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George Frederick Bristow
- Author: Preston, Katherine K.
Preston does a wonderful job bringing to light this early composer of American music and describing the musical culture of the time. . . . Recommended
George Frederick Bristow
- Author: Preston, Katherine K.
Purchase product
Preston does a wonderful job bringing to light this early composer of American music and describing the musical culture of the time. . . . Recommended
About
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.
Contents
- 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
Awards and reviews
Preston does a wonderful job bringing to light this early composer of American music and describing the musical culture of the time. . . . Recommended
