Firestarters: The Women Behind America’s Greatest Pieces of Music

by Caleb Kirkpatrick

During the late cold nights of October, 1942, the people sitting at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City found themselves transported to a world of dancing cowboys and antebellum belles. Aaron Copland premiered his ballet, Rodeo, and the quest for the national identity of American classical music was finally at an end. The quest had started decades before during the era of the World Columbian Exposition and was pushed forward by Dvorak’s famous symphony, “From the New World.” 1893 to 1942 marked a period where many American composers attempted to stray away from the European tradition and establish their own sense of classical music.

Dvorak and Copland, were the most well known composers yet behind them were two women that ignited the quest for a unique style of music that captured the American spirit and countryside. Jeannette Meyers Thurber and Nadia Boulanger are often ignored in the history of American music outside of acknowledging that they were educators. Both women contributed greatly to the identity of American classical music by supporting the men that “made it happen”, yet without their contributions it’s possible that the quest would have dragged on for even longer or the European tradition would continue to dominate American music. Ralph P. Locke and Cyrilla Barr’s work Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists since 1860 and Emanuel Rubin’s Jeannette Meyers Thurber and the National Conservatory of Music are part of the slim list of works on Thurber, with the majority of their work arguing her importance in musical patronage while not mentioning and even discrediting her own musicianship.¹ Nadia Boulanger has been covered by more scholars such as Léonie Rosenstiel who was a personal friend and wrote the first biography on her, Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, however she is still overshadowed by her sister and her male composition students.² Dvořák’s Symphony no. 9 and Copland’s Rodeo helped to usher in a new age of American classical music; however, it was through the patronage and education provided by Jeannette Meyers Thurber and Nadia Boulanger which created the foundation for a nationalized style of art music. ³

Jeannette Meyers Thurber and Patronage during the Gilded Age

The Gilded Age of the United States was filled with a new sense of growing nationalism as the economy boomed and the nation recovered from the Civil War and Reconstruction. The Columbian Exposition was an important event during the Gilded Age that boosted nationalism.⁴ Americans wanted to highlight and show off their own culture and art to the world during the Columbian Exposition, which helped to cause the increase in nationalism. With the increase of nationalism and a rapidly growing extreme upper class, philanthropy and patronage became common in the era. Noblesse Oblige is a common practice amongst the elite where they felt it was their responsibility to be generous and courteous towards those in middle and lower classes. People such as Caroline Astor played important roles in promoting the concept of noblesse oblige, with Greg King even describing them as “Modern day Medici.”⁵ Music came more into the view as the search for American culture and identity was broadened. The European tradition of music dominated the United States for most of its life outside of folk pieces like Chester or the cultural music of Natives, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc. Europeans also tended to dominate the leadership in American centers of music, such as Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi being the first director of the Metropolitan Opera and later being run by the German composer, Gustav Mahler. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra was founded by an American but had many non-American conductors in its first half century of existence.

A nationalized conservatory of music was one of the answers to creating an identity of American music and it was started by a woman who has been pushed off to the side in history. Jeannette Meyers Thurber founded the conservatory in 1885 and began a legacy of music that would deeply impact the country.⁶ The conservatory was founded with the financial help of the US congress but also some of the major philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie.⁷ The conservatory lasted well into the 1920s until it was hit hard by the Great Depression before eventually becoming defunct in 1952.⁸ The conservatory helped to foster musicians of any race, sex, and class background in order to further American musicians and music. The legacy of the conservatory would slowly fade away in favor of more prestigious conservatories such as the Curtis Institute which was founded in 1923. However, the forgotten history of Thurber and the conservatory would forever change music as she brought over Dvorak and commissioned his great work: Symphony No. 9.

