{"id":2262,"date":"2017-10-23T20:33:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T01:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=2262"},"modified":"2017-10-23T20:39:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T01:39:04","slug":"was-alexander-reinagle-even-an-american-composer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2017\/10\/23\/was-alexander-reinagle-even-an-american-composer\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Alexander Reinagle even an \u201cAmerican\u201d Composer?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Drawing of Alexander Reinagle by Joseph Muller<\/p><\/div>\n

Alexander Reinagle is credited as being one of the first American composers to publish American music along with John Aitken. Reinagle was the first to \u201cmonopolize\u201d the sheet music industry. He himself was able to teach, compose, publish and distribute music. We credit Reinagle\u2019s work as American…but was it? Much of his work is simply a continuation of European music and styles.<\/p>\n

It is first important to acknowledge reasons why Reinagle\u2019s work is considered American. Firstly, Reinagle composed, published and distributed music in America. He resided in Philadelphia and wrote many works such as the Philadelphia sonatas and established himself as a composer of American piano works. \u00a0He also established himself as an important figure in the American sheet music business concentrating on the home music making. Publishing music that was appealing and accessible to many people was the goal.<\/p>\n

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Mrs. Madison’s Minuet.<\/p><\/div>\n

Another reason he is considered an American composer is because of the songs and pieces that he wrote. For example, short piano pieces like Mrs. Madison\u2019s Minuet<\/em> and Madison\u2019s March<\/em> were written about President James Madison and Dolley Madison. \u00a0Madison\u2019s March<\/em> sounds especially militaristic and patriotic, suggesting that an American identity is associated with this song. \u00a0There are militaristic idioms like dotted rhythms and a feeling of cut time, which is very characteristic of American Marches.<\/p>\n

Taking a closer look, it is clear that many of Reinagle’s pieces exhibited European elements. For example, both Madison’s March<\/em> and Mrs. Madison’s Minuet<\/em>\u00a0were composed in a binary form, a precursor to sonata form, which was popular in European music. \u00a0The tonal organization and harmonies fit into the basic phrase model in European music as well. The phrases are balanced and end in with a dominant to tonic motion. CPE Bach influenced many of his pieces. \u00a0Reinagle draws on European musical styles, yet the subject of his works are very much American. Because Reinagle was an influential figure in the spread of music, the music he spread was inevitably labeled American. Using European music, he established and American sound by following the example of the European style, which he might have seen as superior.<\/p>\n

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Madison’s March<\/p><\/div>\n

It is interesting that looking back, we see Reinagle as an American composer yet it is likely that he thought of himself as an advocate for European music. \u00a0Why was he considered an American composer? Was it simply because he was physically in America when he composed? Is it because the subject of his songs was American? Or is it the way he produced and sold music? Whatever the reasons may be, his intentions and where he received inspiration mark him as a continuation of the European tradition. Reinagle\u2019s career was still very important to the history of American music. His music and ideals helped spread European music to America as well as setting a precedent for the publication and distribution in the sheet music industry. It also perpetuated a divide between the vernacular and cultivated music, which is relevant today.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Crawford, Richard. \u201cHome Music Making and the Publishing Industry.\u201d\u00a0America’s Musical Life a History<\/em>, Norton, 2001, pp. 221\u2013226.<\/p>\n

Frank Kidson, et al.\u00a0“Reinagle.”\u00a0Grove Music Online<\/em>.\u00a0Oxford Music Online<\/em>.\u00a0Oxford University Press, accessed\u00a0October 23, 2017,\u00a0http:\/\/www.oxfordmusiconline.com\/subscriber\/article\/grove\/music\/23124pg2.<\/p>\n

Madison’s March<\/i>. Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Madison’s Minuet<\/em>.\u00a0Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Muller, Joseph.\u00a0Alexander Reinagle<\/em>. Philadelphia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Reinagle is credited as being one of the first American composers to publish American music along with John Aitken. Reinagle was the first to \u201cmonopolize\u201d the sheet music industry. He himself was able to teach, compose, publish and distribute … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[859,861,860,513],"class_list":["post-2262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alexander-reinagle","tag-music-consumption","tag-music-publishing","tag-sheet-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-Au","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2280,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions\/2280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}