Music History Monday4 Juli 2022

Music History Monday: As American as tarte aux pommes! Celebrating the Fourth with some Real American Music! or Tampering with National Property

In Los Angeles and in America, Stravinsky was a star among stars; a big fish in a big pond. Having settled in LA, he made his fortune touring as a conductor of his own music. At the time, like so many American sporting events to this day, an orchestral concert in the United States began with a rendition of the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. (At the time Stravinsky settled in the United States in 1940, The Star-Spangled Banner was the newly-minted national anthem, having been officially designated the national anthem of the United States by congressional resolution on March 3, 1931. [For those who’d like to look it up, it is 46 Stat. 150; Pub. Law 71-823.]) Rather predictably, Stravinsky didn’t like any of the available orchestra arrangements of The Star-Spangled Banner, so in the great American spirit of DIY – when in doubt, do it yourself - he made his own arrangement, finishing it – coincidentally – on July 4, 1941, 81 years ago today. Speaking for myself, I can take-or-leave Stravinsky’s arrangement. In an attempt to make the anthem more interesting, he changes the harmony on pretty much every beat, overwriting in the process and creating, what is to my ear, a rather clunky and ungainly arrangement. Most listeners won’t be in the least bothered by what I’m talking about with the exception of one harmony, a “it-sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb”, “what’s-that-doing-there?” Bb dominant seventh chord at 01:30 of the linked performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1taQl-wOmo See more and listen without interruption only on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/music-history-as-68642179/

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