George Frederick Bristow
Published on 16. November 2020
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-252-04342-0 (ISBN)
Description
As American classical music struggled for recognition in the mid-nineteenth century, George Frederick Bristow emerged as one of its most energetic champions and practitioners. Katherine K. Preston explores the life and works of a figure admired in his own time and credited today with producing the first American grand opera and composing important works that ranged from oratorios to symphonies to chamber music. Preston reveals Bristow's passion for creating and promoting music, his skills as a businessman and educator, the respect paid him by contemporaries and students, and his tireless work as both a composer and in-demand performer. As she examines Bristow against the backdrop of the music scene in New York City, Preston illuminates the little-known creative and performance culture that he helped define and create.
Vivid and richly detailed, George Frederick Bristow enriches our perceptions of musical life in nineteenth-century America.
Vivid and richly detailed, George Frederick Bristow enriches our perceptions of musical life in nineteenth-century America.
Reviews / Votes
"Katherine Preston, accomplished and admired historian of the musical institutions of nineteenth-century America, has impeccable credentials to serve as Bristow's biographer. . . . Her story is compelling and authoritative." --Music & Letters"Katherine K. Preston's book on George Frederick Bristow, the thirteenth in the series, is an important expansion of the coverage and a welcome addition to the literature on American musical culture before 1900. . . . This book should serve as essential reading for scholars of nineteenth-century European music -- I can think of no book that gives such a broad introduction to the musical culture of nineteenth-century America in a similarly compact and focused way." --Nineteenth-Century Music Review
"A critical edition of Bristow's Second Symphony introduced by an outstanding monograph-length essay by Katherine Preston, vigorously challenges us to reassess our collective opinion of Bristow by offering a new interpretive perspective on his life, his music, and the roles played by each within the broader development of orchestral music in the United States. Preston's introductory essay alone is worthy of extended commentary." --Notes
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Illustrations
6 black & white photographs, 2 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-252-04342-0 (9780252043420)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Katherine K. Preston is a professor emerita of music at the College of William & Mary. Her five books and many edited volumes include Opera for the People: English-Language Opera and Women Managers in Late Nineteenth-Century America and Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-1860.
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 "The Life of a Musician: Troubles & Trials & Emergence as a Composer
Interlude A Pedagogy I: Private Teaching
Chapter 2 Fry and Willis: Bristow Becomes an Americanist
Chapter 3 The 1850s: During Which Young Apollo Becomes a Jack-of-All-Trades and a Renowned Musician
Interlude B Sacred Music: Church Music Director and Sacred Composer
Chapter 4 The 1860s: Personal and National Agony and Triumph
Interlude C Pedagogy II: Teaching in Schools
Chapter 5 The 1870s: "A Manly and Patriotic" Composer of "Native Independence and Originality"
Interlude D George Bristow as Businessman and Musical Authority
Chapter 6 The Stalwart Educator and Composer
Conclusion
Notes
Discography
Works Cited
Index
Introduction
Chapter 1 "The Life of a Musician: Troubles & Trials & Emergence as a Composer
Interlude A Pedagogy I: Private Teaching
Chapter 2 Fry and Willis: Bristow Becomes an Americanist
Chapter 3 The 1850s: During Which Young Apollo Becomes a Jack-of-All-Trades and a Renowned Musician
Interlude B Sacred Music: Church Music Director and Sacred Composer
Chapter 4 The 1860s: Personal and National Agony and Triumph
Interlude C Pedagogy II: Teaching in Schools
Chapter 5 The 1870s: "A Manly and Patriotic" Composer of "Native Independence and Originality"
Interlude D George Bristow as Businessman and Musical Authority
Chapter 6 The Stalwart Educator and Composer
Conclusion
Notes
Discography
Works Cited
Index