Introduction
In these 15 audio segments, Thomas Hampson presents an Introductory Guide to the Hampsong Foundation’s vast Song of America.Net archive and history of American song. Song of America.Net explores connections between poetry and music, and between history and culture, through the work of American composers and poets – and in this Guide here, Thomas Hampson contextually navigates the listener through some of the principal musical and sociological themes that are fundamental to the Song of America.Net overview of American song. As he says: “this Guide is both an introduction for sampling the many layers of Song of America.Net and an amplification of some of the discussions I gave in the thirteen part Song of America.Net radio series.”
Music illustrations that are referred to in the Guide are featured below each segment where they are discussed.
Jon Tolansky, Feature Producer – June 2020
Segment 1
Birth and concept of Song of America.Net
Music: Neidlinger – “Memories of Lincoln” – discussed at 1’45”
Explore Song of America.Net here:
Song of America
Exploring the history of American culture through the eyes of our poets and the ears of our composers
Visit siteSegment 2
Evolution of American Song in the 19th Century
Music: Hopkinson – My days have been so wondrous free – discussed at 3’26”
Music: Foster – Nellie was a lady – discussed at 5’34”
Music: Foster – Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair – discussed at 7’42”
Music: Foster – Hard Times – discussed at 8’54”
Segment 3
SEGMENT 3:
From the time of Stephen Foster up to World War One – multiplicity of cultural layers
Music: MacDowell – Das Rosenband – MacDowell lieder discussed at 2’05”
Music: Griffes – An den Wind – Griffes lieder discussed at 2’39”
Music: Ives – In Flanders Fields – Ives discussed at 3’42”
Ives, MacDowell, Griffes: Lieder
Songs by Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Charles Ives, Edward MacDowell, with pianist Armen Guzelimian. Recorded Oct. 1990-June 1991, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York City.
Teldec (Warner Classics): -
Segment 4
Before and after World War One – the disparity of American wealth and poverty profiled in poetry and music
Music: Griffes – Auf ihren Grab – Griffes discussed at 2’53”
Segment 5
After World War One: the decline of German dominance in American culture, the rise of African/ American poetry and music, Langston Hughes, Daniel Du Bois, and the War Cries radio feature
Music: Price – My Dream – Florence Price discussed at 4’10”
Music: Bonds – The Negro Speaks of Rivers – Margaret Bonds discussed at 4’12”
Margaret Bonds: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Vlad Iftinca, piano
Minnesota Beethoven Festival, 2011
Minnesota Marine Art Museum (Winona, MN, U.S.A.)
Segments 6, 7 & 8
SEGMENT 6:
Social issues in the American heritage of poetry, and the “ordinary” man featured in American poetry and art – Walt Whitman and his influence on early 20th Century American music, and the emergence of Henry Burleigh
Music: Burleigh – Ethiopia Saluting the Colors – discussed at 6’16”
SEGMENT 7:
More on Henry Burleigh and Walt Whitman and their influence
Music: Still – Grief – William Grant Still discussed at 0’55”
SEGMENT 8:
Walt Whitman and the music of Frederick Delius
Music: Delius – Sea Drift – Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking – discussed at 0’39”
Segments 9, 10 & 11
SEGMENT 9:
The 20th Century from Charles Ives to Ned Rorem via Arthur Farwell, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and John Duke, and various radio features from the Song of America radio series
Music: Ives – Ich grolle nicht – discussed at 0’35”
Music: Farwell – Song of the Deathless Voice – discussed at 7’20”
Music: Rorem – Look Down, Fair Moon – Rorem discussed at 8’37”
Music: Barber – The Daisies – Barber discussed at 8’57”
Music: Duke – Richard Cory – Duke discussed at 9’31”
Music: Copland – Nature the Gentlest Mother – Copland discussed at 9’43”
SEGMENT 10:
David Bispham, Walter Damrosch, and John Duke’s settings of Edwin Arlington Robinson
Music: Damrosch – Danny Deever – discussed at 0’21”
Music: Duke – Miniver Cheevy – Duke discussed at 1’31”
SEGMENT 11:
American poetry and music and social enlightenment, and There Is No Gender In Music radio feature
Music: Warren – God Be In My Heart – Elinor Remick Warren discussed at 0’20”
Segment 12
Langston Hughes and his influence through the 20th Century
Music: Berger – Lonely People – discussed at 6’43”
Segments 13 & 14
SEGMENT 13:
Emergence of an American “sound” during the 20th Century, and exiled composers Walter Arlen and Hans Eisler writing in America
Music: Copland – The Dodger – Copland discussed at 1’23”
Music: Barber – With Rue My Heart Is Laden – Barber discussed at 2’31”
Music: Eisler – An den kleinen Radioapparat – Eisler discussed at 3’41”
SEGMENT 14:
Ideologies from the 1930s to today seen from the perspectives of their contemporary times
Music: Eisler – In Die Staedte Kam Ich – Eisler discussed at 0’13”
Segment 15
Brief mentions of American song composers of the present time – Heggie, Corigliano, Adamo, Danielpour, Feruz, Larsen, Higden
Music: Heggie – The Leather Winged Bat – Heggie discussed at 0’07” (we can use the recording on the Song of America.Net site as it is Warner Classics Teldec copyright)
