American Art Song and American Poetry

Ruth C. Friedberg has taught at Duke University, the New School of Music in Philadelphia, and numerous Texas universities. She has performed as keyboard artist with the San Antonio Symphony and for chamber music and vocal recitals in many countries. Friedberg's publications include the recorded anthology Art Song in America, as well as entries in the Grove's Dictionaries of Music, The Complete Pianist, the American Women Composers song series, and Selected Writings of John Duke.Robin Fisher is associate professor of voice at Sacramento State University. She began her singing career in Europe where she studied music as a Fulbright scholar and recipient of the Rotary Foundation fellowship. Fisher is co-editor of The Selected Writings of John Duke: 1917-1984 (Scarecrow, 2007).

For the second edition of this critically acclaimed work on the American art song, Friedberg and Fisher have combined all three volumes of Friedberg's earlier work (v. 1, CH, Mar'82; v. 2, CH, Mar'85; v. 3, CH, Sep'87) into one large book, supplemented by the addition of ten composers born after the midcentury mark. The make-up of each chapter remains the same: short biographical sketches of composer and poet, followed by a discussion of one or more poems and their musical settings. Although the limited number of works by each composer is hardly sufficient to gain insight into his or her style or aesthetic, the important addition of some of the most popular song composers currently working today--among them Libby Larsen, Jake Heggie, and Ricky Ian Gordon--makes the acquisition of the new edition worthwhile. The revised format--the pages and font are bigger--also improves the readability of the work. This book can easily lay claim to being the most important work on the subject available today. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

• ForewordIntroduction1 A Nation Finds Its VoiceEdward MacDowellWilliam Dean HowellsCharles M. LoefflerEdgar Allan PoeCharles GriffesJohn TabbSidney Lanier2 Charles IvesHenry Wadsworth LongfellowJohn Greenleaf WhittierOliver Wendell HolmesCharles SpragueRalph Waldo EmersonWalt WhitmanVachel LindsayHenry David ThoreauLouis UntermeyerJames Fenimore Cooper, Jr.Thomas Bailey Aldrich3 Settings by Six “Americanists”Douglas MooreStephen Vincent BenétTheodore RoethkeWilliam Grant StillPaul Laurence DunbarLangston HughesArna BontempsCountee Culleniv ContentsFlorence PricePaul Laurence DunbarLangston HughesErnst BaconEmily DickinsonRoy HarrisCarl SandburgAaron CoplandEmily Dickinson4 Two American OriginalsMary HoweElinor WylieAmy LowellVirgil ThompsonMarianne Moore5 John DukeAdelaide CrapseyEdna St. Vincent MillayE. A. RobinsonElinor WylieSara TeasdaleRobert Froste.e. cummingsMark Van DorenEmily Dickinson6 Into the New CenturyRoss Lee FinneyBenjamin FranklinCharles NaginskiWalt WhitmanCarl SandburgSara TeasdaleSergius KagenWalt WhitmanCarl SandburgSara TeasdalePaul NordoffConrad AikenElinor WylieSamuel BarberJames AgeeFrederic ProkoschPaul BowlesTennessee Williams7 The Second DecadeHugo WeisgallAdelaide Crapseye.e. cummingsContents vHerman MelvilleNorman Dello JoioStark YoungDavid DiamondHerman MelvilleVincent PersichettiWallace StevensEmily Dickinson8 The Third Decade IJack BeesonEdgar Allan PoeAbraham LincolnPeter ViereckRichard OwenStephen CraneRobert FrostAmy LowellJean Eichelberger IveySara TeasdaleWilliam FlanaganEdward AlbeeHoward Moss9 Ned RoremPaul GoodmanTheodore Roethke10 The Third Decade IIRuth SchonthalWalt WhitmanLee HoibyEzra PoundEmma LazarusEmma Lou DiemerDorothy Diemer HendryDorothy ParkerRichard CummingPhilip Minor11 The Fourth and Fifth DecadesRichard HundleyKenneth PatchenJames PurdyJohn Corigliano, Jr.William HoffmanHelen GreenbergKenneth PatchenFlicka RahnAmy Lowell12 Half Century and Beyondvi ContentsLibby LarsenWilla CatherJohn MustoEdna St. Vincent MillayLouise BoganLori LaitmanWilliam Carlos WilliamsRicky Ian GordonLangston HughesJake HeggieVachel LindsayEpilogueSelected BibliographyIndexAbout the Authors