1.
1912 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1912. February 28 – In a concert in Copenhagen, Carl Nielsen conducts the premiere of his Symphony No.3, march – Hart A. Wand publishes Dallas Blues, a jazz standard and an early published blues song. June 26 – Gustav Mahlers Symphony No.9 is premiered in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bruno Walter, handy publishes The Memphis Blues, one of the first blues songs to become a hit. October 16 – Arnold Schoenbergs Pierrot Lunaire debuts at the Berlin Choralion-Saal, aino Ackté founds an opera festival in Savonlinna, after a period of dormancy, the Savonlinna Opera Festival will become one of the most important cultural events in Finland. The Birmingham Triennial Music Festival is held for the last time, William Henry Bell becomes director of the South African College of Music in Cape Town. After All That Ive Been To You w. Jack Drislane m. Chris Smith Alexanders Ragtime Band w. m, Irving Berlin, E. Ray Goetz, A. Baldwin Sloane All Night Long w. m. Shelton Brooks And The Green Grass Grew All Around w. William Jerome m. Harry Von Tilzer At The Devils Ball w. m, Irving Berlin Baby Seals Blues m. Artie Matthews Bagdad w. Anne Caldwell m, victor Herbert Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee w. Stanley Murphy m. Henry I. W. Elmer Bowman m. Chris Smith Beckys Got A Job In A Musical Show w. m, Irving Berlin Come Back To Me, My Melody Irving Berlin, Ted Snyder Come Back To Playland With Me w. m. Irving Berlin Down In Dear Old New Orleans w. Joe Young m. Conrad & Whidden Dreams Of Long Ago w. Earl Carroll m, enrico Caruso The Elevator Man Going Up, Going Up, Going Up, Going Up. w. m. Irving Berlin Everybody Loves A Chicken w. m, bobby Jones Everybody Two-Step w. Earl C. Jones m. Wallie Herzer Florida Rag V. Lowry The Funny Little Melody w. m, Irving Berlin Giannina Mia w. Otto Harbach m. Rudolf Friml Goodnight, Nurse w. Thomas J. Gray m. W. Raymond Walker He Played It On His Fid, Fid, Fiddle-dee-dee w. m. E. Ray Goetz & Irving Berlin Hitchy-Koo w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Lewis F. Muir & Maurice Abrahams Im Afraid, Pretty Maid, Im Afraid w. m. Irving Berlin Im The Lonesomest Gal In Town w. Lew Brown m. Albert Von Tilzer In My Harem w. m, Irving Berlin In the Garden w. m. C. Austin Miles Its A Long Way To Tipperary w. m, Jack Judge & Harry H. Williams Keep Away From The Fellow Who Owns An Automobile w. m. Irving Berlin Kentucky Sue by Lew Brown The Land Of Golden Dreams w. C. M. Denison m. E. F. Dusenberry Last Night Was The End Of The World w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer The Last Shot Got Him w. m, Leo Silesu Love Is Like A Firefly w. Otto Harbach m
2.
1917 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1917. S. See Category, Musical groups established in 1917 All The World Will Be Jealous Of Me w. Al Dubin m. Ernest R. Ball Any Time Is Kissing Time w. Oscar Asche m, frederic Norton from the musical Chu Chin Chow Are You From Heaven. W. m. L. Wolfe Gilbert & Anatole Friedland A Bachelor Gay w. Frank Clifford Harris & Valentine m. James W. Tate from the musical The Maid of the Mountains Barnyard Blues w. m. Edwin B. Charles Shisler Cheer Up, Liza John L. Golden, Raymond Hubbell Cleopatra Had A Jazz Band w. Jack Coogan m, jimmy Morgan Come To The Fair w. Helen Taylor m. Easthope Martin The Darktown Strutters Ball w. m, shelton Brooks Dixie Jass Band One-Step Original Dixieland Jass Band Down in the Valley trad US Eileen w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert For Me And My Gal w. Edgar Leslie & E. Ray Goetz m. George W. Meyer For Your Country and My Country w. m. Irving Berlin Give a Man a Horse He Can Ride w. James Thomson m. Geoffrey OHara Give Me the Moonlight, Hirsch Good Luck and God Be With You, Laddie Boy w. Gus Edwards Good Bye Broadway, Hello France w. C. Francis Reisner & Benny Davis m, goodbye, Mule, with Yer Old Hee-Haw. w. William Herschell m. Barclay Walker Good-bye, That Means You w. Andrew B, sterling m. Arthur Lange Good-bye-ee w. m. R. P. Weston & Bert Lee Hail, the Gangs All Here w. D. A. Esrom m. Theodore F. Morse & Arthur Sullivan Have A Heart w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Hawaiian Butterfly w. George A. Billy Baskette & Joseph H. Santley Homeward Bound m. George Meyer w. Howard Johnson, teresa del Riego How Can I Forget When Theres So Much To Remember w. m. Irving Berlin Huckleberry Finn by Cliff Hess I Dont Know Where Im Going But Im On My Way w. m, willie White Ill Take You Back To Italy w. m. Irving Berlin Im All Bound Round With The Mason-Dixon Line w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m, irving Berlin, Edgar Leslie & George W. Meyer Lily Of The Valley w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Fred Fisher Love Will Find A Way w. Harry Graham m, introduced by José Collins in the musical The Maid of the Mountains Madmoiselle From Armentieres w. m. anon McNamaras Band w. John J. Stamford m. Shamus OConnor The Modern Maidens Prayer w. Ballard MacDonald m. James F. Hanley My Sunshine Jane w. J. Keirn Brennan m. Ernest R. Ball My Sweetie w. m. Al Jolson, B. G. DeSylva & Gus Kahn Napoleon w. P. G, Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Nesting Time In Flatbush w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Oh Its A Lovely War w. m. Maurice Scott Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh, abe Olman Ole Miss Rag w. m. Handy On The Road To Home Sweet Home w. Gus Kahn m, egbert van Alstyne Ostrich Walk m. Edwin B
