Colonists, being recruited from the ranks of adventurers, farmers, traders and refugees, had neither the time nor the inclina tion to cultivate the arts. They were too completely preoccupied with life's exigencies to bother about its adornments. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that music played a negligible role in Ameri can civilization until such time as the pioneers had conquered their natural and political enemies, and the 13 Colonies, finally emancipated and achieving a measure of peace and economic security, had settled down to the business of becoming a nation.
Repeating summarily the musical history of Europe, America's early musical contributions were religious and popular; the former through the hymns of Lowell Mason (1792-1872) ; the latter through the now-forgotten but once ubiquitous salon pieces of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-69), and the songs of Stephen Foster (1826-64).
To realize what a recent growth American music is, it is neces sary only to reflect that such musicians as Arthur Foote (1853– '937), George W. Chadwick (1854-1931), Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857– ) and Frank Van der Stucken (1858-1929) were virtually pioneers in musical composition in their native land, their only predecessors of any considerable note being Benjamin J. Lang (1837-1909), John Knowles Paine (1839-1906) and Dudley Buck (1839-1909). Other members of this group were Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901), Horatio Parker (1863-1919) and Edward MacDowell (1861-1908), the latter being the most gifted composer that America has yet produced. To the same epoch belong also Reginald de Koven (1859-1920) and Victor Herbert (b. Dublin, 1859; came to America 1886; d. 1924), both of whom achieved international fame as composers of light opera.
All these composers, Foote alone excepted, were German trained, the lack of adequate instruction at home rendering Euro pean study almost imperative. The virtual impossibility of obtaining a thorough musical training in America, thus obliging the student to spend his formative artistic years in a foreign country, has been a great handicap to the American composer.
Coupled with the want of any authentic background of native folk music, it has been the cause of the slowness of American music to exhibit any distinctive national characteristics. One sug gested solution has been to turn for musical inspiration to the American Indian. Of this method Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881– ) and Arthur Farwell (1872– ) are enthusiastic champions. Another, of which Henry F. Gilbert (1868-1928) was the best-known advocate, was the exploitation of American negro spirituals and slave songs. In recent years, the popularity of American jazz has suggested this as a third possible foundation for a national musical idiom. In this field George Gershwin (1898-1937) was most successful.
Other contemporary American composers, whose work follows no definite nationalistic program, are Howard Brockway (1870 ), Frederick Converse (1871– ), Edward Burlingame Hill (1872– ), Daniel Gregory Mason (1873– ), Henry Hadley (1871-1937), John Alden Carpenter (1876– ), John Powell (1882– ), Emerson Whithorne (1884– ) and Deems Tay lor (1885– ). The untimely death of Charles T. Griffes
(1884-1920) cost America a brilliant talent. To this group belong also Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) and Ernest Bloch (188o– ), who, though born respectively in Alsace and zerland, should be considered American composers.
In the interpretative field of music America has been particu larly prolific in famous opera singers. These include—to name a few—Minnie Hauk, David Bispham, Sybil Sanderson, Lillian Nordica, Edyth Walker, Emma Eames, Clarence Whitehill and Geraldine Farrar. Opera itself, on the other hand, has never been a successful form of American musical expression, principally be cause the scarcity of permanent companies made it impossible for the would-be operatic composer to gain practical experience.
The growth of symphony orchestras has been extraordinarily rapid. Beginning with the Philharmonic Society of New York (founded in 1842), they have increased in number until in 1927 the country contained nearly 5o of them, the more important being, as a group, without a peer in the world. Pioneers in this work were Leopold Damrosch (1832-85) and Theodore Thomas (1835-1905). The custom of giving concerts especially for chil dren is universal among the larger orchestras, and has had much to do with the rapid growth of musical appreciation in America. An extension of this movement, inaugurated in 1928 by Walter Johannes Damrosch (b. 1862), was the broadcasting of an entire series of educational concerts to schools and colleges throughout the country as far west as the Rocky mountains. Walter Dam rosch's greatest services to American music were rendered in con nection with the New York Symphony Orchestra and as a con ductor of opera, but he was himself a distinguished composer.
In 1928 the future of music in America looked bright. Largely on account of the World War, which drove scores of Europe's finest interpretative artists to migrate to America, the concert centre of the world was then in New York. The country's wealth has made possible the expenditure of lavish sums upon the develop ment of musical resources. American orchestras are the finest to be heard. The Metropolitan Opera Company of New York, and the Chicago Civic Opera Company, offer productions that, in scenic elaborateness and vocal resources, challenge comparison. American conservatories have vastly increased in number and immeasurably improved in quality. Two of them, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard Musical Foun dation in New York, are richly endowed and offer instruction at the hands of world-famous masters.
Interest in music is wide-spread, its growth augmented by such factors as the broadcasting of symphony concerts, the excellent orchestras of the larger motion picture theatres, and the extensive use of mechanical reproducing devices. The American musician can at last approximate the opportunities for technical training, practical experience and intelligent appreciation that have so long been enjoyed by his European colleagues. A corresponding growth in his self-respect, individuality and artistic stature is virtually inevitable.