America: Classical Music Around The World, Sousa, Ives, and Joplin

“Of the people, for the people, and by the people.” - Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln was not discussing music in the United States, but his statement about government could apply. Music in the United States has always been driven by what the people want. At the turn of the 20th century (1900), many American composers began to create great music that is held as both art and entertainment. 

John Phillips Sousa is one composer who came of age and influence at the same time the United States entered the global scene of world powers. He initially played as an apprentice in the United States Marine Band and eventually rejoined to as its conductor. He is best known for parade marches, many of which are still standard repertoire among high schools, universities, and military bands today. In the early 1900s, community bands flourish, and therefore, so did Sousa’s marches. Included in the playlist are a couple of examples that you will surely find enjoyable.

Charles Ives is another significant composer from the early 1900s, and probably the most challenging to listen to from this list. Nonetheless, he dedicated himself to music that both spoke to the hearts of Americans, and creatively expanded the boundaries of how music could be made. One of his creative innovations was combining well-known pieces of music together in different keys and even time signatures. To do this, he borrows music from the culture. Listen to Three Places in New England: Puttnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut and you will hear a variety of melodies layered on top of each other. Specifically, listen for Yankee Doodle and the Star-Spangled Banner. Another excellent example of Ives’ unique combination is Overture and March. One might imagine sitting in the middle of three or four marching bands warming up before a parade and experiencing an unusual cacophony of melodies and rhythms.

Scott Joplin is another great American composer to add to this list and is among the first of several African-American composers. Born in 1868, shortly after the end of slavery to parents who had been slaves in North Carolina, his family worked for the railroad in Arkansas but enjoyed music and taught their son to play the piano. Scott Joplin worked for the railroad for a few years, but quit to pursue a career as a musician. He began to perfect a style called ragtime, which emerged toward the end of the 1800s and gained mainstream notoriety in the first 15 years of the 1900s. Joplin attended the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, and his influence helped propel Rag-time into popularity nationwide. Joplin’s first commercial success was the publication of the Maple Leaf Rag in 1899. Royalties continued to provide a steady income throughout his life. Unfortunately, he died young in 1917 but published 44 original Ragtimes, two operas, and one ragtime ballet. 

All three composers listed here combined artful music elements and popular forms that have continued to influence what American classical music is today. Enjoy these works!