Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers and Pan-American Ideology in ...

212 Pages·2015·13.92 MB·English

by  Stephanie N. Stallings

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2009
Collective Difference: The Pan-American
Association of Composers and Pan-
American Ideology in Music, 1925-1945
Stephanie N. Stallings
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

COLLECTIVE DIFFERENCE: THE PAN-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF

COMPOSERS AND PAN-AMERICAN IDEOLOGY IN MUSIC, 1925-1945

By

STEPHANIE N. STALLINGS

A Dissertation submitted to the
College of Music
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Summer Semester, 2009

Copyright © 2009
Stephanie N. Stallings
All Rights Reserved
The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Stephanie N. Stallings
defended on April 20, 2009.

______________________________
Denise Von Glahn
Professor Directing Dissertation

______________________________
Evan Jones
Outside Committee Member

______________________________
Charles Brewer
Committee Member

______________________________
Douglass Seaton
Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my warmest thanks to my dissertation advisor, Denise Von
Glahn. Without her excellent guidance, steadfast moral support, thoughtfulness, and
creativity, this dissertation never would have come to fruition. I am also grateful to the
rest of my dissertation committee, Charles Brewer, Evan Jones, and Douglass Seaton, for
their wisdom. Similarly, each member of the Musicology faculty at Florida State
University has provided me with a different model for scholarly excellence in “capital M
Musicology.” The FSU Society for Musicology has been a wonderful support system
throughout my tenure at Florida State. Thank you to all of my colleagues who serve on its
committees. This dissertation was completed with financial support from the Florida
State University College of Music, the Curtis Mayes Foundation, the Presser Foundation,
and Malcolm Brown, who generously donated funding for FSU’s annual Musicology
student paper award.
There are also many individuals who contributed to this project. I would like to
thank George Boziwick, Chief of the Music Division at The New York Public Library for
the Performing Arts, for his help navigating the Cowell Papers. Robin Rausch and Karen
Moses, Music Specialists at the Library of Congress, were also cooperative and kind.
Electra Slonimsky Yourke generously allowed me to photocopy from her father’s
collection at the Library of Congress. Richard Teitelbaum of the David and Sylvia
Teitelbaum Fund allowed me to reproduce materials from the Cowell Collection at the
NYPL. The staff of the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of
Philadelphia has provided me with much assistance, especially Curator Kile Smith,
Librarian Stuart Serio, and Archival Preservationist Gary Galván. Robert Falvo, Assistant
Professor of percussion at Appalachian State University, shared his ensemble’s excellent
recording of José Ardévol’s Estudio. Carmen Hendershott, Reference Librarian at the
New School, found information for me in the New School Catalogs. I can only imagine
how much time Velma Smith and Sara Nodine spent processing my interlibrary loans.
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Amy Dankowski, an archivist at the Cleveland Orchestra, sent me programs. I would also
like to express my gratitude to other American music scholars whose work has been
helpful to me in the process of writing this dissertation: Jacqueline Avila, (for sharing a
rare recording of Silvestre Revueltas’ music), Gary Galván, Christina Taylor Gibson,
Eduardo Herrera, Carol Hess, Ana Alonso-Minutti, Alejandro Madrid, Carol Oja, Anna
Ochs, Robert Parker, Deane Root, Leonora Saavedra, and Deborah Schwartz-Kates.
Tatiana Flores deserves special thanks for graciously hosting me in New York, for
showing me a great time in Harlem the night Barack Obama was elected, and for the
invaluable sources I found on her bookshelves. The friendship and support of Laura
Moore Pruett, Sean Parr, John Spilker, Janine Tiffe, and Emily Swift Gertsch have been
sources of strength throughout my career at FSU. My lunch meetings with John, who is
completing a dissertation that reassesses Henry Cowell’s contributions to dissonant
counterpoint, gave me fresh perspectives on Cowell’s work and allowed me to blow off
steam. Walks with Alegra Toccata always cleared my mind and cheered me up.
My deepest thanks go to my parents, Everett and Marian Stallings, who continue
to provide not only constant support for my every endeavor but love and encouragement
that keep me afloat. Sean, Celeste, Carson and Riley Stallings never fail to make me
laugh. León García lovingly persuades me that I deserve to succeed. It is largely due to
his daily encouragement that this project came to completion.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ..........................................................................................................vii
List of Musical Examples ............................................................................................ix
Abstract ......................................................................................................................xii

