The Linguistic Culture-12 (American Science) (1157938), страница 6

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He was the first American pianist to achieveinternational recognition, but his early death contributed to his relative obscurity.George Gershwin (1898-1937) was also one of the first to use AfroAmerican melodies in his music. Together with his brother he created worldfamous opera “Porgy and Bess” and two musical comedies “Rhapsody in Blue”and “An American in Paris” which included jazz rhythms and blues.Aaron Copland (1900-90) indulged his interest in jazz as well.

Besideswriting symphonies, concertos, and an opera, he composed the scores for severalfilms. He is best known, however, for his ballet scores, which draw on Americanfolk songs; among them are “Billy the Kid”, “Rodeo”. Copland chose a traditionalQuaker religious song as one of the main themes for “Appalachian Spring”, whichcelebrated life in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern region of the UnitedStates.The orchestras of Duke Ellington, Count William Basie, Frank Sinatraand Glemm Miller became the universal musical culture, which all Americans areproud of. Among the outstanding jazz musicians there are the names of LouisArmstrong, Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald.Composers Arthur Schwartz and Richard Rodgers should also bementioned.

The songs “Yellow River”, “Night and Day”, “Tea for Two” crossednational boundaries and became popular in Europe. Scott Joplin (1868-1917) wasborn in freed slave musical family and managed to mix African beat with classicalEuropean music. His wonderful style became known to both black and whitemusicians as Ragtime in the early 1900s.Thirty years after jazz another kind of popular music appeared – big beat(big rhythm). In 1954 the disc jockey Alan Freed started to broadcast the Blackrhythm-and-blues records. He called this music Rock-and-roll after an old blues“My Baby Rocks Me in a Steady Roll”.

The 50s were also marked in the USA bythe enormous success of the most famous rock “n” roll superstar singer and guitarplayer Elvis Presley (1935-77). What was new in his performance was aggression,sexuality together with Black blues and white romantic crooning and sentiment.Having broken all the standards, he became particularly admired by the youngpeople. His songs “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Hound Dog”, “Blue Suede Shoes” andmany others were recorded in multimillion copies. To rock and roll enthusiastsPresley got to symbolize not only a rock and roll singer but also a new youthculture.

Among other things, this culture developed its own vocabulary, ways ofdressing, even hairstyle. It even began to reject socially approved ideas and waysof behaving.Later rock-and-roll blended with the protest songs of the 1960s to becomerock, the music that was harder and less escapist. Rock became both an Americanand international phenomenon. Millions of young people worldwide saw it as theirnatural cultural language, a symbol of opposition to officially approved ideas andstandards. Rock composers have always tried to represent the authentic sound ofspoken English, and have therefore written what they have heard, rather then usedstandard spellings. Hard rock became bigger and louder than any beat before it,simply because it was amplified and very noisy.There are lots of superstars these days; among fifteen number one hits thereare the ones of Madonna, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong.

In the 197080s Michael Jackson made his fantastic career. In addition to live performances heproduced a lot of records, CDs and video clips. His particular ability to combineextraordinary gracious movements with singing brought him fame all the worldround.Some young musicians combined their vocal and composer masteries with theirdramatic skills (so-called “performance”). The talented singer Diamond Galas(1955) using a very gloomy vampire stage image and lots of technical and lighteffects createdunsurpassed emotional performances full of energy andexpressions. Joan La Barbara (1947) possessing a wonderful vocal techniquebrilliantlyexperiments with modern compositions written by her husbandMorton Subotnic and chamber music easily passing from charming whisperingand thrilling moans to anxious beast cries.

Black composer Anthony Davis (1951)improvises.

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