3.
1920 in art
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February 1 – National Art Gallery opens in Tblisi. November 7 – The mass action The Storming of the Winter Palace, the Cologne Dadaist group is formed by Jean Arp, Max Ernst and Alfred Grünwald. Katherine Dreier, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp form Société Anonyme, bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada set up the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. Heckscher Museum of Art established in Huntington, New York, latvian Museum of Foreign Art established in Riga. Art historian Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler publishes Der Weg Zum Kubismus, W. January 17 – Georges Pichard, French comics artist. January 30 – Patrick Heron, English painter, writer and designer, march 3 – Ronald Searle, English cartoonist. March 14 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist, march 27 – Robin Jacques, English illustrator. April 8 – Hans Coper, German-born studio potter, april 24 – Paul Wonner, American painter. May – Hans Josephsohn, German-born sculptor, may 8 Saul Bass, American graphic designer and filmmaker. Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist, may 10 - Erna Viitol, Estonian sculptor June 4 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, muralist, sculptor and engraver. June 24 John Coplans, painter, photographer Jimmy Ernst, American painter born in Germany, June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animator, sculptor. July 20 – Arthur Boyd, Australian painter and sculptor, july 21 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter, one of the innovators of Unitary Urbanism. August 5 – George Tooker, painter, august 15 – Judy Cassab, born Judit Kaszab, Austrian-born Australian portrait painter. August 22 – Gene Davis, American painter, august 26 Mauri Favén, Finnish painter. October 31 – Helmut Newton, photographer, november 23 – Wayne Thiebaud, American painter. December 18 – Enrique Grau, Colombian painter and sculptor, december 21 – Bob Bindig, American illustrator Elaine Hamilton, American painter
4.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
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The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991 and its administrative and rehearsal base is at the nearby CBSO Centre, where it also presents chamber concerts by members of the orchestra and guest performers. Each year the orchestra performs more than 130 concerts to audiences totalling over 200,000 people, another 72,000 people each year take part in its learning, participation and outreach events, and 750 local musicians are engaged in its six choirs and the CBSO Youth Orchestra. The CBSOs current music director is Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, effective with the 2016-2017 season, the CBSOs current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock. Birminghams most notable early orchestra was the Birmingham Festival Orchestra, which formed as a group of 25 musicians in 1768 but by 1834 had grown into an orchestra of 147. This was eclipsed as the leading orchestra at the end of the 19th century by George Halfords Orchestra. The period between 1905 and 1920 saw this demand for orchestral music met by a number of competing enterprises. Landon Ronald presented a season of promenade concerts at the Theatre Royal in New Street from 1905 to 1914 with a 70-strong orchestra made up largely of Birmingham-based musicians. During its early years the orchestra was sometimes referred to as the Birmingham City Orchestra, as a result, a shortlist of four candidates was drawn up from the numerous applications for the post, though the initial one-year contract came to limit the choice to local applicants. The eventual appointee was Appleby Matthews, who had been running his own orchestra in the city since 1916 and had support from local music critics on the selection panel. Richard Wassell was appointed as Assistant Conductor, the CBOs first concert was given under Matthews baton as part of the Sunday series at the Theatre Royal on 5 September 1920, with the first piece of music performed being Granville Bantocks Saul. He had only limited experience in any of these roles, however, the CBO committee had two candidates in mind to replace Matthews, Eugene Goossens and Adrian Boult. For a while they explored the possibility of appointing both as joint conductors, but were convinced by Ernest de Sélincourt that this idea was unworkable. The urbane, Oxford-educated Boult was also dealing with influential local citizens. Boult brought a vision for the orchestras future, building on Matthews foundations. Some of the conductors in Europe were brought in to guest conduct, including Bruno Walter, Pierre Monteux, Ernest Ansermet. The orchestra made its first commercial recording in 1925. and building up the diary of out-of-town concerts. The advance made within a season is so considerable as to be remarkable
5.
