19^th Century “Populist” Music

Until the early 19th Century, the 13 colonies were a “suburb of Europe.” After the Wars for Independence, some eastern cities expanded, developed more manufacturing as well as cultural organizations. Frontiers also expanded, leading to two population groups with very different agendas. The juxtaposition of cities and frontiers in America leads to a polarization of society and of musical styles

· Frontier Religious Folk Music: New England fuging tunes drifted down east coast into Appalachians and Southern states. The music was published in books using Shape Note Notation: square, circle, diamond, triangle shapes correspond to 4 pitches; corresponding syllables (fa, sol, la, mi respectively) go with shapes

· Revivalism began around 1800 as primarily frontier movement among fundamentalist Calvinists. Evangelists organized Camp (“Tent”) Meetings at which participants would hopefully experience religious conversion. Camp meetings included all-day singing as well as praying and feasting.

· Revivalist music emphasized recruitment and salvation. Some of the songs are still popular today; a major collection of the songs is The Sacred Harp: contains various revival hymns; later in 19th century some gospel hymns were added (these come from the later Urban Revival movement). Sacred Harpers still read shape note notation: assists with sight-singing because syllables (similar to sol fege) go with the shapes.

· Urban Reform Movements: Composers gradually became aware that Fuging tunes weren’t the most artistic music; worked to develop new Urban style

· Thomas Hastings (1784-1872) developed the collection Musica Sacra (1815): a compilation of music of American composers (including himself) plus some English

· By 1849, Hastings published hymn book The Mendelssohn Collection: named for German composer: reflects a shift in importance of German influence

· Hastings was a prolific composer himself, wrote about 1,000 hymns; most famous Rock of Ages

· Lowell Mason (1792-1872) one of early 19th Century’s most famous American musicians. Known equally for work in sacred music and music education. Mason studied music in the European tradition with a German immigrant musician, Frederick Abel.

· Mason and Abel compiled hymn collection called The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music; tunes were either by European composers or refashioned versions of their tunes: reflects growing European orientation.

· Mason was an advocate of reform in church music, especially with an education slant. He published what he thought was first collection of Sunday School music, The Juvenile Psalmist (1829). His most famous hymn is Bethany, or Nearer, my God, to Thee.

Music Education

· Mason was also leading figure in Music Education in Boston. Mason thought of himself as “scientific:” he favored a reasoned, well-conceived approach to everything, including music. Education theory was a popular subject at the time; Mason read about it, applied it at his music academy in Boston. This led to his experiment in Boston Public Schools: he taught a music curriculum that was so successful that the school system accepted it as part of permanent curriculum. It gradually spread to other parts of United States.

· Mason felt European Art Music was too complex to use as teaching material; he also thought Romanticism was too unseemly and Fuging tunes were too crass. He wrote his own music for the classroom (e.g. Music for the Normal School); by the late 19th century, this music was being criticized as a simpleminded, debased version of European music. Some even contend that this music caused generations of Americans (who learned this “second-rate” music) to be disenchanted with music in general.

· Urban Gospel Hymns were derived from “learned” style of Mason and Thomas Hastings; tend to be richer in harmony (more chromatic); texts are very sentimental.

· Some main composers: Philip Bliss and Ira Sankey. Sankey was songwriter and organist for Dwight Moody (evangelist who conducted revival meetings in urban areas in America and Europe in later 19ther century).

Spirituals: religious folk hymns, usually strophic settings to folk or popular tunes. Sacred harp contained many. Ferris divides them into “white spiritual,” “camp meeting spiritual” and “black spiritual.” The latter is included in the next topic, African-American 19^th Century Music

· White Spirituals: usually have lots of repetition, so can be learned easily even by people who can’t read music; example: Amazing Grace

· Camp Meeting Spirituals: a subset of White Spirituals. Very evangelist, fervent. Example: There’ll Be Joy, Joy, Joy