Overview

This book offers a comprehensive look at musical representations of native America from the pre-colonial past through the American West and up to the present. The discussion covers a wide range of topics from the ballets of Lully in the court of Louis XIV to popular ballads of the 19th century; from 18th-century British-American theatre to the musical theatre of Irving Berlin; from chamber music by Dvorak to film music for Apaches in Hollywood Westerns. Michael Pisani demonstrates how European colonists and their descendents were fascinated by the idea of race and ethnicity in music, and he examines how music contributed to the complex process of cultural mediation. Pisani reveals how certain themes and metaphors changed over the centuries and shows how much of this 'Indian music', which was and continues to be largely imagined, alternately idealised and vilified the peoples of native America.

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9780300108934

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Reviews

Michael Pisani brilliantly combines precise musical analysis with rich cultural and historical contextualization, revealing the development of the Sound of Indian and its critical place in American life. Undoubtedly the definitive work in the fieldand destined to remain so for a very long time. Phil Deloria, author of Indians in Unexpected Places -- Phil Deloria

Author Information

Michael Pisani is associate professor of music at Vassar College.

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