Granville Bantock
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Sir Granville Ransome Bantock was a British composer of classical music. Granville Bantock was born in London and his father was an eminent Scottish surgeon. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but he suffered poor health, at the age of 20, when he began studying composers manuscripts, at South Kensington Museum Library, he was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at Trinity College of Music, in 1888 he entered the Royal Academy of Music where he studied harmony and composition with Frederick Corder winning the Macfarren Prize in the first year it was awarded. Early conducting engagements took him around the world with a comedy troupe. He founded a magazine, The New Quarterly Music Review. He was also conductor of the Liverpool Orchestral Society with which he premiered Deliuss Brigg Fair on 18 January 1908 and he became Principal of the Birmingham and Midland Institute school of music in 1900. He was a friend of fellow composer Havergal Brian. He was Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham from 1908 to 1934, in 1934, he was elected Chairman of the Corporation of Trinity College of Music in London. His students included the conductor and composer Anthony Bernard and the composer Eric Fogg, in 1898 he married Helena von Schweitzer who acted as a librettist for him. He was influential in the founding of the City of Birmingham orchestra, Bantocks Hebridean Symphony was recorded by the CBO on 28 January 1925 at Riley Hall, Constitution Hill, Birmingham. This acoustic version, conducted by Adrian Boult, was never released and his music was influenced by folk song of the Hebrides and the works of Richard Wagner. Many of his works have an element, including the choral epic Omar Khayyám. Among his other works are the overture The Pierrot of the Minute. Many of his works have been recorded since the early 1990s. Shortly after the death in London, in 1946, a Bantock Society was established. Its first president was Jean Sibelius, whose music Bantock championed during the years of the century. Sibelius dedicated his Third Symphony to Bantock, edward Elgar dedicated the second of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches to Bantock
6.
Edward Elgar
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Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello and he also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the Kings Musick in 1924, although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically and he nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. His later full-length religious choral works were received but have not entered the regular repertory. In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a concerto that were immensely successful. His second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity, Elgars music came, in his later years, to be seen as appealing chiefly to British audiences. His stock remained low for a generation after his death and it began to revive significantly in the 1960s, helped by new recordings of his works. Some of his works have, in recent years, been taken up again internationally, Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously. Between 1914 and 1925, he conducted a series of recordings of his works. Edward Elgar was born in the village of Lower Broadheath, outside Worcester. His father, William Henry Elgar, was raised in Dover and had apprenticed to a London music publisher. In 1841 William moved to Worcester, where he worked as a tuner and set up a shop selling sheet music. In 1848 he married Ann Greening, daughter of a farm worker, Edward was the fourth of their seven children. Ann Elgar had converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before Edwards birth, William Elgar was a violinist of professional standard and held the post of organist of St. Georges Roman Catholic Church, Worcester, from 1846 to 1885. At his instigation, masses by Cherubini and Hummel were first heard at the Three Choirs Festival by the orchestra in which he played the violin, all the Elgar children received a musical upbringing. Elgars mother was interested in the arts and encouraged his musical development and he inherited from her a discerning taste for literature and a passionate love of the countryside. His friend and biographer W. H, Billy Reed wrote that Elgars early surroundings had an influence that permeated all his work and gave to his whole life that subtle but none the less true and sturdy English quality
7.
