Can a nation spend lavishly on music and still fail to develop a musical voice of its own?
In Music, American composer and critic Deems Taylor takes a sharp, often humorous look at the state of American musical culture in the early twentieth century.
Taylor argues that the United States has world-class orchestras, opera houses, performers, and enthusiastic audiences, yet struggles to produce a distinctive body of serious native composition. He traces the problem partly to America's heavy dependence on European-especially German-musical traditions, which left many composers imitating inherited styles rather than developing confident voices of their own.
He also examines the practical obstacles facing American musicians: limited access to rigorous training, too few regional orchestras willing to experiment with new work, weak connections between music and the other arts, and a public culture that often treats classical music as intimidating or excessively "highbrow."
Yet Taylor also finds reason for optimism. Recordings, player pianos, and even motion-picture theaters are bringing orchestral music to wider audiences and gradually creating a broader musical culture.
Originally published in the influential 1922 anthology Civilization in the United States, Music is a lively historical critique of composers, audiences, institutions, artistic identity, and the search for an authentically American musical voice.