INTRODUCTION: THE PAN-AMERICAN ERA (1925-45) .........................................1

1. PAN-AMERICANISM IN 1930s PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE MUSIC ...................11
Ultramodernism, Neo-primitivism, and New Uses of Percussion in Europe .......14
Amerindian Themes in American Music .............................................................16
Percussion Music in the Americas .......................................................................19
William Russell, Percussion Studies in Cuban Rhythms (1935)...........................22
Amadeo Roldán, Rítmicas Nos. 5 and 6 (1930) ...................................................26
Edgard Varèse, Ionisation (1929-31) ...................................................................31
Henry Cowell, Ostinato Pianissimo (1934) .........................................................41
William Russell, Fugue for Eight Percussion Instruments (1931) ......................45
José Ardévol, Estudio en forma de preludio y fuga (1933) .................................50

2. ORGANIZING THE HEMISPHERE: THE PAN-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
COMPOSERS ..................................................................................................................61
Early Organizing Efforts and the First Two Concerts, 1928-30 ..........................65
The Concerts in New York and Cuba, 1931-34 ...................................................80

3. COLLECTIVE DIFFERENCE: THE PAN-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ABROAD
............................................................................................................................................93
Paris, 6 and 11 June 1931 ....................................................................................95
Paris, 21 and 25 February 1932 .........................................................................108
Berlin, 5 and 10 March 1932 .............................................................................113
Other European Concerts 1931-32
Varèse’s Return to New York and the Last Two Concerts, 1934 ......................126

4. ESTA BOCA ES LA MIA: JAZZ, BLUES, AND POPULAR FRONT PAN-
AMERICANISM.............................................................................................................133
Blues and Son: A Pan-American Literary and Musical Exchange ....................136
Alejandro García Caturla, “Bito manué” (1930).....................................141
Amadeo Roldán, Motivos de son, “Sigue” (1931) .................................145
Mexico Sings the Blues .....................................................................................150
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Silvestre Revueltas, “Canto de una muchacha negra” (1938) ...............151
Carlos Chávez, “North Carolina Blues” (1942) ....................................155

EPILOGUE: FROM PAN-AMERICAN TO INTER-AMERICAN...............................167

APPENDIX A. CONCERTS OF THE PAN-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
COMPOSERS ................................................................................................................171

APPENDIX B. LIST OF EXTANT CONCERT PROGRAMS AND REVIEWS OF THE
PAN-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COMPOSERS ..............................................181

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................186

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................199

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE I.1. Pan-American Exposition Official Seal by artist Raphael Beck....................7
FIGURE 1.1. Some Percussion Ensemble works written between 1929 and 1942...........12
FIGURE 1.2. Diagram of a teponaztli. Daniel Castaneda and Vicente T. Mendoza,
Instrumental precortesiano (Mexico City: Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Historia y
Etnografia, 1933; reprint Mexico City: UNAM, 1991), unnumbered insert.....................20

FIGURE 1.3. Henry Cowell, Ostinato Pianissimo. Diagram of each ostinato..................44
FIGURE 1.4. William Russell, Fugue. Form diagram.....................................................49
FIGURE 1.5. Estudio en forma de preludio y fuga, instrument groups (voices) in the
fugue and the measures in which they appear...................................................................55

FIGURE 1.6. Jose Ardevol, Estudio en forma de preludio y fuga. Form diagram............56
FIGURE 2.1. Concert program, Carnegie Chamber Hall, April 21, 1930........................78
FIGURE 2.2. Program cover for Henry Cowell’s solo concerts in Havana, December 23,
and 26, 1930. Cowell Papers, NYPL.................................................................................79