Jeannette Meyers Thurber began the majority of her musical training in the 1860s when she was sent off to the Paris Conservatory.⁹ Not much is known about her time in the conservatory; however, according to other conservatory alumni she would have had to study a plethora of musical concepts and perfect them: piano (her primary instrument), solfeggio, counterpoint, composition, etc. ¹⁰ The Paris Conservatoire was known as one of the most prestigious music academies in the world, with professors such as Charles Gounod and alumni such as Camille Saint-Saens, Gabriel Faure, Jules Massanet, and Nadia Boulanger. Thurber’s own musical abilities have been discredited by some musicologists due to a lack of evidence regarding her performance and or compositions she wrote.¹¹ However, the Paris Conservatory has produced some of the finest musicians in history and was extremely difficult to get into, especially for a woman in the 1860s. Thurber’s musical background greatly influenced her dealing with the conservatory and how she would commission works. Thurber married a wealthy businessman, Francis Beattie Thurber, soon after her studies at the conservatory. Jeannette Thurber would often sign as “Mrs F.B Thurber”, as most women in the 19th century would do.

Thurber used her connections in the upper class world of New York City in order to establish the national conservatory and find some of the most fine musicians in the world which included the conductor, Anton Seidl.¹² 1888-1891 were bold years for Thurber as she promoted the conservatory, went to congress, sponsored events, and began the quest for American music. During those years, her New York Philharmonic subscriptions were signed as “J.M Thurber”, which was almost completely unheard of for women of her status.¹³ The change in her signature signified the boldness of what she was doing for the conservatory. In 1891 Thurber had successfully petitioned the US Senate to incorporate the National Conservatory of Music Of America.¹⁴ Thurber hired Czech composer Antonin Dvorak and brought him over to the United States shortly after the National Conservatory was incorporated. Thurber initially wanted Dvorak to compose an opera based on The Song of Hiawatha, B430, in order to create an American opera.¹⁵ Dr. Dvorak’s position in the conservatory opened up the opportunity to write a symphony in order to establish a new style of nationalized American music with the help of Thurber and the New York Philharmonic. Thurber is credited with creating the subtitle to Dvorak’s symphony, “From the New World.” ¹⁶ Dvorak would attempt to create a piece of music to encapsulate the American spirit by using different musical devices from a wide range of American cultures. Jeannette Thurber harbored inclusivity in her conservatory in order to promote more of an American sound, which helped the composer be able to study deeper into American traditions. The American sound that Thurber and Dvorak wanted was music that showcased America through its vast lands, peoples, culture, and accomplishments. Dvorak’s contemporaries, such as Johannes Brahms, eagerly awaited Dvorak’s composition to see how it would change American music.¹⁷

Dvorak’s music had unique inspirations from African-American and Native-American styles that is seen throughout his music but was still within the European tradition.¹⁸ Much of Dvorak’s American music made use of the major pentatonic scale, which is a 5 note scale using the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth degrees of a typical 8 note scale. The pentatonic scale is commonly found in folk music, east-Asian music, and many different traditional music of cultures. The scale is very prominent in Dvorak’s String Quartet no. 12 (See Appendix A).¹⁹ The use of the pentatonic scale in the string quartet is used to create less a European styled piece and something that is more American or folk-like. Musicians have been divided on whether the piece is truly American, with some modern day Musicians even describing it as sounding much more “Asian.” The string quartet was still recognized as a solid piece of music and is still regularly performed by string musicians, even though people tend to be divided on the exact style of the music.

Dvorak’s masterpiece, Symphony no. 9, tried to replicate the American style using his inspirations from African-American and Native-Americans along with the techniques used in other pieces of his. The fourth movement of his symphony is one of the more played movements of the symphony due to its triumphant style. The piece opens with half-step movements in the strings before rising in pitch and leading into the main theme of the movement. The main theme takes on a triumphant natural minor melody that is accompanied by large chords from the majority of the orchestra striking on the first beat of the measure and then the first and third beats along with fast string movements under the melody (See Appendix A).²⁰ The movement continues with the main theme developing and going between the different families of the orchestra. The movement has some of Dvorak’s influences within its rhythm and melodic structure later on the piece; however, there are still many different European influences in the harmonic structure and overall flow of the piece, which caused it to never feel truly American.

