Red, White and Blues

Notes on the Program

by Steven Blier

Tonight’s program highlights the music of two countries in two adjacent eras: French and American song before and after the Jazz Age. One can say that America’s greatest contributions – certainly its most idiosyncratic and personal ones – have been in the fields of jazz and musical comedy; in the 1920s, European composers began to draw on this American vernacular language, after so many decades when American musicians (even operetta composers) were busy emulating their European heroes.

American “art song” at the turn of the century was just in its formative stages. It seems that the classical songs of all countries have their roots in strophic ballads and comedy songs – parlor music gradually taking on greater detail, dimension, depth, and technical demands. The American songs we’re hearing tonight are just on the cusp of that transition, and it’s significant to note that while they were mostly written for home performance, they were often seized upon by now-legendary singers as recital pieces. In many cases, their purpose was commercial – these were the days when people still sang and played instruments, and in those pre-recording, pre-Xerox days, Americans bought a great deal of sheet music.

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