully be of interest to you: Orchestrating the Nation: The Nineteenth-Century American Symphonic Enterprise. It is the first in-depth treatment of nineteenth-century American symphonists, their music, and the environment in which they lived and worked.

The well-known "unsung" American composers who appear prominently in the text include: Charles Hommann, Anthony Philip Heinrich, George Frederick Bristow, William Henry Fry, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, John Knowles Paine, George Whitefield Chadwick, George Templeton Strong, and Amy Beach. But you will find that the repertoire itself is much more extensive. Virtually unknown figures such as Ellsworth Phelps and Louis Maas also play key roles in the narrative.

Forum readers whose interests lie primarily with European music will also find much to appreciate in the book. American orchestras frequently programmed music by "unsung" figures like Joachim Raff (one of my personal favorites) and Carl Goldmark. I included a generous amount of reception history related to these composers in order to set the context. My perception of the nineteenth century is that classical music culture was much more "transatlantic" than we tend to think. ("Sung" composers like Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Liszt, Brahms, and Dvorak also appear.)

The book is as jargon free as possible and includes little detailed technical analysis, though there are about 100 music examples. The publisher generously constructed a companion website that has recorded excerpts cued to the examples as they are printed on the page. We will add new clips to the website as works appear on new recordings (e.g., Bristow's Second Symphony). Frankly, as an unsung  music lover myself, I wrote the book with sympathetic readers like you in mind.

The book is now available on Amazon in the US (and other online retailers), and it should be reaching the UK and the rest of Europe in a matter of weeks.

If you have any questions or comments, either before reading the book or after, I will be happy to follow up on this thread. And I hope you enjoy it!

[Alan Howe]

Good to have you with us, Douglas. And what a marvellous new book! It's certainly gone on my wants list. Availability on this side of the pond is December 1st:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0199358648?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome to UC, Douglas. Your book is great news and it'll be required reading for me. Roll on Christmas!

[adriano]

Bravo and thanks, Mr. Shadle, that you also consider G. T. Strong!
Adriano, Zürich

[dwshadle]

Strong's Sintram could easily hold its own in concert halls today, in my opinion. As you can imagine, what kept it out of halls after its premiere was the accusation (made most forcefully by Henry Krehbiel) that it was "mere" program music.

The death of conductor Anton Seidl in 1898 was also a huge blow for American composers. Despite being a Wagner apostle, he was very supportive of native-born Americans, even those of non-German ethnicity. He deserves a biography that examines this angle of his career in more detail. (Seidl premiered Sintram.)

[kolaboy]

Excellent, and right up my alley. On my Christmas list as well 

[MartinH]

I've pre-ordered my copy. What a nice surprise to see this title. It's nice to know that there's at least one American college professor still doing serious musicology that isn't about rock/hip-hop/jazz/broadway. Looking forward to it.

[sdtom]

I think this is a welcome addition and I'll order it. Now I have a question for Mark and Alan. Are you secretly working on a European version?
Tom

[Alan Howe]

Are you secretly working on a European version?

It's a nice thought. I certainly don't have the expertise, though. The nearest you'll get is Chris Fifield's book:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5216.0.html

[dwshadle]

+ 1 for Fifield's excellent book! It fills a huge hole for scholars and other music lovers alike.

[Alan Howe]

That's a hugely welcome endorsement for Chris Fifield's book, Doug. I'm sure he'll appreciate your support.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for the vote of confidence but, like Alan, I bow to Christopher, whose fine book really does fill a huge gap. It's enthusiastically recommended by me. Not only is it thorough and erudite, it's eminently readable.

[sdtom]

I put in a request through the Minnesota library system to have them order it but so far nothing has come through yet.
Tom

[Amphissa]

Welcome to UC, Douglas, and thanks for the post regarding your book. I look forward to the monograph in progress about Dvorak's "New World Symphony" as well. Do you have any idea when that might appear?

[dwshadle]

I put in a request through the Minnesota library system to have them order it but so far nothing has come through yet.
Tom

Thanks, Tom! Hopefully it will be there sooner rather than later. Amazon was inexplicably out of stock for a couple of weeks, so there may be some system-wide problems with warehouses, etc. Please do keep us updated, though, because another nearby library may get one sooner and you could use the interlibrary loan system.

Welcome to UC, Douglas, and thanks for the post regarding your book. I look forward to the monograph in progress about Dvorak's "New World Symphony" as well. Do you have any idea when that might appear?

Thanks for your interest! The New World Symphony book is scheduled to come out in 2018 for the 125th anniversary of the work's premiere.