Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life

Winner of the ASCAP Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography

The musical landscape of New York City and the United States of America would look quite different had it not been for William Schuman. Orpheus in Manhattan, a fully objective and comprehensive biography of Schuman, portrays a man who had a profound influence upon the artistic and political
institutions of his day and beyond. Steve Swayne draws heavily upon Schuman's letters, writings, and manuscripts as well as unprecedented access to archival recordings and previously unknown correspondence. The winner of the first Pulitzer Prize in Music, Schuman composed music that is rhythmically
febrile, harmonically pungent, melodically long-breathed, and timbrally brilliant, and Swayne offers an astute analysis of his work, including many unpublished music scores. Swayne also describes Schuman's role as president of the Juilliard School of Music and of Lincoln Center, tracing how he both
expanded the boundaries of music education and championed the performing arts. Filled with new discoveries and revisions of the received historical narrative, Orpheus in Manhattan confirms Schuman as a major figure in America's musical life.


Author: Steve Swayne
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 04/01/2014
Pages: 712
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 2.35lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.90d
ISBN: 9780199367849

About the Author

Steve Swayne is Jacob H. Strauss 1922 Professor of Music, and Music Department Chair at Dartmouth College. He is also an accomplished concert pianist and an award-winning composer.

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