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| Music of the United States |
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TheMusic of Pennsylvania dates from the pre-colonial-era through the 21st century. During this time,Pennsylvania has been the birthplace for some of the most prominent musicians of their respective eras and the introduction of entire new genres of music to the nation and world.
ThePhilly sound of the 1970s issoul music that includes notable Pennsylvania performersGamble and Huff,The O'Jays,The Stylistics,Teddy Pendergrass,Harold Melvin, andThe Delfonics,jazz legends likeBillie Holiday,Nina Simone, andJohn Coltrane.Philadelphia gave to the musical world diverse singers, such asMarian Anderson,Mario Lanza,Solomon Burke,Chubby Checker,Dee Dee Sharp, and the trio performing asThe Golden Boys,Frankie Avalon,Bobby Rydell, andFabian Forte, who grew up together in the same Philly neighborhood. Philadelphia was also the birthplace ofAmerican Bandstand, and the home ofCameo-Parkway Records and the famedPhiladelphia Orchestra.
The tradition of Pennsylvania's history with music pre-dates theAmerican Revolution. Philadelphia became especially renowned for musical development and was the home of the esteemedAlexander Reinagle,John Christopher Moller,Rayner Taylor, andSusannah Haswell Rowson. Reinagle became the most influential figure in Philadelphia's musical life, organizing a number of concerts, organizations and musical events.Francis Hopkinson, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence, was a notable composer of the period. One of his compositions, "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free", is well-remembered as the first art song from the United States (though this is disputed); it is, however, lacking in originality and innovation to set it apart from European compositions.[citation needed]
During the 19th century,Stephen Foster, one of the most popular American songwriter of the century, was born in theLawrenceville section ofPittsburgh
Severalconcert bands formed in the 19th century during the rise in popularity ofcommunity bands, including theAllentown Band, based inAllentown, andThe Emigsville Band, based inEmigsville.
Pennsylvania musicians and groups include:
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During the 21st century, major bands and musicians from Pennsylvania have include:
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Hip hop music,R&B music, andneo soul music are popular elements of entertainment in Pennsylvania, including:
Pennsylvania has a richjazz music history, especially inPhiladelphia, producingBillie Holiday,Nina Simone,Eddie Lang, andStan Getz. Others includeMcCoy Tyner,Joe Venuti,Jimmy Amadie,Robert Chudnick,Jan Savitt,Philly Joe Jones,Reggie Workman,Lee Morgan,Henry Grimes,Ray Bryant,Tommy Bryant,Jimmy Heath,Albert Heath,Specs Wright,Benny Golson,Bobby Timmons,Hasaan Ibn Ali,Rashied Ali,Muhammad Ali,Sonny Fortune,Kenny Barron,Shirley Scott,Luckey Roberts,Jimmy McGriff,Bobby Durham,Stanley Clarke,Rex Stewart,Eric Reed, among many others. SingerEthel Waters was born in nearbyChester.John Coltrane,Dizzy Gillespie, andOdean Pope, moved to Philadelphia fromthe Carolinas.Pearl Theatre was a notable jazz venue in Philadelphia.[2]
Jazz musicians fromPittsburgh include pianist/composersErroll Garner andAhmad Jamal, bassistPaul Chambers, drummerArt Blakey, pianistDodo Marmarosa, pianistWalt Harper, trumpetersRoy Eldridge andTommy Turrentine, saxophonistStanley Turrentine,hard bop pianistHorace Parlan, singer and bandleaderBilly Eckstine, drummer and bandleaderKenny Clarke, double bassist and cellistRay Brown, double bassistEddie Safranski, drummerRoger Humphries, drummerJeff "Tain" Watts, guitaristGeorge Benson, and singerDakota Staton.Hill District was an important jazz hub from the 1920-50s, including the famous jazz clubCrawford Grill.
Composer, arranger, and trombonistSlide Hampton was born inJeannette. PianistSonny Clark was born inHerminie. SingerMaxine Sullivan was born inHomestead. Influential pianistEarl Hines was fromDuquesne. Influential jazz organistJimmy Smith was fromNorristown. Tenor saxophonistJoe Thomas was born inUniontown. SaxophonistEric Kloss was born inGreenville. TrumpeterJoe Wilder was born inColwyn. PianistKeith Jarrett was born inAllentown. TrombonistLou Blackburn was born inRankin. Organist/pianistGene Ludwig was born inCambria County. Multi-instrumentalistDaniel Carter was born inWilkinsburg. TrumpeterRandy Brecker and saxophonistMichael Brecker were fromCheltenham.Tommy andJimmy Dorsey ofThe Dorsey Brothers were born inSchuylkill County.
TheUnforgettable Big Band ofYork was founded in 2000 inAdams County before moving toYork County in 2001.[3]
Pennsylvania, at the crossroads of Appalachia, the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest has a rich history ofFolk Music sharing influences with many other regions of the nation.[4] Notable artists includeRobert Schmertz a prolific songwriter covered by many artists during he 1960s folk revival and after.George Britton a singer with a long career, who took particular interest in reviving the music of his mother'sPennsylvania Dutch ancestors.[5] Buster Red a depression era singer who often wrote about locales in Pennsylvania.[6][7]Jim Croce arguably one of the most famous folk artist of the 1970s was born and raised in Pennsylvania and worked atWXVU while in college.
