Description
Book SynopsisLieder and the rise of song recital in the United States, 1850–1914 Though viewed as quintessentially German, lieder became a centerpiece of nineteenth century song recitals in the United States. By the 1890s, these songs, which were often sung in English, were a sensation among tutored and untutored music lovers alike. Heather Platt examines the varied supporters and singers who both established the lied as a concert repertoire and shaped a new kind of recital dedicated to art songs. Lieder were embraced and spread by performers like Max Heinrich and advocates like John Sullivan Dwight, as well as by the women’s clubs that flourished nationwide. At the same time as examining the critical reception of the artists and songs, Platt reveals ways in which US recital programs anticipated trends in European recitals. She also places lieder against the backdrop of the time, when factors like the growth in the sheet music industry, the evolution of American art song, and
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“A little-known aspect of the late nineteenth-century expansion of art music culture in the United States is the popularity of German lieder recitals. Heather Platt masterfully weaves a profound knowledge of the genre’s roots in Europe with an exhaustive survey of US digital resources to tell this important story.”--E. Douglas Bomberger, author of Making Music American: 1917 and the Transformation of Culture
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Notes Regarding Titles of Compositions and Sources
Introduction
- Introducing a “Higher Class” of Song to American Audiences
- Song Recitals and Song Recital Series
- The Henschels’ Polyglot “Vocal Recitals”
- Max Heinrich’s “Classical Song Recitals”
- Max Heinrich’s Expanding Stylistic and Geographic Vistas
- Villa Whitney White and Women’s Music Clubs
- David Bispham and the Heyday of Song Recitals
Epilogue: The End of an Era
Appendix: Milestones in the Development of Song Recitals
Notes
Bibliography
Index
