1930’s | Music 345: Race, Identity, and Representation in American Music

The 1930s were a much different time than today. There was progress being made in lots of different areas in America. Especially when it came to automobile developments The 1920s had ended and a new decade began. The 1930s were known for a few things but the ones that most people remember are jazz, the dust bowl, and the great depression. Things in America were becoming more developed but there also were still uses of older technology to get work done and in this image that is shown. We see that on the left they are talking about the difference of automobile design from the 1920s vehicles and the 1930s vehicles. How the 1920 vehicles had characteristics of more square shapes. Along with flat windshields, a more square body and overall looked more squared. The vehicle from the 1920s shows that of a tour bus that was in this style. We then see the new look of the 30s. This is a president model Studebaker. A name that just resonates new and fancy. It has a more streamlined design and different headlight design, and more round parts to its body style. It gives the atmosphere of flight and speed which contrasts the bus from 1920. To further contrast these two designs we see a group of men working to clear fords. They are using a horse-drawn wagon and according to the details it is in Rock Creek Park. This was in Washington D.C in 1930. This contrast in this image was also reflected in the classes in America. The rich and wealthy were also mostly white individuals. Got to experience the new and luxurious while the lower classes had to struggle to survive. The great depression started and this further made these imbalances grow. All of this is still seen in modern times with the fact that class imbalances between people are still occurring. The wealthy white upper classes get to enjoy the luxuries and benefits of the higher class society. The lower classes which are made up of the minorities often. Struggling and having to deal with discrepancies in even basic rights makes it so they have to fight multiple battles to just make ends meet.

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Shaw, Renata V, and Renata V Shaw. A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946 : Selected from the Collection of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C: The Library, 1980. mdp-39015003875757-202-1731707996

El Salon Mexico was a highly labored over composition Copland was particularly enthusiastic about writing. Spending over two years on its composition, Copland was in correspondence with Mexican composer Carlos Chavez years before its actual premiere in the Fall of 1937. The correspondence between Copland and Chavez reveals Copland’s strong interest in the pieces reception critically both in terms of popularity but also particularly centered on the acceptance of it as Mexican music.

Copland’s enthusiasm for the piece can be seen in his letter two years before its premiere in a letter from August 28th, 1935:

“Just now I am finishing up the orchestration of El Salon Mexico which I wrote you about last summer. What it would sound like in Mexico I can’t imagine, but everyone here for whom I have played it seems to think it is very gay and amusing!”

This quote reveals both the excitement Copland felt and also his concern over the piece’s reception in Mexico. This concern is more strongly articulated in other letters he wrote to Chavez during the piece’s composition. In October 1934 he wrote that:

“I am terribly afraid of what you will say of he Salon Mexico – perhaps it is not Mexican at all and I would look so foolish. But in America del Norte it may sound Mexican!”

Anxious to hear about the reception of the piece, Copland asked explicitly for Chavez to pass on that information to him in 1937 after he sent the piece to be performed. He writes:

“I hope the Festival will be a big success. Also, that you’ll enjoy working on the Salon Mexico. Be sure to have Armando send me all the reviews – even those of Senor Pollares!”

The correspondence between Copland and Chavez provides a fascinating insight into the concerns and enthusiasm that Copland had over the piece and shows that Copland himself was very consciously thinking about the issues of race and musical representation during the composition of his piece. Some interesting questions to ask would be whether or not Copland ought to be writing pieces which he worries are “authentic” only to an audience they do not belong to. Is it reinforcing racial stereotypes if the culture wildly raving the piece as “Mexican” is America? Is Copland advocating the writing of stereotyped pieces? Or is he trying to authentically capture and represent what might constitute as “Mexican music?” Would doing so be a respectful celebration or appropriation of Mexican music? Is Copland’s correspondence with Chavez reveal a genuine desire to please Mexican audiences or to market to American audiences? These are all questions without answers, because that’s what this class is about.

Works Cited:

Kostelanetz, Richard. Aaron Copland: A Reader. Great Britain: Routledge, 2004. Print.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.copland.phot0005/default.html

Music 345: Race, Identity, and Representation in American Music

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The new look of the 30s

El Salon Mexico: Copland’s Correspondence with Carlos Chavez