Ryan & Drew in JSAM

Volume 3/1 of the Journal of the Society for American Music is a special issue on Leonard Bernstein in Boston.  Both Drew and I have articles in there–so does our friend and colleage Sheryl Kaskowitz–which we think you will enjoy–though perhaps not as much as these nifty little word clouds.

Ryan Raul Bañagale – “‘Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves”: Bernstein’s Formative Relationship with Rhapsody in Blue

Drew Massey — Leonard Bernstein and the Harvard Student Union: In Search of Political Origins

Sheryl Kaskowitz — All in the Family: Brandeis University and Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Jewish Boston’

Ives Vocal Marathon Wrap-up

I had frankly wanted a little aluminum foil blanket, or perhaps some of the electrolyte-charged energy gel, but all I got at the end of the Ives vocal marathon was the warm gooshy feeling of having listened to 3 days, six concert and more than 200 songs by Ives. It was a really life-changing weekend, in that I have a totally different sonic feel for Ives than I did before,  particularly because I would probably have never otherwise had the occassion to listen to so much of his sentimental (or as Peter Dickinson put it, “victoriana”) songs, which I found deliciously elegiac.

A good time was had by all, I got to shake Neely Bruce’s hand at the end, and talk with Vivian Perlis & Peter Burkholder about the state of affairs in Ives studies these days. I did not, however, mangage to finagle an “Ives Thrives” button, which were made for the 1974 centennial festival and were being passed around at the closing reception. On the other hand, perhaps being alive at the time would have also been a way to get a button 35 years ago. So there.