Frontier Figures American Music and the Mythology of the American West [Hardcover]

Frontier Figuresis a tour-de-force exploration of how the American West, both as physical space and inspiration, animated American music. Examining the work of such composers as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson, Charles Wakefield Cadman, and Arthur Farwell, Beth E. Levy addresses questions of regionalism, race, and representation as well as changing relationships to the natural world to highlight the intersections between classical music and the diverse worlds of Indians, pioneers, and cowboys. Levy draws from an array of genres to show how different brands of western Americana were absorbed into American culture by way of sheet music, radio, lecture recitals, the concert hall, and film.Frontier Figuresis a comprehensive illumination of what the West meant and still means to composers living and writing long after the close of the frontier.

Beth E. Levyis Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Davis.

Beth Levy has written an elegant work of depth and breadth that gives generous space to the idea of the American West. Her discussions of more than a dozen composers and their workssome usual suspects, others rather unexpectedreveal the 'varied musical ecosystems of the west.' Levy takes us with her on the trail in prose that is by turns pithy and poetic, but always spot on. Denise Von Glahn, author ofThe Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape

Big and bold as the terrain it covers, Beth LevysFrontier Figurestakes us on a gratifying road trip, traversing American classical compositions that conjure up landscapes from the Middle West to the shores of the Pacific. En route, we encounter many now-famous composers, such as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Virgil Thomson, along with others who have faded from view. Throughout, Levy treats the West as both geographic location and mythologized ideal, demonstrating its power on the American musical ilcÀ