Date of Degree

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Music

Advisor

John Graziano

Committee Members

Stephen Blum

Bruce Saylor

Ora Frishberg Saloman

Subject Categories

Music

Abstract

Not long after construction began for an athletic field at City College of New York, school officials conceived the idea of that same field serving as an outdoor concert hall during the summer months. The result, Lewisohn Stadium, named after its principal benefactor, Adolph Lewisohn, and modeled much along the lines of an ancient Roman coliseum, became that and much more. Lewisohn Stadium was for over forty years the summer home of America's oldest symphony orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. More importantly, the Lewisohn concerts witnessed a particularly impressive and innovative array of talent, creative as well as interpretive. For nearly fifty years, audiences of all social and ethnic backgrounds attended concerts that, together, summed up much of the course of twentieth century American serious music at minimal cost for admittance.

This dissertation discusses the music concerts that made up the bulk of the shows put on at Lewisohn Stadium throughout its existence as the summer home of the New York Philharmonic. In particular, this dissertation seeks to answer several questions: To what extent was the performed music representative of the canon as it developed over time? And what can be learned from the myriad attempts made during the Lewisohn concerts at forming a distinctly American, as opposed to a European or Euro-American, musical identity?

Comments

Digital reproduction from the UMI microform.

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