MUS 707 Survey of American Song
The study of American song literature and its relationship to world music from the seventeenth century through modern times. Areas of emphasis include the first New England school (seventeenth century); eighteenth-century ballad opera, its introduction and influence in the colonies; the influence of the Italian Bel Canto school on nineteenth-century American parlor song; the second New England school (nineteenth century); and the world influence of the twentieth-century American composers. Composers discussed include Andrew Barton, Stephen Foster, Charles Ives, William Grant Still, Amy Marcy Cheney (Mrs. H.H.A.) Beach, Thomas Pasatieri, and Dominic Argento. Students prepare two in-class presentations, with live musical examples, on assigned topics. Offered on a rotational basis.