THE INFLUENCE OF JAZZ AND ITS PREDECESSORS ON PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC AFTER 1920

Abstract

In the early 20th Century, jazz music and its predecessors, such as blues, ragtime, and stride piano, began to gain widespread popularity among audiences. Their defining characteristics including syncopated rhythms, improvisation, call and response, polyphony, distinctive harmony, and unique timbre. Many classical composers were intrigued and captivated by these new types of music. Composers such as Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Leonard Bernstein, among many others, were drawn to jazz style and incorporated its elements into their compositions.

This performance dissertation explores how a range of these composers, including both classical and jazz musicians, integrated jazz elements into their works which feature the piano(s), highlighting the creative interplay between the two traditions.

Three recitals were prepared and presented respectively on April 6, 2023, November 14, 2023, and March 24, 2025, at Gildenhorn Recital Hall of the University of Maryland.

The first recital featured works influenced by blues and third stream. The program included the Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major by Maurice Ravel, Three Preludes by George Gershwin, as arranged by Jascha Heifetz, and Points on Jazz by Dave Brubeck.

The second recital (lecture recital) featured works influenced by ragtime and stride piano. The program included The Garden of Eden and Graceful Ghost Rag by William Bolcom, and Café Music by Paul Schoenfeld.

The last recital featured third stream music. The program included The Cape Cod Files by Paquito D’Rivera, the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano by Alec Wilder, the Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Trio for Piano, Flute, and Cello by Nikolai Kapustin.

Recordings can be accessed in the Digital Repository (DRUM) at the University of Maryland.