Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780199367849)

Winner of the ASCAP Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography

The musical landscape of New York City and the United States of America would look quite different had it not been for William Schuman. Orpheus in Manhattan, a fully objective and comprehensive biography of Schuman, portrays a man who had a profound influence upon the artistic and political institutions of his day and beyond. Steve Swayne draws heavily upon Schuman's letters, writings, and manuscripts as well as unprecedented access to archival recordings and previously unknown correspondence. The winner of the first Pulitzer Prize in Music, Schuman composed music that is rhythmically febrile, harmonically pungent, melodically long-breathed, and timbrally brilliant, and Swayne offers an astute analysis of his work, including many unpublished music scores. Swayne also describes Schuman's role as president of the Juilliard School of Music and of Lincoln Center, tracing how he both expanded the boundaries of music education and championed the performing arts. Filled with new discoveries and revisions of the received historical narrative, Orpheus in Manhattan confirms Schuman as a major figure in America's musical life.

Author: Steve Swayne
ISBN-10: 0199367841
ISBN-13: 9780199367849
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 04/01/2014
Pages: 712
Format: Paperback
Weight: 2.35lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.90d