Amerian Music

Adagio for Strings – Samuel Barber

I had never heard Baber’s Adagio.  It would be an understatement to say that the piece was extremely moving to me.  Barber has captured the very essence of sorrow.  The music in a very real way gets into your soul and sweeps you up into the long bow strokes of the strings.  It’s as if the music pulls you a long with it.

Sorrow in and of itself doesn’t really go anywhere it intensifies and it gives way.  That is precisely what Barber has accomplished in Adagio for Strings.  The meticulously composed harmonies are hauntingly beautiful, but simplistically repetitive.  Like sorrow, it harmonically stays in one place but pulls at every part of your heart.  The composition calls for parallel motion as the violins move up the cellos move down pulling apart until they relinquish into a compelling melodic unity. A continuous minor rise and fall occasionally giving way to a major resolution.

The commentary throughout the piece did not provide much insight into the foundation of the piece. It really just got in the way. In so many ways this piece of music has to be experienced, it can’t really be explained.  That is precisely what the commentators were attempting to do, explain the power of the music through their personal experience with it.  The chilling dissonance and moving line really say it all.

Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin

Gershwin’s Rhapsody is an American Icon.  It is a brilliant meditation on American ingenuity and vitality.  Gershwin has captured the bravura and idiosyncrasy of being American.  Rhapsody in Blue has condensed the life of an average American in the 1920’s into a matter of minutes.  It tells of the grand moments of triumph in one’s life and the quiet moments of reflection.

The recurring motif’s and random connections between theme’s reflect so much of the American personality.  America is a melting pot of traditions and ideas and that is precisely what Gershwin has shown in his composition.  He has synthesized Academic Jazz, Classical convention, African blues, and Latin rhythms into a masterpiece of plurality that is uniquely its own.

The background information in the audio clip was extremely helpful in putting this work into context.  I thought it did a great job at explaining not only the musical ingenuity and nuance of this work, but why it was important for the time it came from.  The fact that is was written in three weeks is merely a testament to the brilliance of the composer.  Rhapsody in Blue through its vitality and composition effectively paints an accurate picture of what America was what when it was written and what it remains today.

 

His Eye is on the Sparrow – Mahalia Jackson

This song really reflects American spirituality.  While there is a rich diversity of religious belief across the 50 states, this song reflects the concept of a city on a hill that is uniquely a part of American identity.  We believe that God is intimately involved in our lives watching us individually and collectively as a people. 

Mahalia’s rich interpretation of this music is representative of the African community’s contribution to both American religious and musical experience.  The song seems to speak to social change in America both culturally and demographically, as African American’s became an important and prominent thread in the fabric of American society.  The fact that this song was so widely accepted among Americans is strong evidence to support how integrated the United States had become.