Gershwin, Ellington, and the Search for the American Sound: Anna Celenza / Johns Hopkins

This event is part of a lecture series, Breakfast University, dedicated to arts and culture.

What is the American Sound? Does such a thing exist in the realm of concert music? During the 1920s and 30s, composers, music critics, entertainment executives and audiences believed in the idea of an American Sound, and they worked hard to promote their various points of view in the concert hall, via newspaper articles, through advertising and on film. This course explores the origins of two quintessential American masterpieces — George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Duke Ellington’s Symphony in Black — and their relationship to contemporary American culture. Using film clips, music excerpts, and popular dance steps from the 1920s and 30s, Professor Anna Celenza of Johns Hopkins University introduces participants to the wide range of musical genres and styles that influenced Gershwin and Ellington (from spirituals, blues, and Klezmer music to Tin Pan Alley songs, opera, Ragtime and even symphonic forms).

Doors open at 9:15 AM for coffee, and the lecture starts at 10:00 AM.