The harmonic structure in the first section of the fourth movement is fairly simple and traditional (i iv i i iv V i).

The other movements of the symphony have more unique structures compared to the fourth. The first movement of the symphony helps to create a unique slate that Dvorak had been working with. The different melodies that appear throughout movement contain more unique rhythms with syncopated sixteenth notes and thirtysecond notes (See Appendix A.)²¹ European traditions are still prevalent within the movement as it slowly becomes more bombastic. The second movement is even more unique with its key changes, unique chordal structure, and rhythmic structures dispersed between different instruments. The opening of the second movement starts out with a brass chorale with faggoti and clarinets that has a more unique chord structure (#IV I #IV III bi vi° i)(See Appendix A).²² Overall, the symphony introduced unique ideas while still retaining to many of the European traditions and planted the seed for creating a truly American style of music.

Dvorak was able to create his symphony, among other “American” pieces of music, with the support of Thurber, the conservatory, and Seidl. In 1893, Dvorak completed his symphony and premiered at the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Anton Seidl. The premiere was a success with people and critics alike raving about the piece.²³ As successful as the premiere was, it didn’t highlight the American spirit that the people were hoping they would find within the music. Thurber’s secretary and staunch Wagnerian, James Huneker, often described Dvorak as “naive” in his critical writings.²⁴ However, the symphony still sparked a new nationalistic movement to find the musical identity. Thurber’s contributions from her boldness by creating the conservatory, bringing Dvorak to America, and urging him to create his symphony helped to create the foundation that started the quest for the nationalized style of American Music.

Nadia Boulanger: America’s Educator

Nadia Boulanger is regarded as one of the more influential music educators in the history of western art music.²⁵ Nadia Boulanger was born in Paris, France, 1887, and began her music education quite early as she attended the Paris Conservatory. ²⁶ Boulanger became well known in the conservatory and the French musical community through her compositional abilities. One of her greatest early achievements was winning the Prix de Rome compositional contest in France, a prize that was normally awarded to men. Nadia had a younger sister, Lili, who would eventually become the more famous of the two. Lili’s music was more experimental than Nadia’s and added onto the tradition of French Impressionism that is seen in Debussy and Ravel’s music. Lili Boulanger had numerous health issues and would eventually pass away at the age of 25 in 1918. Lili’s death had a major impact on Nadia as she stopped composing in order to promote Lili’s art, which she deemed to be better. Nadia became a compositional educator for some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century after abandoning her pursuits of composition.

Boulanger worked closely with the modernist and primitivist composer, Igor Stravinsky.²⁷ Stravinsky had been taught earlier by the famous Russian composer, Rimsky-Korsakov, however he left Russia for France and got into correspondence with Nadia Boulanger. The two had a close relationship in which she critiqued his music, notably his Symphony of Psalms.²⁸ Boulanger became more well known through the many connections that she made through both teaching and critiques. Boulanger took on many different American students during her early stint in teaching during the 1920s.²⁹ The educational network of Boulanger ranged from many different composers and conductors that became world renowned, including: Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass, and Quincy Jones. However, one of Boulanger’s students would forever change the plane of American music.