Gustav Holst
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Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for The Planets, he composed a number of other works across a range of genres. His distinctive compositional style was the product of influences, Richard Wagner. There were professional musicians in the three generations of Holsts family and it was clear from his early years that he would follow the same calling. He hoped to become a pianist, but was prevented by neuritis in his right arm, despite his fathers reservations, he pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Unable to support himself by his compositions, he played the trombone professionally and later became a great one. He was the founder of a series of Whitsun music festivals, a shy man, he did not welcome this fame, and preferred to be left in peace to compose and teach. In his later years his uncompromising, personal style of composition struck many music lovers as too austere, nevertheless, he was a significant influence on a number of younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s. Holst was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the elder of the two children of Adolph von Holst, a musician, and his wife, Clara Cox. Holsts great-grandfather, Matthias Holst, born in Riga, Latvia, was of German origin, matthiass son Gustavus, who moved to England with his parents as a child in 1802, was a composer of salon-style music and a well-known harp teacher. He appropriated the aristocratic prefix von and added it to the name in the hope of gaining enhanced prestige. Holsts father, Adolph von Holst, became organist and choirmaster at All Saints Church, Cheltenham, he also taught and his wife, Clara, a former pupil, was a talented singer and pianist. They had two sons, Gustavs younger brother, Emil Gottfried, became known as Ernest Cossart, an actor in the West End, New York. Clara died in February 1882, and the moved to another house in Cheltenham. Gustav recognised her devotion to the family and dedicated several of his compositions to her. In 1885 Adolph married Mary Thorley Stone, another of his pupils and they had two sons, Matthias and Evelyn. Mary von Holst was absorbed in theosophy and not greatly interested in domestic matters, Holst was taught to play the piano and the violin, he enjoyed the former very much more than the latter
8.
London Symphony Orchestra
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The London Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1904, is the oldest of Londons symphony orchestras. It was set up by a group of players who left Henry Woods Queens Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services, the LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset, the LSO was organised on co-operative lines and this practice continued for the orchestras first four decades. The profit-sharing principle was abandoned in the era as a condition of receiving public subsidy for the first time. In the 1950s the orchestra debated whether to concentrate on work at the expense of symphony concerts. By the 1960s the LSO had recovered its position, which it has retained subsequently. In 1966, to perform alongside it in works, the orchestra established the LSO Chorus, originally a mix of professional and amateur singers. As a self-governing body, the orchestra selects the conductors with whom it works, at some stages in its history, it has dispensed with a principal conductor and worked only with guests. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in the Barbican Centre in the City of London, among its programmes there have been large-scale festivals celebrating composers as diverse as Berlioz, Mahler and Bernstein. At the turn of the century there were no permanent salaried orchestras in London. The main orchestras were those of Covent Garden, the Philharmonic Society and he would then engage another player to deputise at him for the original concert and the rehearsals for it. The treasurer of the Philharmonic Society described the system thus, A and he sends B to the first rehearsal. B, without knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play at the concert, C sends D, in 1904, the manager of the Queens Hall, Robert Newman and the conductor of his promenade concerts, Henry Wood, agreed that they could no longer tolerate the deputy system. After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with dozens of unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came to the platform and announced, Gentlemen, in future there will be no deputies. Orchestral musicians were not highly paid, and removing their chances of better-paid engagements permitted by the deputy system was a financial blow to many of them. The principal movers were three players and a trumpeter, John Solomon. Busby organised a meeting at St. Andrews Hall, not far from the Queens Hall, invitations were sent to present and former members of the Queens Hall Orchestra
9.
Die tote Stadt
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Rodenbachs novel Bruges la Morte had already been adapted by the author into a play. The play was translated into German by Siegfried Trebitsch under the title Die stille Stadt, Trebitsch was a friend of Korngolds father Julius. The two met in the one day and got into a conversation about a possible operatic adaptation. Trebitsch later met Erich, who was enthusiastic about the project, Trebitsch recalled met the young master Erich Wolfgang Korngold in search of a scenario or, even better, a mood or operatic background that could be dramatically elaborated. I urged him to take up Das Trugbild, however, his work on two of his own plays prevented him from getting much further, and since his prose was wordy and unsingable anyway, we gladly excused him from the task. Father and son decided to adapt the play themselves, and co-wrote the libretto, Julius decided to change the plot so that the murder occurs in a dream, rather than in actuality, as in the original. Korngold started the composition in 1916 and he left it for a year to take up military service before resuming and completing the score. When Die tote Stadt had its premiere on December 4,1920, the success of these earlier works was so great that Die tote Stadt was subject to a fierce competition among German theatres for the right to the world premiere. In the end, a double premiere was arranged and the opera opened simultaneously at the Stadttheater Hamburg. In Cologne, the conductor was Otto Klemperer, and his wife Johanna Geisler sang Marietta, in Hamburg, Korngold himself was in the theatre, and the conductor was Egon Pollak. Die tote Stadt was one of the greatest hits of the 1920s, within two years of its premiere it had circled the globe, including several performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. But the work was banned by the Nazi régime because of Korngolds Jewish ancestry, the key postwar revivals of the piece were at the Vienna Volksoper and the New York City Opera. In recent years, however, the work has enjoyed notable revivals, among others at the Theater Bonn, the Royal Opera House, the French premiere of the opera took place in a concert performance in 1982 at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The first French staged performance was in April 2001 in Strasbourg under the baton of Jan Latham-Koenig with Torsten Kerl, the first UK staged performance was on 27 January 2009 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1986, he directed the episode Glück das mir verblieb of Aria, in the 1989 film, Slaves of New York, directed by James Ivory, an excerpt from the 1975 RCA recording, with Carol Neblett, is heard. He keeps a Temple of Memories in her honor, including paintings, photographs, when his friend Frank pays him a visit at his house and urges him to honor Marie by moving on with his life, Paul flies into a rant, and insists that Marie still lives. He tells Frank that he has met a woman on the streets of Bruges who exactly resembles Marie, soon, the woman, Marietta, a young and beautiful dancer, appears for her rendezvous with Paul. They talk, she is put off by his odd behavior, but persists in trying to interest him in her charms—she sings and dances seductively, Paul meanwhile is driven to a state of extreme anxiety
10.
