A history of American music, its diversity, and the cultural influences that helped it develop.

In Strong on Music Vera Brodsky Lawrence uses the diaries of lawyer and music lover George Templeton Strong as a jumping-off point from which to explore every aspect of New York City's musical life in the mid-nineteenth century. This third and final volume ranges across opera, orchestral and chamber music, blackface minstrels, military bands, church choirs, and even concert saloons. Among the many striking scenes vividly portrayed in Repercussions are the rapturous reception of Verdi's Ballo in maschera in 1861; the impact of the Civil War on New York's music scene, from theaters closing as their musicians enlisted to the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at every possible occasion; and open-air concerts in the developing Central Park. Throughout, Lawrence mines a treasure trove of primary source materials including daily newspapers, memoirs, city directories, and architectural drawings. Indispensable for scholars, Repercussions will also fascinate music fans with its witty writing and detailed descriptions of the cultural life of America's first metropolis. Formerly a concert pianist, Vera Brodsky Lawrence spent the last third of her life as a historian of American music (she died in 1996). She was editor of The Piano Works of Louis Moreau Gottschalk and The Complete Works of Scott Joplin. On Volume 1: "A marvelous book. There is nothing like it in the literature of American music."—Harold C. Schonberg, New York Times Book Review On Volume 2: "A monumental achievement."—Victor Fell Yellin, Opera Quarterly

Servanthood of Song is a history of American church music from the colonial era to the present. Its focus is on the institutional and societal pressures that have shaped church song and have led us directly to where we are today. The gulf which separates advocates of traditional and contemporary worship—Black and White, Protestant and Catholic—is not new. History repeatedly shows us that ministry, to be effective, must meet the needs of the entire worshiping community, not just one segment, age group, or class. Servanthood of Song provides a historical context for trends in contemporary worship in the United States and suggests that the current polemical divisions between advocates of contemporary and traditional, classically oriented church music are both unnecessary and counterproductive. It also draws from history to show that, to be the powerful component of worship it can be, music—whatever the genre—must be viewed as a ministry with training appropriate to that. Servanthood of Song provides a critical resource for anyone considering a career in either musical or pastoral ministries in the American church as well as all who care passionately about vital and authentic worship for the church of today.

URL: https://www.areditions.com/rr/rra/a071.html The eight Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867¿1957), anchored in her family¿s history and filled with memories of frontier life, are cornerstone classics in American children¿s literature. Embedded in them are citations to 127 pieces of music--from parlor songs, stage songs, minstrel show songs, patriotic songs, Scottish and Irish songs, hymns and spirituals, to fiddle tunes, singing school songs, play party songs, folk songs, broadside ballads, catches and rounds. No books in American literature of comparable standing and popularity feature America¿s vernacular music so centrally, assign it such a major narrative role, and index it in such rich abundance. This edition is a reconstruction of "the family songbook," based on the music referenced in Wilder¿s books. Although no such object ever existed, her representations of music-making have likely informed the imaginations of more Americans than many a paper-and-bindings anthology, for what millions of readers have come to know about America¿s musical heritage is what they learned from the Little House books¿the titles and lyrics to songs; how songs and tunes functioned; where they were heard; what they meant; the importance of music to individuals, families, and communities. Wilder¿s references and her evocative images of music-making thus form the basis of understanding about "American music" to many readers. The Ingalls Wilder Family Songbook is an effort to give fresh voice and sound to the music inscribed in these great books and new appreciation about how music functioned during a place and time important in American history and mythology.