{"id":5299,"date":"2021-09-29T01:53:52","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T06:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2021-09-30T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T22:46:09","slug":"hot-takes-with-henry-hanchett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2021\/09\/29\/hot-takes-with-henry-hanchett\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Takes with Henry Hanchett"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to commend Henry Granger Hanchett, a musician, doctor, and lecturer, on one thing: his choice of title for this piece, which was published in The Outlook (a New York magazine) in 1896. Posing the question, \u201cWhat is \u2018Good Music\u2019?\u201d in the title of an article implies to me that the author intended to answer that question to some degree of certainty within approximately one page, something most authors would be cautious of. In fact, Hanchett appears to have had few reservations about answering such large musicological questions, having also written during his lifetime a book with the title, \u201cThe Art of the Musician. A Guide to the Intelligent Appreciation of Music.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In this particular article, \u201cWhat is \u2018Good Music\u2019?\u201d, Hanchett explores typical themes such as church music, the purpose of music, personal tastes, the roles of instruments and performers, and so on. However, what I found to be the most telling about Hanchett in this article, as well as the role of race and identity in his musical opinions, were his offhand comments about \u201cGospel Hymns\u201d. He uses the example of the song \u201cWay Down Upon the Suwanee [Swanee] River\u201d being performed by a beloved opera singer, Christine Nilsson, to illustrate that even the most inferior compositions can be made into good music through a virtuosic\u00a0 performance. In the midst of an article otherwise dominated by a casual and exploratory tone, Hanchett shifts to an exasperated condemnation of what he believes to be gospel music. He describes these \u201cGospel Hymns\u201d as \u201cnot really worth the paper upon which [they are] printed,\u201d having \u201cno musical sense or meaning,\u201d and overall, \u201cnot good music.\u201d \"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

As I attempted to get a clearer understanding of what Hanchett\u2019s definition of a \u201cGospel Hymn\u201d was, I searched for recordings of \u201cWay Down Upon the Swanee River\u201d (also called \u201cOld Folks at Home\u201d). This immediately led me to a video of Al Jolson, a popular minstrel show performer in the 1900s, performing the song in blackface in the movie <\/span>Swanee River<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n