American Rhapsody

Last updated
American Rahpsody
Rhapsody by John Serry Sr.
Fisarmonica nera a piano.png
Key B-flat major
Year1955 for Stradella accordeon
1963 transcription free-bass accordion
2002 transcription for piano
Genre Symphonic jazz
Form Free-bass accordion solo
Composed1955 (1955) –1955 (1955): Long Island
Performed1963 (1963): Long Island
Published1957 (1957): New York
PublisherAlpha Music Company
MovementsFour
Scoring Free-bass accordion
Premiere
Date1963 (1963)
LocationNew York City
PerformersJohn Serry Sr.

American Rhapsody was written for the accordion by John Serry Sr. in 1955 [1] and subsequently transcribed for the free-bass accordion in 1963 and for the piano in 2002. The composer was inspired by the classical orchestral works of George Gershwin along with various Latin jazz percussive rhythms utilized throughout South America while composing this opus (see Rhapsody in Blue ). [2]

Contents

Composition

By synthesizing compositional techniques typically associated with classical music with those identified with jazz, this piece serves as an example of the symphonic jazz genre featuring the stradella bass system accordion as a solo instrument. Its revised edition for free-bass accordion is noteworthy in its attempt to illustrate the versatility of the instrument. In addition, it pays homage to the music of South America by incorporating a clear Latin American beat in the Dance sequence. [3]

During the "Golden Age of the Accordion" (1910-1960), the accordion was rarely seen or heard in "serious" classical music concerts. [4] In addition, composers such as Tchaikovsky, Giordano, Ives and Hindemith typically incorporated the instrument into their compositions soley in an effort to create a comic or pastoral effect. [5] This work is therefore noteworthy in so far as it represents an effort on the part of a known musician who specialized on the accordion to compose for an instrument for which relatively few classical works were completed at the start of the 20th century in America (See Accordion Use in Classical music, Accordion music genres & List of jazz-influenced classical compositions). [6] [7] [notes 1]

The composition was published in its original version for the solo Stradella bass system piano accordion by the Alpha Music Company in 1957. [8] It was performed on the piano accordion by the composer for the Atlas Accordion Corporation at the Music Trades Convention in New York City in 1959. [9] The work was also premiered by the composer on the free-bass accordion in a concert series hosted by the Orpheus Glee Club at Flushing, New York, in December, 1963. It was subsequently performed by a student of the composer (Joseph Nappi) for the first annual concert of the Accordion Association of Long Island during 1964 in New York. It was eventually transcribed by the composer for solo piano in 2002 and is described in its revised version for piano. Copies of the work have been donated for the benefit of researchers and students at the Eastman School of Music's Sibley Music Library for archival purposes within the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department as part of the John J. Serry Sr. Collection. [10] [11]

Sections

The composition consists of four parts: Part I – "Introduction and Blues" (Maestoso); Part II – "The Dance" (Allegretto ben ritmato); Part III – "The Dream" (Andante Sostenuto) and Part IV – "Finale: The Awakening" (Vivace). [12] [13]

Introduction and Blues

The opening Introduction and Blues is scored in 3/4 time in the key of B-flat and is marked Maestoso. The opening chord flourish is boldly presented as octaves within the treble voice and immediately echoed in the bass voice several times. This is followed by "The Blues", which is scored in 2/4 time in the same key as the introduction but is marked Andantino. [12] [14]

The main theme is now developed (E Poco Robato) in both the bass and treble voices. The ensuing inter-leaving of both voices leads to a sustained trill and arpeggio marked A Piacore and subsequently recapitulated alone in the bass voice. This is followed by a series of chromatic chord modulations from the key of D-sharp leading back to B-flat. The section concludes with a cascade of eighth notes presented as an overlay to the echoes of the main theme repeated in the bass. [12] [15]

The Dance

The second section of the composition is a dance scored in 4/4 time in the key of D major and is marked Allegretto ben ritmato with bougoes or maracas). The section opens with a melodic line in the bass which is syncopated with development in the treble voice. This culminates in a brief cadenza in the key of F and the onset of a dissonance for the climax. A series of sixteenth note flourishes ensues in the treble voice. This is followed by a series of chord modulations marked Furioso which heralds the onset of the "Dream" sequence. [12] [16]

The Dream

The third section is entitled "The Dream" and is scored in 4/4 time in the key of C major marked Andante sostenuto. It embodies a recapitulation of the main theme which is marker Molto Legato. The recapitulation is accompanied by a key change back to F major. It concludes with the theme expressed dominantly in octaves and a recapitulation leading to the key of C major which is marked Allegretti scherzando. [12] [17]