FIGURE 2.3. Concert program, Slonimsky’s performances with the Havana
Philharmonic, March 18 and 21, 1931. Cowell Papers, NYPL.........................................80

FIGURE 2.4. Concert program, New School Auditorium, November 4, 1932. Cowell
Papers, NYPL....................................................................................................................84

FIGURE 2.5. Concert Program of Alejandro García Caturla’s Orquesta de Conciertos de
Caibarién, April 15, 1933...................................................................................................87

FIGURE 2.6. Alejandro García Caturla, “Fanfarria para despertar espiritus apolillados.”
The Fleisher Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia......................................................89

FIGURE 3.1. Concert program. Paris, February 21, 1932 (Cowell Papers, New York
Public Library for the Performing Arts)..........................................................................110

FIGURE 3.2. Concert program. Madrid, November 23, 1931 (Cowell Papers).............120

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FIGURE 3.3. Concert program. Bauhaus, Dessau, December 1, 3, and 12, 1931 (Cowell
Papers)..............................................................................................................................121

FIGURE 3.4. Concert program. Vienna, February 21, 1932 (Cowell Papers)................123
FIGURE 3.5. Concert program. Budapest, April 2, 1932. (Fleisher Collection, Free
Library of Philadelphia)...................................................................................................126

FIGURE 3.6. Concert program. Hamburg, December 8, 1932 (Cowell Papers)............127
FIGURE 3.7. PAAC circular from late 1932 ..................................................................129
FIGURE 3.8. Concert program. New York City, April 22, 1934 (Cowell Papers).........131
FIGURE E.1. Covers from the 1938 and 1941 Boletín Latino-Americano de Música...162

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LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

EXAMPLE 1.1. William Russell, Percussion Studies in Cuban Rhythms, Opening of No.
1 “Havanera,” mm. 1-15....................................................................................................25

EXAMPLE 1.2a. The “2-side” of a son clave in 4/4 ........................................................26

EXAMPLE 1.2b. The “3-side” of a son clave in 4/4 ........................................................26

EXAMPLE 1.3. William Russell, Percussion Studies in Cuban Rhythms No. 2,
“Rhumba,” mm. 1-10. .......................................................................................................26

EXAMPLE 1.4. Amadeo Roldán, Rítmica No. 5, mm. 14-21, top system only...............29

EXAMPLE 1.5. Amadeo Roldán, Rítmica No. 5, first page.............................................30

EXAMPLE 1.6. Amadeo Roldán, Rítmica No. 5, mm. 35-47. Layered entrances of the 3-
2 son clave. ........................................................................................................................30

EXAMPLE 1.7. Edgard Varèse, Ionisation, mm. 9-12 Snare drum in “Parade drum
passage” ............................................................................................................................37

EXAMPLE 1.8a. Edgard Varèse, Ionisation m. 26 (long, short, short) ...........................38

EXAMPLE 1.8b. Edgard Varèse, Ionisation, mm. 28-29 (short, short, long) .................38

EXAMPLE 1.8c. Edgard Varèse, Ionisation mm. 34-37 Güiro “solo” and rhythmic
elaboration. ........................................................................................................................38

EXAMPLE 1.9a. Edgard Varèse, Ionisation, Lion’s (leopard’s?) roar, (player 5, Tambour
á corde), mm 45-47. ..........................................................................................................40

EXAMPLE 1.9b. Amadeo Roldán, Rítmica No. 5, mm. 14-18, Bongo glissando (first
staff of second system). .....................................................................................................40

EXAMPLE 1.10. Henry Cowell, Ostinato Pianissimo, mm. 14-17. Accents creating
Brazilian clave...................................................................................................................45

EXAMPLE 1.11. William Russell, Fugue, mm. 1-8. Subject...........................................48
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