An American student by the name of Aaron Copland came to Paris in order to study under Boulanger early into her educational career. Boulanger and Copland's relationship grew closer throughout the decades as seen through many different letters sent between the two. Early in their student-teacher relationship, Copland would start his letter with “Dear Mademoiselle Boulanger” as he would share his musical and education concepts with her. ³⁰ Later in Copland’s life he would become much more personable in his letters as he signed them, “Dear Nadia,” or wishing her a happy birthday by saying “All my affectionate thoughts are with you on this most memorable birthday.”³¹ Boulanger’s compositional knowledge that was passed onto Aaron Copland would influence him for the rest of his life, as seen throughout the many letters exchanged by two with Copland sending her a postcard in 1932.³² Aaron Copland would have great respect for Boulanger during his life as he wrote many different tributes for her.³³ Outside of their relationship, the two worked very closely together as Boulanger shared her compositional knowledge with Copland. Copland described Boulanger’s teaching, “I remember Boulanger was analyzing something out of Boris Godunov. The enthusiasm with which she was doing it, the sense of her knowing the work cold--but mostly her enthusiasm, her relationship to music as an exciting thing--registered strongly with me.” ³⁴ Copland would also go on to describe her style of teaching and what was important to Boulanger.

At the period when I was her pupil she had but one all-embracing principle, namely the desirability of aiming first and foremost at the creation of what she called "la grande ligne"--the long line in music. Much was included in that phrase: the sense of forward motion, of flow and continuity in the musical discourse; the feeling for inevitability, for the creating of an entire piece that could be thought of as a functioning entity. . . Her eyes, for instance, were always trained upon the movement of the bassline as a controlling agent for the skeletal frame of the harmony's progressive action. Her sense of contrast was acute; she was quick to detect longueurs and any lack of balance. Her teaching, I suppose, was French in that she always stressed clarity of conception and elegance in proportion.³⁵

Copland’s compositions under Boulanger would greatly develop his own style of music during the 1920s and highlight Boulanger’s educational style. One of Copland’s early compositions during his time with Boulanger was his Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. The premiere of Copland’s symphony ended up a disaster due to an accident that Boulanger had and the inability of the organ to work properly.36 The style of Copland's music greatly changed from his Symphony to his later pieces when he had left Nadia’s tutelage. Copland wrote many different pieces of music that ranged in styles during and after his time with Boulanger from the 1930s to the 1980s, such as: Danzon Cubano, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Vitebsk.³⁷ Copland’s ability to write in a wide variety of styles and to develop his own was greatly supported by Boulanger. Boulanger lived in European styles as she was greatly influenced by her teacher, Gabriel Faure.³⁸ The acceptance of many personal styles is seen throughout Boulanger's students because she let them experiment while also teaching them the basic structure of music. Philip Glass, another one of Boulanger's prominent students, ended up developing the style of minimalism in music along with the composer, Steve Reich.³⁹ Minimalism is a vastly different style of music than how Boulanger would write as it was more modern and relied heavily on repetition and polyrhythms. Boulanger’s own compositional style varied greatly from many of her students as her works fell within a typical French impressionistic style. The style itself was greatly important for pushing musical boundaries in the late and early 19th and 20th centuries as it dealt with stronger dissonance and less structure. The differing styles of Boulanger’s students is a testament to her ability to let her students experiment and express themselves.

Boulanger’s teaching and acceptance of stylistic experimentation ultimately culminated in Copland’s masterpiece, Rodeo. Copland’s Rodeo was created for the Ballet Russo De Monte-Carlo. The Ballet was based on the southern country pioneer life with rodeos in order to create something more truly American and the music helped to boost Americanism. Copland had written another ballet that encapsulated the American west before Rodeo, Billy the Kid. The piece of music differed greatly from Dvorak’s 9th as some of Copland’s influences differed. The piece differs from the more traditional European tradition of composition because of the rhythms, use of brass and string together, and some of the percussion that is used.⁴⁰ The ballet was an instant success and it was recognized as truly American music from the music itself to the setting of the ballet. The quest for the American identity of music was finally at an end with Rodeo. Copland would later compose Appalachian Spring Suite which would further the American style of music through the use of traditional American songs such as Simple Gifts.⁴¹ Copland’s further pieces, especially his art songs, contributed even more to the American style of music due to his ability to arrange.

