RE: survey and Musical/Tin Pan Alley

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Sometimes in February, I stopped reading almost all of the Jewish-music 
mail and am just now beginning to catch up with everything.   Just 
found this post.  

First let me say Gideon Aronoff, that I very much appreciated your
comments below.  I have been learning more and more about Lieber and 
Stoller and have become fascinated by all this whole topic.  
Furthermore, it's totally fascinating at how Jews in general are always 
so adept at articulating and defining the local cultural values and 
essences for both Jews and non-Jews whether that its film, or music or 
art, business, or politics, etc.; or whether the country is America, 
Germany, Poland, Italy, France, or Arab countries, etc.

Second, Alex Lubet, do you know or anyone else know what Phillip Roth's 
hilarious explanation of White Christmas and Easter Parade?   I would 
love to hear the explanation.

Did you hear what Cole Porter said when someone asked him how you write
a Broadway melody?   He said "Well, first you start with a Yiddish song."


Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky



----------
From:  Alex Lubet[SMTP:lubet001 (at) maroon(dot)tc(dot)umn(dot)edu]
Sent:  Wednesday, February 11, 1998 12:00 PM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Subject:  Re: survey and Musical/Tin Pan Alley

Responding to the message of <52eb93f6(dot)34e1d23f (at) aol(dot)com>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> Alex Lubet wrote: 
> 
> "I like to think of the musical (also the classic Tin Pan Alley song) as a
> Jewish genre, although I'm not exactly sure what's Jewish about it.
> (lbviously, there are Yiddish theatre antecedents, but I specualte that
> there's more)."
> 
> Alex and all:
> 
> I suspect that the answer will come more from sociology than musicology.  Tin
> Pan Alley, musical theater, as well as the Brill Building songwriters and
> producers like Lieber and Stoller, Phil Specter, Carol King etc. all seem to
> share two characteristics.  There is an obvious deep love of words that seems
> fully appropriate for the "People of the Book."   Also these classic American
> songs seem so deeply non-Jewish, eg. White Christmas, that they can best be
> understood in the context of American assimilationism.  Like the film
> industry, the music business is full of Jews articulating what it means to be
> American, that is to say not Jewish.  All of this is important in
> understanding the place of Jews in American culture, and in no way detracts
> from the wonderful music that these Jews created.
> 
> Alternatively, there is a small trend for some popular performers to add
> explicit Jewish content to their music.  Peter Himmelman, John Zorn, and 
> Phish
> are examples. 
> 
> Gideon Aronoff
> 
> 
>  
>Thanks.  Phillip Roth has a hilarious explanation of White Christmas and Easter
Parade, but I can't remember which novel it's in.  It's hilarity owes a great 
deal to its truth.   


Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 (o)
612 699-1097 (h)
612 626-2200  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)