Finale: The Awakening

The final section is entitled "The Awakening" and is initially scored in the key of C major marked Vivace. It is a section which opens with a series of sixteenth note flourishes leading back to the key of B-flat. Here the main theme of The Dance sequence is restated and culminates in a final arpeggio rumbling though the bass. [12] [18]

Archived score and recording

The John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the Eastman School of Music- Sibley Music Library: Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections contains:

Notes

  1. ↑ For classical compositions & arrangements for the Giulletti Bassetti Accordion and the Stradella Accordion by John Serry see the contents of the "John J. Serry Sr Collection" that are listed at The Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library : Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Archived April 30, 2009, at esm.rochester.edu (Error: unknown archive URL)

Related Research Articles

A concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.

Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

A rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour, and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedding music</span> Musical compositions intended for performance at marriage ceremonies

Music is often played at wedding celebrations, including during the ceremony and at festivities before or after the event. The music can be performed live by instrumentalists or vocalists or may use pre-recorded songs, depending on the format of the event, traditions associated with the prevailing culture and the wishes of the couple being married.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Serry Sr.</span> American concert accordionist, arranger, and composer

John Serry Sr. was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio. He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Caiola</span> American guitarist, composer and arranger (1920–2016)

Alexander Emil Caiola was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of the biggest names in music during the 20th century, including Elvis Presley, Ray Conniff, Ferrante & Teicher, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Buddy Holly, Mitch Miller, and Tony Bennett.

<i>Squeeze Play</i> (album) 1956 studio album by John Serry Sr.

Squeeze Play is an Ultra High Fidelity monaural phonographic album which was released on the Dot Records label in 1956 (DLP-3024) featuring John Serry Sr. It includes an original composition by Serry, classical works, and popular music of the era. Ben Selvin serves as the musical director/producer for the album. The works were arranged by Serry and performed with his ensemble featuring two accordions, piano, guitar, bass, drum, vibes, and marimba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RCA Thesaurus</span>

RCA Thesaurus, a brand owned by RCA Victor, was a supplier of electrical transcriptions. It enjoyed a long history of producing electrical transcriptions of music for radio broadcasting which dated back to NBC's Radio Recording Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concerto for Free Bass Accordion</span> Composition by John Serry, Sr.

Concerto for Free Bass Accordion was written for the solo free-bass system accordion by John Serry Sr. in 1964 and was revised in 1966. A transcription for solo piano was completed in 1995 and revised in 2002. Written in the classical music concerto form, it illustrates the wide-ranging orchestral qualities of the free-bass accordion and underscores the suitability of the instrument for performances as a robust solo instrument on the classical concert stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobody's Sweetheart Now</span> Song

"Nobody's Sweetheart", also known as "Nobody's Sweetheart Now" and "You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now", is a popular song, written in 1924, with music by Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel, and lyrics by Gus Kahn and Ernie Erdman. The song is a jazz and pop standard.

The Time of the Cuckoo is a play by Arthur Laurents. It focuses on the bittersweet romance between Leona Samish, a single American executive secretary vacationing in Europe and Renato Di Rossi, a shopkeeper she meets in Venice. Di Rossi, trapped in a loveless marriage, relentlessly pursues Leona, who initially is shocked by the thought of an illicit affair but eventually succumbs to the Italian's charms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oh, You Beautiful Doll</span> Song

"Oh, You Beautiful Doll" is a ragtime love song published in 1911 with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer. The song was one of the first with a twelve-bar opening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free-bass system</span>

A free-bass system is a system of left-hand bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater ability to play melodies with the left-hand and form one's own chords. The left-hand buttonboard consists of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in contrast to the standard Stradella bass system, which offers a shorter range of single bass notes, plus preset major, minor, dominant seventh, and diminished chord buttons. The term "free-bass system" refers to various left-hand manual systems that provide this functionality: The Stradella system does not have buttons for different octaves of the bass notes, which limits the types of melodies and basslines that can be performed with the left hand.