Copland’s Rodeo introduced many different musical techniques in order to create the unique sound of the American West. The first movement of the ballet is entitled Buckaroo Holiday and is created as a fanfare to introduce the ballet but with an American twist. The movement is written in cut-time with half note equals 112, the tempo of the piece adds to the fanfare as it has triumphant syncopation and large open chords within the brass (See Appendix A).⁴² Copland’s use of percussion also helps to create a more unique landscape for the piece in order to describe the American west, such as the xylophone and the slapstick. Copland’s previous American ballet, Billy the Kid, described the American wild west and is similar to Rodeo in its heavy use of brass and open chords. The Saturday Night Waltz section later in the ballet takes on a more unique approach to waltzes that differs from European traditions as it doesn’t use the stand “oom-pah-pah” rhythmic structure and also takes different themes from the American south (See Appendix A).⁴³ The waltz is much more relaxed and helps to create an image of the prairie life. The final movement, Hoedown, continues a more bombastic feeling as it has more complex rhythms and parallel fifth and fourths among the entire orchestra. The opening of the final movements begins with a fanfare-like section with unique rhythms and full chords that transports people in the finale of the love story (See Appendix A).⁴⁴ The movement created a vivid picture of the American west with the fanfare-like feel that continues to use old American themes. Copland’s setting in the American west and his ability to create vivid imagery through his tone painting created a truly American landscape with his sound that captured a new American style of music.

Boulanger’s education was important for finishing the quest of American music and continuing it past Copland. Copland’s pieces were important in creating the style of a nationalized music, but experimentation continued with Boulanger’s later students. Philip Glass’ minimalism is a very American style of music that was worked on with the likes of Steve Reich and neo-minimalist John Adams. Types of minimalism found its way outside of America with composers such as Arvo Part who had developed his own form of minimalism and going beyond it with his style tintinnabuli. Boulanger was the foundation of American music due to her teaching Copland and teaching many other American composers.

Conclusion

The foundations that Jeannette Meyers Thurber and Nadia Boulanger provided to composers from 1890 to 1943 supported the foundation needed to create an American Style of classical music. Thurber establishment of the National Conservatory of Music of America and the commissioning of Dvorak’s 9th symphony helped to start the journey to find American music. Dvorak’s piece sparked a movement among musicians that would later be completed by Copland who created vivid music to depict the American west. Copland’s music came true with the help of Nadia Boulanger’s teaching. Many women in music have been left behind in history due to misogynistic musical canons and the males taking credit for achievements. Jeannette Meyers Thurber and Nadia Boulanger were the true firestarters of American music.

