Though the distance between opera and popular music seems immense today, a century ago opera was an integral part of American popular music culture, and familiarity with opera was still a part of American "cultural literacy." During the Ragtime era, hundreds of humorous Tin Pan Alley songs centered on operatic subjects-either directly quoting operas or alluding to operatic characters and vocal stars of the time. These songs brilliantly captured the moment when popular music in America transitioned away from its European operatic heritage, and when the distinction between low- and high-brow "popular" musical forms was free to develop, with all its attendant cultural snobbery and rebellion. Author Larry Hamberlin guides us through this large but oft-forgotten repertoire of operatic novelties, and brings to life the rich humor and keen social criticism of the era. In the early twentieth-century, when new social forces were undermining the view that our European heritage was intrinsically superior to our native vernacular culture, opera-that great inheritance from our European forebearers-functioned in popular discourse as a signifier for elite culture. Tin Pan Opera shows that these operatic novelty songs availed this connection to a humorous and critical end. Combining traditional, European operatic melodies with the new and American rhythmic verve of ragtime, these songs painted vivid images of immigrant Americans, liberated women, and upwardly striving African Americans, striking emblems of the profound transformations that shook the United States at the beginning of the American century.

Tin Pan Opera: Operatic Novelty Songs in the Ragtime Era

Arts & Photography

Hamberlin, Larry

Music

Oxford University Press

Introduction To America's Music

Crawford, Richard

W.W.Norton&Company

An ear-opening exploration of music's New World, from Puritan psalmody to Hamilton Authors Richard Crawford and Larry Hamberlin use 90 pieces to show how the lively interactions among the folk, popular, and classical spheres have made American music resonate with audiences around the world. Along the way, students gain a clearer understanding of music's role in the history of American society, business, and technology.

An Introduction to America's Music

An ear-opening exploration of music’s New World, from Puritan psalmody to mash-ups. Richard Crawford and Larry Hamberlin show how the lively interactions between the folk, popular, and classical spheres have made American music resonate with audiences around the world. Students will learn how to listen critically to eighty-eight pieces in all the major styles and genres, while gaining a clearer understanding of music's role in the history of American society, business, and technology.

An Introduction to America's Music (Second Edition)

Recorder Songbook: For All Recorders: A Collection of Folk Songs from the Americas, Europe and Australia

Mel Bay Publications,Inc.

Concert Selections for Guitar, Recorder or Flute

Murdick, Kent

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Books by Hamberlin, Larry