The accordion is in a wide variety of musical genres, mainly in traditional and popular music. In some regions, such as in Europe and North America, it has become mainly restricted to traditional, folk and ethnic music. Nonetheless, the button accordion (melodeon) and the piano accordion are widely taught and played in Ireland, and have remained a steady fixture within Irish traditional music, both in Ireland and abroad, particularly in the United States and Great Britain. Numerous virtuoso Irish accordion players have recorded many albums over the past century or so; the earliest Irish music records were made in the 1920s, in New York City, by fiddler and Sligo immigrant Michael Coleman, widely considered to have paved the way for other traditional musicians to record themselves. Accordions are also played within other Celtic styles, as well as in English traditional music, American traditional music, polka, Galician folk music, and Eastern European folk music.

"If You Knew Susie" is the title of a popular song written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer. It was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. in 1925. The sheet music included ukulele tabs by Richard Konter. In the largely comic song, a man sings that he knows a certain woman named Susie to be much wilder and more passionate than most people realize.

John Serry Jr. is an American jazz pianist and composer, as well as a composer of contemporary classical music works that feature percussion, on which he also doubles. He is a son of the accordionist and composer John Serry. His debut solo album was 'Exhibition', for which he received a Grammy Nomination for his composition, 'Sabotage'.

"La Cinquantaine" is a piece of music which was composed by Jean Gabriel-Marie in 1887.

An accordion concerto is a solo concerto for solo accordion and symphony orchestra or chamber orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. Sifler</span> Slovenian composer and conductor

Paul John Sifler (born Pavel Gerjol, December 31, 1911, Ljubljana, Slovenia – May 20, 2001, Hollywood, California, was a Slovenian composer and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Taiko Watanabe</span> Japanese-American music librarian

Ruth Taiko Watanabe was a Japanese-American music librarian. For 38 years (1946-1984), she ran the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester.

References

  1. ↑ John Serry Sr Works - American Rhapsody (1955) on musicbrainz.org
  2. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections: John J. Serry Sr. Collection Original score for "American Rhapsody" score Folder 12, p. 10 See markings on score, Series 4 Recordings: Item 4 p. 18 "American Rhapsody" recorded by John J. Serry Sr. South American rhythms featured in the recording, Series 4 recordings: Item 3, p.18 ""Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin as arranged & recorded on accordion by John Serry The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
  3. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections: John J. Serry Sr. Collection Original score for "American Rhapsody" score Folder 12, p. 10 See markings on score, Series 4 Recordings: Item 4 p. 18 "American Rhapsody" recorded by John J. Serry Sr. South American rhythms featured in the recording, Series 4 recordings: Item 3, p.18 ""Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin as arranged & recorded on accordion by John Serry The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
  4. ↑ Edmondson, Jacqueline, ed. (2013). "Accordion". Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars and Stories that Shaped Our Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 3. ISBN   9780313393488. The accordion was rarely seen or heard in serious classical music concerts ... A handful of composers ... used the instrument ... to produce a comic, pastoral or folk effect.
  5. ↑ Edmondson, Jacqueline, ed. (2013). "Accordion". Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars and Stories that Shaped Our Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 3. ISBN   9780313393488. The accordion was rarely seen or heard in serious classical music concerts ... A handful of composers ... used the instrument ... to produce a comic, pastoral or folk effect.
  6. ↑ Accordion World, Bedford Hills, New York, 1968.[ full citation needed ]
  7. ↑ United States Copyright Office, American Rhapsody, Copyright: Alpha Music Co, New York, New York, Composer: John Serry Sr. 1957.[ full citation needed ]
  8. ↑ Accordion and Guitar World 1958 Vol. 23, p. 18 "Alpha Music has just released an original work by John Serry: "American Rhapsody" Alpha Music American rhapsody on google books
  9. ↑ Accordion & Guitar World 1959, Vol 24 p. 37 John Serry Atlas Accordion American Rhapsody on Google Books
  10. ↑ "River Campus Undergraduate – 1980". Rochester Review. 70 (6). University of Rochester. July–August 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  11. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "American Rhapsody" score Folder 12 & 19 p. 10 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 United States Copyright Office, American Rhapsody, Copyright: Alpha Music Co, New York, New York, Composer: John Serry Sr. 1957 – see copy of score available at the copyright office.[ full citation needed ]
  13. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  14. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  15. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  16. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  17. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  18. ↑ John J. Serry Sr. Collection at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library- Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collection: archived copies of the score to "American Rhapsody" and recorded performances by John Serry Sr. See John J. Serry Sr Collection p. 10 & p. 18
  19. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "American Rhapsody" score Folder 12 , p. 10 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
  20. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "American Rhapsody" score Folder 19 p. 10 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
  21. ↑ Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "American Rhapsody" Audio Recording, Series 4 Recordings: Item #4 p. 18 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.