By David Amos
SAN DIEGO — About two weeks ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune weekly supplement called American Profile included an article by Audrey T. Hingley titled Great American Composers. The title obviously perked my interest, but I found it disturbing and misleading on different levels.
Here are the ten composers who were listed as “Ten of the nation’s top music writers”:
Burt Bacharach, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Cole Porter, George M. Cohan, Duke Ellington, Stephen Foster, Richard Rodgers, and John Philip Sousa.
Now, this is a list of most worthy musicians. Maybe the article should have been titled “most memorable songwriters” or something like that. But to me, and I’m sure to many others, the title of “composer” carries a much deeper definition than that of someone who wrote a few or even many tunes. Maybe my discomfort is with the concept that we are ranking great artists as we would the teams in major league baseball, by wins, loses, runs, hits and errors. Creative minds are too delicate a commodity to be ranked in the “top ten”, as we enjoy doing sometimes. Only history can decide this, and we should not be so easily influenced by popularity and monetary success as a sign of quality.
Let’s take these ten choices one at a time:
BURT BACHARACH: Not to me. He wrote may memorable songs, a vast number of which became commercial hits. I would only recognize “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. Pop songs are necessary and fun, but should not make a great composer in the top ten!
IRVING BERLIN: One of the true American treasures. Gershwin called Berlin “the greatest songwriter who ever lived”, and there is no future in arguing with that. Maybe Franz Schubert should be considered among the greatest songwriters who ever lived. American or not.
Come to think of it, there should be two separate lists, songwriters and composers.
GEORGE M. COHAN: Again a great, beloved and popular entertainer who gave us memorable tunes, but not in my list of composers.
DUKE ELLINGTON: Undoubtedly, a giant in the world of jazz. Should jazz be listed as part of this list, or is it deserving its own ranking? What about Paul Whiteman, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Dave Brubeck, and dozens of others? Here, we are combining the talents of melody writers and performers, and distinctions become less clear.
STEPHEN FOSTER: Again a wonderful songwriter and an historic figure.
GEORGE GERSHWIN: No doubt here. He was a major influence in the American music idiom, and established trends in symphonic music, jazz Broadway and Opera which forever changed the European molds and set musical directions for musicians worldwide. His Jewish heritage, together with his experiences in Tin Pan Alley and our Afro-American heritage made him a revolutionary figure in the history of music.
SCOTT JOPLIN: His ragtime masterpieces followed the cakewalk American dance, and with his afro-American influences and direct, sincere melodies established him as one of the trendsetters in the American popular music idiom.
COLE PORTER: One of our great songwriters. He also wrote the lyrics. His melodies have very distinctive patterns, usually with repeated notes, but dramatically very effective and appealing. His contributions to Broadway are legendary.
RICHARD RODGERS: One of my all-time favorites. Together with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, he gave us a vast repertory of unforgettable songs and some of the greatest musicals of all time. Listen to his soundtrack music to the television series Victory at Sea, or the ballet sequence Slaughter on Tenth Avenue to hear his creativity in a purely instrumental way.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: Here we have a composer through and through. “The March King” not only composed marches, but also operettas, waltzes, and other orchestral suites. We best know him for his patriotic works for band, but I do consider him as one of top ten American composers.
These are the ten. I feel completely unsatisfied if such a list does not include Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. There are many, many more worthy names, but don’t get me started on that!
When I guest conducted the Lithuanian Philharmonic, back in 1993, it was only a year since Lithuania became an independent country with the departure of the Russians and Communism. I brought to them, among other pieces, music by Ernest Bloch, and was told that the previous regime prohibited them from playing music of Jewish composers. And I was requested, if I return, could I please bring to them more American composers, namely Gershwin, Copland, and Bernstein!
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Amos is conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra and has guest conducted professional orchestras around the world. He may be contacted at david.amos@sdjewishworld.com