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Building Blocks Of A National Style: An Examination Of Topics And Gestures In Nineteenth-Century American Music As Exemplified In Scott Joplin’S Treemonisha, Elisabet Omarene De Vallee

Dissertations

Even though America’s musical elite undertook a veritable boycott of American talent during the nineteenth century, efforts to define concert life along Germanic lines did not prevent the development of a distinctly American sound. The groundwork was laid in the first half of the century in folk songs, national airs, and popular tunes from minstrel shows. It came to fruition after the Civil War, and by the 1920s, all of the elements were in place for an easily recognizable “American Style.” The development of musical topics to evoke the idea of “American” was essential in establishing this style. Most topical …