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1. Locke, Ralph P., and Cyrilla Barr, editors Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists since 1860. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, c1997 1997. 134 - 159.
   Rubin, Emanuel. Jeannette Meyers Thurber and the National Conservatory of Music. American Music 8, no. 3 (1990): 294–325. https://doi.org/10.2307/3052098. ↩
2. Rosenstiel, Léonie. Nadia Boulanger: A life in Music. New York : W.W. Norton, 1982. ↩
3. Dvorak’s 9th Symphony was originally named 5th Symphony, however it has become more famous under the title of the 9th and many musicologists still refer to it as the 9th. ↩
4. Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2003. ↩
5. King, Greg. A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York., John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2008. ↩
6. Rubin, Jeannette Meyers Thurber and the National Conservatory of Music, 1. ↩
7. Locke and Barr, Cultivating Music in America, 147-148. ↩
8. Locke and Barr, Cultivating Music in America, 157-158. ↩
9. Locke and Barr, Cultivating Music in America, 136. ↩
10. Rosenstiel, Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, 36-39. ↩
11. Locke and Barr, Cultivating Music in America, 134. ↩
12. Rubin, Jeannette Meyers Thurber and the National Conservatory of Music, 306. ↩
13. Subscriber Book, 1 Sep 1888 - 31 Aug 1889, Folder 714-05-11, Customer Relations/Audience Services Records, New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives. ↩
14. Congressional Records-Senate, March 3 1891. Library of Congress Archives. ↩
15. New-York tribune. (New York, NY), Dec. 15 1893. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83030214/1893-12-15/ed-1/. 7. B430 refers to the Burghauser catalogue system of Dvorak’s music. ↩
16. Rubin, Jeannette Meyers Thurber and the National Conservatory of Music. 308. ↩
17. 1893 Dvorak Press Clippings, 22 Oct 1892 - 17 Dec 1893, Folder 1099-01-01, Communications/Public Relations Records, New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives. 6. ↩
18. The European tradition of music in the late 19th century was heavily inspired by the works of composers such as Brahms and Wagner. Brahms emphasized a Neo-Classical style that emphasized melody and structure. Wagner’s style emphasized more scale in music through his Gesamkuntswerk, or “total art”, and more experimental harmony. ↩
19. Dvorak, Antonin. String Quartet no. 12. Berlin: N. Simrock, 1894. Plate 10,133. 1893, 1. ↩
20. Antonin, Dvorak. Symphony No. 9: From the New World. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1990. 110 Natural minor is a musical mode/scale that creates a more “sad” or darker tone through the use of a lowered third. Natural minor indicates that the scale isn’t altered in any way. ↩
21. Antonin, Dvorak. Symphony No. 9. 4.
    Syncopation is a musical term for when the emphasis is between the beats rather than on the beats. ↩
22. Antonin, Dvorak. Symphony No. 9. 57.
    Fagotti is the plural term for fagotto or a bassoon. ↩
23. 1893 Dvorak Press Clippings, 22 Oct 1892 - 17 Dec 1893. 6. ↩
24. Huneker, James. Mezzotints in Modern Music: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Richard Strauss, Liszt, and Wagner.1899. 96. ↩
25. Western art music is the scholarly term for “classical music.” ↩
26. Rosenstiel, Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, 30-40. ↩
27. Modernism is a general term for modern musical styles in the 20th century. Primitivism is a specific style that Stravinsky used early on in his career, most notably through his ballet Le Sacre du Printemps ↩
28. Kimberly, Francis. Teaching Stravinsky: Nadia Boulanger and the Consecration of a Modernist Icon. Oxford University Press, 2015. 37-64. ↩
29. Brown, Bruce. Nadia Boulanger: Her Influence on Music. Midwestern University. 1974. 78-84. ↩
30. Copland. Letter from Aaron Copland to Nadia Boulanger, 1923, 08-12. ↩
31. Copland. Letter from Aaron Copland to Nadia Boulanger, undated. There is no known romantic relationship between Boulanger and Copland as he was a known homosexual. ↩
32. Copland. Letter from Aaron Copland to Nadia Boulanger, November 11, 1932. ↩
33. Copland. A Tribute to Nadia Boulanger. 1967. Manuscript/Mixed Material. ↩
34. Brown, Nadia Boulanger: Her Influence on American Music, 66. ↩
35. Brown, Nadia Boulanger: Her Influence on American Music, 68. ↩
36. Rosenstiel, Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, 188-189. ↩
37. Brown, Nadia Boulanger: Her Influence on American Music, 149-150. ↩
38. Rosenstiel, Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, 54-55. ↩
39. Glass, Philip. Words Without Music. Liveright, 2016. 137-138. ↩
40. Copland, Aaron. Bernstein, Leonard. Rodeo. Boosey and Hawkes, inc. 1942. ↩
41. Aaron, Copland. Bernstein, Leonard. Appalachian Spring Suite. Boosey and Hawkes, inc. 1942. ↩
42. Copland, Aaron. Rodeo, 1.
    Open chords are chords that lack a third and are typically fifths (as seen in genres such as rock and metal) or fourths. ↩
43. Copland, Aaron. Rodeo, 65. ↩
44. Copland, Aaron. Rodeo, 69. ↩

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