Modernism and popular music : language and music in Gershwin, Porter, Waller, and Holiday

Traditionally, Ideas About Twentieth-century 'modernism' - Whether Focused On Literature, Music Or The Visual Arts - Have Made A Distinction Between 'high' Art And The 'popular' Arts Of Best-selling Fiction, Jazz And Other Forms Of Popular Music, And Commercial Art Of One Form Or Another. In Modernism And Popular Music, Ronald Schleifer Instead Shows How The Music Of George And Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Thomas 'fats' Waller And Billie Holiday Can Be Considered As Artistic Expressions Equal To Those Of The Traditional High Art Practices In Music And Literature. Combining Detailed Attention To The Language And Aesthetics Of Popular Music With An Examination Of Its Early Twentieth-century Performance And Dissemination Through The New Technologies Of The Radio And Phonograph, Schleifer Explores The 'popularity' Of Popular Music In Order To Reconsider Received And Seeming Self-evident Truths About The Differences Between High Art And Popular Art And, Indeed, About Twentieth-century Modernism Altogether-- Introduction: Popular Music And The Experience Of Modernism This Is A Book About The Cultural Modernism Of The Early Twentieth Century. Part I Examines The Place Of Popular Music Within Conceptions Of Modernism, And Part Ii Examines What I Call The Rhythms And Semiotics Of Language And Sound In The Music Of The Gershwin Brothers, Cole Porter, Thomas Fats Waller, And Billie Holiday, With Occasional References To Modernist Writers William Butler Yeats, T S. Eliot, Ralph Ellison, William Carlos Williams, Virginia Woolf, And Others. The Emphasis Of Modernism And Popular Music Is Primarily Linguistic Or Textual In That I Am Pursuing An Account Of How A Revolution In Words, As I Note In The Conclusion, Transformed Or Marked The Ways In Which Sensibility, Mind, Belief, Perspective, Society, Economics, And Human Experience More Generally Came To Be Understood In The Early Twentieth Century. I Argue, However, That This Revolution, Which Is Usually Associated With Poets, Writers, Artists, Linguists, And Philosophers - As Well As Twentieth-century Composers Of Art Music - Is Just As Evident, If Not More So, In The Work Of The Great Songwriters And Jazz Performers Who Came To Prominence In The United States Between The Two World Wars-- Musical Modernism : Popular Music In The Time Of Jazz. Classical Modernity And Popular Music ; Twentieth-century Modernism And Jazz Music -- Gershwin, Porter, Waller, And Holiday. Melting Pot And Meeting Place : The Gershwin Borthers And The Arts Of Quotation ; What Is This Thing Called Love? : Cole Porter And The Rhythms Of Desire ; Signifying Music : Fats Waller And The Time Of Jazz ; Music Without Composition : Billie Holiday And Ensemble Performance -- Conclusion : Popular Music And The Revolution Of The Word. Ronald Schleifer. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 216-225) And Index. 9781107005051 Cambridge University Press Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Figures 10 Preface 13 Acknowledgments 19 Introduction: popular music and the experience of modernism 23 Modernity and modernism 24 The musicians 27 The structure of the argument 32 The aesthetics of popular music 36 A note on interdisciplinarity 42 Part I: Musical modernism: popular music in the time of jazz 49 Chapter 1 Classical modernity and popular music 51 Modernism's other constituency 51 Enlightenment modernity and twentieth-century modernism 57 Enlightenment modernity, tempered musical form, and popular music 63 Accidents of modernity 70 Modernity and consumption 73 Chapter 2 Twentieth-century modernism and “jazz” music 76 The modernist culture of desire 76 The essential nature of the accidental 82 The accidents of the ordinary 83 Accidents of performance 88 The structure of modernism 94 Part II: Gershwin, Porter, Waller, and Holiday 101 Chapter 3 Melting pot and meeting place: the Gershwin brothers and the arts of quotation 103 Clashing and blending 104 Rhymes and rhythms 111 Reticent music 118 Quotation without quotation marks 123 Chapter 4 “What is this thing called love?”: Cole Porter and the rhythms of desire 132 Matter and meaning in musical rhythms 133 The metonymics of desire 136 Musical metonymies 142 The metonymic thing 148 Metonymic modernism 153 Chapter 5 Signifying music: Fats Waller and the time of jazz 155 Signifyin’ 156 Signifyin’ waller 158 The stride piano 164 Improvisations 167 Punctuated improvisations 171 Chapter 6 Music without composition: Billie Holiday and ensemble performance 177 Performing music 178 Music and the quality of rhythm 183 Instrumentalizing music: the quality of tone 188 Culture, forms, and the answers of popular music 195 Conclusion: popular music and the revolution of the word 198 Notes 202 Bibliography 238 Index 248 Traditionally, ideas about twentieth-century "modernism"--Whether focused on literature, music, or the visual arts - have made a distinction between "high" art and the "popular" arts of best-selling fiction, jazz and other forms of popular music, and commercial art of one form or another. In Modernism and Popular Music, Ronald Schleifer instead shows how the music of George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Thomas "Fats" Waller, and Billie Holiday can be considered as artistic expressions equal to those of the traditional high modernist art practices in music and literature. Combining detailed attention to the language and aesthetics of popular music with an examination of its early twentieth-century performance and dissemination through the new technologies of the radio and phonograph, Schleifer explores the "popularity" of popular music in order to reconsider received and seemingly self-evident truths about the differences between high art and popular art and, indeed, about twentieth-century modernism altogether Machine generated contents note: Preface; Introduction: popular music and the experience of modernism; Part I. Musical Modernism: Popular Music in the Time of Jazz: 1. Classical modernity and popular music; 2. Twentieth-century modernism and 'jazz' music; Part II. Gershwin, Porter, Waller, and Holiday: 3. Melting pot and meeting place: the Gershwin brothers and the arts of quotation; 4. 'What is this thing called love?': Cole Porter and the rhythms of desire; 5. Signifying music: Fats Waller and the time of jazz; 6. Music without composition: Billie Holiday and ensemble performance; Postscript: popular music and the revolution of the word; Bibliography; Index.