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Buhles, GünterThe Great American SongbookA modern song traditioncategory: Essay published in: das Orchester 01/2010, Page 37 |
While an exact definition appears difficult, the article by Buhles attempts a portray of the "Great American Songbook", at once a genre, a tradition and a stylistic development that is sometimes overlooked by more narrowly "classical" approaches. He draws connections to the British music hall and the French vaudeville, but also to minstrel shows and early Jazz and Jewish folk music. He looks at the work of composers, but also of arrangers and lyricists, with more in-depth detail on Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Rodgers and Berlin.