Assignment 2: Article Review

ASSIGNMENT 2

ARTICLE REVIEW: MUSICAL NATIONALISM AND MacDOWELL

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS REQUIRED
DUE: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Read the following article on Reserve in the Music Library: Richard Crawford, "Edward MacDowell: Musical Nationalism and an American Tone Poet," Journal of the American Musicological Society 49 (Fall 1996), 528-560; the article is also available through the J-STOR Electronic Resource.

Answer the following questions based on your reading of this article:

1. Who were the leading composers of the "Second New England School?" What did this group of composers share in common?

2. How was Boston different from New York in terms of its musical culture?

3. Why may we not consider MacDowell as a member of the Second New England School?

4. Briefly describe MacDowell’s musical training and career (as performer, then composer, then educator).

5. Why was MacDowell so highly regarded as "the greatest musical genius America has produced?"

6. Why was MacDowell ostensibly opposed to the promotion of American composers and all-American music programs?

7. Citing Dahlhaus’s observations on the connection between nationalism and universality in European music, how does Crawford view MacDowell as relating his own music to American nationalistic ideals?

8. What work of MacDowell does Crawford first give as an example of the composer’s attempt to establish an "American identity?" Briefly describe the ways in which MacDowell does this. In what ways may this work be considered "universal" rather than nationalistic?

9. What composer did MacDowell regard as attaining the "highest development of music" in history? What are his reasons for this assertion?

10. Crawford applies musicologist Gary Tomlinson’s "parallax" perspective to the examination of Americanism in American music. Briefly describe this approach and explain how Crawford sees its application to Americanism in music.

11. Crawford also discusses a work by MacDowell that may be described as more overtly "American." What is this work? What was the inspiration for its conception?

What is "American" about it?

12. What role did Dvorák play in the debate concerning nationalism in American music?

13. Why did MacDowell object to Dvorák’s “nationalistic pronouncements” concerning American music?

14. What can we criticize about MacDowell’s own use of "nationalistic" themes in his compositions? What do you think was MacDowell’s real intent in utilizing such themes in his music?

This assignment is worth 50 points