Three X Sisters
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The Three X Sisters were an American all-girl harmony singing trio, initially known as The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce. They were on stage singing together as early as 1922, and formed their trio in 1924 and they were known on NBC radio as radios foremost harmony trio. Comparable female trios of the day were the Boswell Sisters, the Pickens Sisters, Pearl, Violet, and Jessie had individually all been fairly well known in their theater venues by 1914. Earlier, Pearl and Vi had individually sung in Cumberland, Maryland, theaters, Jessie performed alongside Arthur Yule, her father. She was on the Brooklyn, New York, vaudeville circuit and beyond - as a child star Baby Helen, her stepping-stone success through songs. Pearl Hamilton began her career on Broadway as early as 1917 and her roommate during this era was Joan Page, another Stars of the Future entertainer/singer. The average salary in 1919 was $22.00 per week for the All Jazz Revue chorus girls, Pearl started out as a soft shoe and high-kick dancer, and received positive dance reviews. The Hamiltons began their singing careers in harmony at the Haymarket Theatre in Chicago. Some walk-on or cameo parts in silent films with Paramount Pictures showed their dancing talents, Violet had been chosen in 1926 by Paramount, exclusively, for a scene of her Charelston dance moves. Later references to this accompanied their singing career. In 1920, Pearl and Violet, were part of the vocal chorus. A later addition was friend Jessie Fordyce with the All Jazz Revue showcase, Pearl and Violet started entertaining with the All Jazz Review, their first known performance, sponsored by Irons & Clamage and the Swear Club was reviewed by The Billboard on January 10,1920. Pearl, a tall, willowy girl, Is a dancing wonder as her artistry in dance had become well known, the trio started out on Broadway and in vaudeville, with Helen Kane Schroeder, the original Boop-boop-a-Doop Girl. The trio did various song and dance acts, eventually settling for close harmony, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce earliest known performance together was at B. F. Keiths Theater in Syracuse, New York, on May 13,1923. In 1924, they toured in vaudeville, with Helen Schroeder. Pearls harmony trio had the musicianship of the Raymond Fagan Orchestra, Pearl Hamilton met Ed Santos, who played trumpet with Fagans band, and a year later they married in Rochester, New York. During early July 1925, The Hamilton Sisters and Jessie Fordyce were singing at the Eighty-First Street Theatre, in 1926, the trio toured with another popular all-girl act, Jerry and her Baby Grands, appearing together at the Palace Theater in New York. They also toured together in Canada, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce gained enough success to tour abroad
11.
Blues
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Blues is a genre and musical form originated by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre developed from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blue notes, usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch, are also a part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove, Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times, Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the troubles experienced in African-American society. Many elements, such as the format and the use of blue notes. The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery and, later and it is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century, the first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, such as Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues, World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a form called blues rock evolved. The term blues may have come from blue devils, meaning melancholy and sadness, the phrase blue devils may also have been derived from Britain in the 1600s, when the term referred to the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils, by the 1800s in the United States, the term blues was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase blue law, which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, in lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood. The lyrics of traditional blues verses probably often consisted of a single line repeated four times. Two of the first published songs, Dallas Blues and Saint Louis Blues, were 12-bar blues with the AAB lyric structure. Handy wrote that he adopted this convention to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times, the lines are often sung following a pattern closer to rhythmic talk than to a melody
12.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
