Music
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Item A Blue Tin Pan: Musical, Cultural, and Personal Contexts of Jazz in the Music of Harold Arlen(2020) England, Sarah Jean; Warfield, Patrick R; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores the compositions of songwriter Harold Arlen, viewing them as musical portraits of the immigrant experience and the racial politics of the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. This approach reveals how Arlen’s upbringing in a racially diverse neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, where Jewish American immigrants and African Americans formed the core of the community, as well as his early years playing in jazz bands and his tenure at the Cotton Club, left a permanent and indelible mark on his compositional style. I trace the influence of African American popular music on his compositional approach, structure, and style. In doing so, this dissertation adds a more nuanced view to narratives about Jewish American songwriters’ use of jazz and blues in Tin Pan Alley song by demonstrating their specific application in the works of one composer. In addition to musical function, the personal and cultural implication of jazz elements in Arlen’s music are also explored.Item "It Was Good Enough for Grandma, But It Ain't Good Enough for Us!" Women and the Nation in Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's Bloomer Girl (1944)(2013) England, Sarah Jean; Warfield, Patrick R; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Broadway musical Bloomer Girl (1944) with score by composer Harold Arlen (1905-1986) and lyricist E.Y. Harburg (1896-1981) was the first book musical to follow in the footsteps of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! The obvious parallels between Oklahoma! and Bloomer Girl led critics and scholars to compare the musicals at the expense of overlooking the contributions the latter made to the genre. This thesis moves Bloomer Girl out from the shadow cast by Oklahoma! and situates it within a richer historical context. It begins with a brief history of Bloomer Girl. It then focuses specifically on both the dramatic and musical representation of women in the work. Using a comparative methodology, this study examines how the women in Bloomer Girl deviate from the model for the Golden Age musical to create a controversial political commentary about the United States in the World War II era.