AMS Philadelphia 2009 Abstracts - American Musicological Society

Abstracts Friday evening 107
flagged popular songs as political metonyms. Arguably, though, the most precipitate musical
influence of the century, vehicle for a revolution in taste pregnant for the twentieth century,
came with Sankey and Moody’s gospel hymns, rarely out of the Bristol news after 1873. Finally,
preceded by Gilmore’s band in 1878, the first “sound of America” sensation arrived in the
1890s with the two-step (the Washington Post) because this decade reflected new economic
and political strategies. Since American art music remained below the horizon throughout
the century except at its aesthetic margins, another “second story” of the nineteenth century
here emerges.
EXPLORING THE EFFECT OF PROKOFIEV’S MOVE
TO AMERICA ON HIS PIANO WRITING
Gary O’Shea
University of Sheffield
A stylistic development is noticeable in the piano-writing of Serge Prokofiev between his
time studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and his move from Russia to America in
1918. The paper will draw upon the progressive looking Sarcasms op. 17 (1914), and Visions
Fugitives op. 22 (1915–17), which demonstrate heavy influences from Stravinsky and Debussy,
and consider why, after he moved to America, he opted for a simpler and less harmonically
daring style in the tales of an old grandmother op. 31 and Four Pieces op. 32 (both 1918).
To establish what may have prompted Prokofiev to change his approach, I draw on his
newly published diaries to analyze his compositional processes at the time, and to discover
whether the stylistic change came about through personal choice or necessity. Prokofiev had
to make a living primarily as a performer, so was it this that caused him to write simpler music
for the more conservative American audiences? To assess the audience reactions of the time, I
will present extracts from newspaper reviews of Prokofiev’s recitals.
IMPROVISING EDUCATION: LEARNING JAZZ IN 1920s BRITAIN
Catherine Tackley
Open University
Following the introduction of jazz to Britain, transatlantic connections became increasingly
important for British musicians who wished to develop their jazz skills. Although American
jazz recordings were obtainable in Britain, the extent to which improvisation was fully understood
as an integral part of the music was initially limited. Crucially, American musicians
provided live experiences of jazz as well as more direct education for musicians that allowed a
more nuanced interpretation of jazz recordings.
Contact between British and American musicians was controlled by increasingly restrictive
governmental policies on visiting musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, culminating in a
near-total reciprocal ban from 1935. Initially, however, the British government encouraged the
employment of individual American musicians rather than whole bands. This was immensely
beneficial in encouraging much greater interaction between British and American musicians,
which defines a formative period in British jazz. This paper will explore the formal and informal
activities of American musicians in Britain during the 1920s, and their impact on the
development of British jazz. Ultimately, these instances of “jazz in Britain” provided a basis for
a more self-sufficient “British jazz.”