During thecolonial era, theProvince of Pennsylvania was home to theQuakers,Moravians, andLutherans. While the Quakers had few musical traditions,Protestant churches made extensive use of music in worship.J. F. Peter emerged from the Moravian tradition.Conrad Beissel, founder of theEphrata Cloister, innovated his own system of harmonic theory. LutheransJohann Sebastian Bach,Dieterich Buxtehude,Johann Pachelbel, andC. F. W. Walther were propagated all over colonial-era Pennsylvania, and especially in present-dayBethlehem, which was the first Lutheran settlement in colonial America and remains a center of Lutheran musical traditions into the 21st century.
The Ephrata Cloister (Community of the Solitary) was founded in what is nowLancaster County on the Cocalico River in 1720. This was a group ofSeventh Day Baptists led by Peter Miller andConrad Beissel, who believed in using music as an integral part of worship.[8] Beissel codified the Ephrata Cloister's unique tradition in hisBeissel's Dissertation on Harmony; here, he divided notes into two types. These weremasters, or notes belonging to the common chord, andservants, or all other notes. Accented syllables in Beissel's works always fell on master notes, leaving servant notes for unaccented syllables. The Ephrata Cloister's hymnbook was large, consisting of more than 1,000 hymns, many of which were accompanied by instruments including the violin. Many of these hymns were published in the 1740s and 1750s.
In 1803 and 1804, a group of Christianpietists led byGeorge Rapp arrived from Württemberg, Germany, settled inHarmony, Pennsylvania, and formed theHarmony Society in 1805. The group livedcommunally, werepacifistic, advocatedcelibacy, and music was a big part of their lives. The Harmonites (or Harmonists) wrote their own music and even had an orchestra. The Society lasted until 1906, but their final settlement,Old Economy Village in present-dayAmbridge, Pennsylvania contains archives with sheet music that is still performed at special community events.
Justus Falckner was the firstLutheran pastor ordained in the United States. He was ordained during 1703 as a minister of theChurch of Sweden in theGloria Dei Church. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of theLutheran Church on November 24. Falckner wrote hymns such asRise, Ye Children of Salvation (German:Auf! ihr Christen, Christi Glieder) which he composed while a student at theUniversity of Halle in 1697. Falckner's published works includeGrondlycke Onderricht which first appeared in New York during 1708. Falckner evidently believed that music was a very important element of missionary work, writing to Germany to ask for an organ, which he said would attract more Native American converts.
TheMennonites, followers ofMenno Simons, settled inGermantown after emigrating from theGerman Palatinate and Switzerland between 1683 and 1748. They were led by Willem Rittinghuysen, grandfather of astronomer and mathematicianDavid Rittenhouse. The Mennonites used a hymnbook fromSchaffhausen, reprinted in the present-dayGermantown section ofPhiladelphia in 1742 asDer Ausbund Das ist etliche schöne christliche Lieder.
Founded in 1457, theMoravian Church originally spread acrossMoravia,Poland, andBohemia before persecution forced the remaining faithful toSaxony, where they lived under the protection of CountNikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Zinzendorf wrote hymns, and led the Moravians to America, where they began missionary work in Georgia but with little success. They moved on to Pennsylvania, and founded the town ofBethlehem on the banks of theLehigh River. A group then left for Salem, North Carolina in present-dayWinston-Salem, North Carolina.
Both in Salem and Bethlehem, Moravians continued to use music in their ceremonies. Instruments included organs and trombones, and voices were usually in choirs. Players generally played on rooftops for most any occasion, ensuring that they could be heard for great distances. A legend has arisen claiming that a group of Native American warriors approached a Moravian settlement during theFrench and Indian War, but left after hearing a trombone choir because they believed it to be the voice of their Great Spirit. Moravians were devoted to missionary work, especially among African slaves and Native Americans; in 1763, they published a collection of hymns in theDelaware language.
Moravians also had a tradition of secular art music that included the famed composerJohann Friedrich Peter, who was a German born in Holland who emigrated to Bethlehem in 1770. He brought with him copies of compositions byJoseph Haydn,Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach,Johann Stamitz andC. F. Abel. After living in Bethlehem for a time, Peter moved to Salem, where he founded theCollegium Musicum (in 1786) and collected hundreds of symphonies, anthems and oratorios. It was during this period that Peter also composed a number of well-respected instrumental pieces for two violins, two violas and a cello; he also composed sacredanthems like "It Is a Precious Thing" andarias like "The Lord Is in His Holy Temple".
The Moravian Church continued to produce a number of renowned composers into the 19th century, includingJohn Antes,Johann Christian Bechler,David Moritz Michael,Jeremiah Dencke,Johannes Herbst, and others. Herbst was also a noted collector, whose archives, left to the Salem church after his death, were made public in 1977; these included more than 11,000 pages of content. Salem has gradually become the center for Moravian musical innovation, partially due to the presence of the Moravian Music Foundation.
In 1694,Johannes Kelpius brought a group of GermanPietists to the banks of theWissahickon Creek. These became known as the Hermits or Mystics of the Wissahickon; an 1871 map of Wissahickon Creek notes a Kelpius spring and Hermits Glen. Kelpius was a musician, and he and his followers brought with them instruments that became an integral part of church life. Kelpius was also a composer, and is sometimes called the first Pennsylvanian composer, based on his unproven authorship of several hymns inThe Lamenting Voice of the Hidden Love. It is likely that he wrote the text, though the tunes are mostly based onGerman songs; the English translations in the collection are attributed to Christopher Witt, an Englishman who immigrated and joined the mystics, also building them a pipe organ, said to be the first privately owned organ in North America.
