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With any list of the best American composers, you’re likely to find some deliciously eclectic soundworlds. <\/strong><\/p> That’s because, in a relatively short time since the mid 19th century, the United States has developed a distinctive and rich heritage of music performed in concert halls and opera houses around the world. Indigenous songs, spirituals, hymns, popular songs of the prairie, ragtime<\/a>, jazz and bluegrass have all added flavour to a recognisable if well-varied style.<\/strong><\/p> Another crucial element is America\u2019s internationally renowned film industry, which has nurtured not only specialist composers such as Bernard Herrmann and John Williams<\/a><\/strong> (both of whom have also attempted to make inroads in the concert hall), but also such leading concert hall composers as Aaron Copland<\/a><\/strong>, Leonard Bernstein<\/a><\/strong> (who was so much more as well), and John Corigliano. <\/p> A significant number of Hollywood composers \u2013 such as Korngold<\/a><\/strong>, Steiner, and Waxman \u2013 also represent a broader influx of composers whose parents, or the composers themselves, had fled persecution or repressive regimes, principally Russia (both Tsarist and Soviet) and Nazi Germany.<\/p> Some refugees only temporarily settled in America, but nonetheless did their part while in that country to train a talented generation. These composers included Darius Milhaud, from whom the likes of Karlheinz Stockhausen<\/strong><\/a>, Dave Brubeck, Philip Glass<\/strong><\/a>, Burt Bacharach, and Iannis Xenakis<\/strong><\/a> learned their craft. Other significant \u00e9migr\u00e9s who helped educate a generation of American composers include Bohus\u0142av Martin\u016f<\/a> <\/strong>(who also taught Bacharach, as well as Alan Hovhaness) <\/strong>and Arnold Schoenberg<\/a> <\/strong>(Dave Brubeck again, plus John Cage, Lou Harrison and others). <\/p> Another \u2018foreign\u2019 teacher we should mention is Nadia Boulanger<\/a><\/strong>. A legend among American composers (and composers of other nations), Boulanger taught several generations at The American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (originally established to improve the standard of American band players stationed in France during World War I<\/a><\/strong>). Her pupils included Roy Harris, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Elliott Carter and many others.<\/p> So here is a representative selection of composers who have significantly contributed to all that is characteristic and best in \u2018classical\u2019 American music. We suggest at least one recommended recording for each composer \u2013 in some cases, as a bonus, we suggest a second \u2018Something non-mainstream\u2019 which either offers a lesser-known gem by that composer or a different aspect of their style.<\/p> Today most widely remembered for his marches, this composer and bandmaster created around a hundred, including Liberty Bell <\/em>(1893) and The Stars and Stripes Forever<\/em><\/a><\/strong> (1896). Just a year before writing Liberty Bell<\/em>, Sousa formed his own military band, which toured Europe at least four times and undertook a world tour in 1910-11. <\/p> It was for his band that the sousaphone \u2013 a type of bass tuba designed to circle the player\u2019s body, so making it more convenient for marching bands \u2013 was invented. Sadly, his band became victim of the Depression in 1931, just a year before its founder\u2019s death. However, Sousa gained further posthumous fame when in the late 1960s the BBC comedy show Monty Python\u2019s Flying Circus <\/em>appropriated Liberty Bell<\/em> as its signature tune.<\/p> A Sousa Celebration<\/strong> A truly international musical landscape<\/h2>
Nadia Boulanger and the Paris scene<\/h2>
Best American composers: late 19th and early 20th centuries<\/h2>
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)<\/strong><\/h3>
John Philip Sousa<\/strong> recommended recording<\/strong><\/h4>