New York has been the heart and soul of the American music industry since its earliest beginnings in the 1900s. The invention of the phonograph heralded the formation of music companies, and organizations throughout New York, many of which are still operating today.
Musical Origins
The first occurrences of musical performances in the New York area are credited to the Lenape Indian tribe. Unfortunately, very little beyond this is known. The first solid evidence of music in New York is provided by the Dutch explorers who settled in the area and controlled it until 1664, when the British took over.
The music of this early period is unmistakably British inspired. The Dutch sang what are known as Colonial Ballads. These were songs about current events or pieces of gossip that had been floating around their community. By 1732, this musical tradition had evolved. Ballads were now connected to a story, which tied them together and lengthened them. These ballads were turned into performances, which came to be known as ballad operas; the most famous of them was The Beggars Opera.
It wasn't until 1830 that New York began to rise in intellectual prowess in the art of music. During this period, there was a dramatic increase in choral and musical societies. A surge in nationalism also led to the development of widely popular military bands. In addition, there were singing troupes, with the most popular being the Hutchinson Family. There were also minstrel shows. Minstrel shows were comic acts performed by white actors who painted their faces to look black.
Musical Containment
The rise of musical talent and its popularity among the masses eventually led to the creation of venues in which these performances could be enjoyed. The most well-known of these facilities was (and still is) Carnegie Hall. It has been widely accepted that only the best of the best get the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall is considered the best place in the world to listen to classical music. It was built in 1892, and named for the famous philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Since New York is known for doing everything on a grand scale, it is no surprise that Carnegie Hall isn't the only world famous musical venue in the Empire State. Another of New York's world-renowned music venues is the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which is the largest performing arts center in the world. It is home to 12 different organizations. The most widely recognized include:
Metropolitan Opera
New York Philharmonic
New York City Ballet
New York City Opera
Julliard School
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Established in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest orchestra in the United States. The orchestra has made more than 500 recordings during its lifetime, and was the first orchestra to broadcast a live performance over the radio. It was also the springboard for such famous composers as George Bristow and Theodore Thomas.
New York Musical Talent
George Bristow was one of the most talented musical composers of the late 19th Century. However, Bristow was extremely patriotic, and he eventually left the orchestra because he felt its artistic direction was not patriotic enough. He later conducted an orchestra known as the Harmonic Society, where he popularized the sound of Native American culture into his music.
Theodore Thomas also got his start with the New York Philharmonic, and like Bristow, left for similar reasons. Thomas eventually created the New York Symphony Orchestra., to which he hired popular musicians, and changed the atmosphere of musical performances from elite and formal to a more casual place enjoy live music. For a time this laid-back approach to the orchestra worked for a time, but didn't have a lasting effect.
One of the best known composer in the history of New York music is George Gershwin. Gershwin began his career with Tin Pan Alley, a community of musical writers who published music. He later moved on to writing music for Broadway shows, and is a much loved musical oddity today. His musical compositions were a blend of classical, jazz, vaudeville, ragtime, and operetta, making it almost impossible for music experts to give him a label. The only categorization that has worked so far is "musical genius."
George Gershwin was followed by several other notable composers and their works, which bear mentioning:
Aaron Copeland (Organ Symphony, Music for the Theater and Appalachian Spring)
Roger Sessions (Montezuma)
William Schuman (New England Triptych and Third Symphony)
All of these composers were highly regarded during their time, but no one else would share the same notoriety as Gershwin until the middle of the 20th Century. This is when the most famous modern New York composer would appear: Leonard Bernstein.
Bernstein is known for his classical compositions, such as Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, and Serenade. However, he is best known for his musicals On the Town and West Side Story.
Of course, there's a lot more to New York's musical heritage than classical and Broadway. Harlem clubs established in the jazz age, like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater, jump-started the careers of many well-known African-American musicians, like Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, and Cab Calloway. Even today, these clubs remain vibrant performance spaces.
Early folk musician Pete Seeger helped popularize folk during his generation, while Buffalo's Ani DiFranco has become a trail-blazer in today's folk scene. Folk musicians play all over the state, particularly in coffee houses, community centers, and churches. In central New York, folk music has garnered an especially enthusiastic following.
Numerous types of rock bands have flourished in New York, too, from the avant-garde Velvet Underground to glam rockers New York Dolls to noise bands like Sonic Youth and no-waver Lydia Lunch. The U.S. punk rock movement began here in the mid-1970s, with bands like The Ramones building their followings at CBGB and other area clubs. The Goo Goo Dolls even began their career as a punk band, in their home town of Buffalo. Though they've migrated to Los Angeles since achieving huge commercial success, they return home from time to time to work on albums and perform concerts.
Hip hop originated in the Bronx. Musicians like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash laid the groundwork for the genre in the 1970s, and it really took off in the 1980s with bands like RunDMC and Salt-n-Pepa. In the 1990s, Sean "Puffy" Combs and the Notorious B.I.G. emerged as central figures in the East Coast hip hop scene, as well as in the feud with West Coast rappers.
While New York City is certainly the state's musical hot spot, visitors will find venues and festivals all over, whether in Saratoga Springs or Syracuse. After all, this is the place that brought more than 30 major bands and 500,000 concert-goers to Woodstock in 1969. So no matter what your age or favorite sounds, you'll find someplace to get your groove on in New York.
