Aleutian Islands Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Is.)
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Ellesmer e Island
Baffin Island
Azores (Port.)
Bermuda (U.K.) Canary Islands (Sp.)
Falkland Islands (U.K.)
South Georgia (U.K.)
Svalbard (Norway) Franz Josef Land Novaya Zemlya
New
Aleutian Islands
UZBEKISTAN TURKMENISTAN
Diego Garcia (U.K.)
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INDIAN OCEAN
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Guam (U.S.)
New Caledonia (Fr.) Java
North Island
South Island Tasmania
Antarcti
AMERICA
A Narrative History
David Emory Shi
George Brown Tindall
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC.
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the full edition as follows:
Shi, David E. Tindall, George Brown.
America: a narrative history / David Emory Shi, George Brown Tindall. Tenth edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016. Includes index.
LCCN 2015036484
ISBN 9780393265934 (hardcover)
LCSH: United States—History—Textbooks.
LCC E178.1 .T55 2017 DDC 973—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036484
This edition: 9780393265972 (pbk.)
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FOR MY WIFE, ANGELA HALFACRE SHI
DAVID E. SHI is a professor of history and the president emeritus of Furman University. He is the author of several books on American cultural history, including the awardwinning The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture and Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850–1920.
GEORGE B. TINDALL , recently of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was an awardwinning historian of the South with a number of major books to his credit, including The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945 and The Disruption of the Solid South.
List of Maps • xvii
Preface • xix
Acknowledgments • xxvii
1 The Collision of Cultures 4
Early Cultures in America 6 • European Visions of America 13 • Religious Conflict in Europe 17 • The Spanish Empire 20 • The Columbian Exchange 26 • The Spanish in North America 27 • Challenges to the Spanish Empire 33 • English Exploration of America 35
2 England’s Colonies 40
Religious Conflict and War 41 • American Colonies 43 • The English Civil War in America 58 • The Restoration in the Colonies 59 • The Middle Colonies and Georgia 63 • Native Peoples and English Settlers 69 • Slavery in the Colonies 75 • Thriving Colonies 79
3 Colonial Ways of Life 82
The Shape of Early America 84 • Society and Economy in the Southern Colonies 88 • Society and Economy in New England 90 • Society and Economy in the Middle Colonies 95 • Race-Based Slavery 98 • Colonial Cities 102 • The Enlightenment in America 105 • The Great Awakening 107 xiii
4 From Colonies to States 116
Competing Neighbors 118 • An Emerging Colonial System 123 • Warfare in the Colonies 125 • Regulating the Colonies 133 • The Crisis Grows 138 • The Spreading Conflict 145 • Independence 147
PART TWO BUILDING A NATION 157
5 The American Revolution, 1776–1783 160
Mobilizing for War 162 • American Society at War 171 • Setbacks for the British (1777) 173 • 1778: Both Sides Regroup 176 • A War of Endurance 184 • War as an Engine of Change 186 • The Social Revolution 189 • Slaves and the Revolution 191 • The Emergence of an American Culture 195
6 Strengthening the New Nation 198
Power to the People 199 • The Confederation Government 201 • The “Gathering Crisis” 205 • Creating the Constitution 207 • The Fight for Ratification 215 • The Federalist Era 219 • Hamilton’s Vision of a Capitalist America 222 • Foreign and Domestic Crises 230 • Western Settlement 235 • Transfer of Power 237 • The Adams Administration 238
7 The Early Republic, 1800–1815 246
Jeffersonian Republicanism 248 • War in Europe 260 • The War of 1812 264 • The Aftermath of the War 275
PART THREE AN EXPANDING NATION 283
8 The Emergence of a Market Economy, 1815–1850 286
The Market Revolution 288 • Industrial Development 298 • Popular Culture 307 • Immigration 309 • Organized Labor and New Professions 313
9 Nationalism and Sectionalism, 1815–1828 320
A New Nationalism 322 • Debates over the American System 326 • “An Era of Good Feelings” 327 • Nationalist Diplomacy 331 • The Rise of Andrew Jackson 335
10 The Jacksonian Era, 1828–1840 346
Jacksonian Democracy 348 • Jackson as President 350 • Nullification 361 • War over the B.U.S. 369 • Jackson’s Legacy 378
11 The South, Slavery, and King Cotton, 1800–1860 382
The Distinctiveness of the Old South 384 • The Cotton Kingdom 387 • Whites in the Old South 392 • Black Society in the South 397 • Forging a Slave Community 406
12 Religion, Romanticism, and Reform, 1800–1860 418
A More Democratic Religion 420 • Romanticism in America 431 • The Reform Impulse 440 • The Anti-Slavery Movement 447
13 Western Expansion, 1830–1848 464 Moving West 466 • The Mexican-American War 488
14 The Gathering Storm, 1848–1860 496
Slavery in the Territories 497 • The Emergence of the Republican Party 510 • The Response in the South 523
15 The War of the Union, 1861–1865
530
Choosing Sides 532 • Fighting in the West 540 • Fighting in the East 543 • Emancipation 545 • The War behind the Lines 554 • The Faltering Confederacy 559 • A Transforming War 573
16 The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877
578
The War’s Aftermath in the South 580 • Debates over Political Reconstruction 582 • Blacks under Reconstruction 593 • The Grant Administration 601 • Reconstruction’s Significance 610
Glossary A1
Appendix A67
The Declaration of Independence A67 • Articles of Confederation A72 • The Constitution of the United States A80 • Amendments to the Constitution A92 • Presidential Elections A104 • Admission of States A112 • Population of the United States A113 • Immigration to the United States, Fiscal Years 1820–2013 A114 • Immigration by Region and Selected Country of Last Residence, Fiscal Years 1820–2013 A116 • Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Secretaries of State A125
Further Readings A131
Credits A147
Index A149
PREFACE
This Tenth Edition of America: A Narrative History seeks to improve upon a textbook grounded in a compelling narrative history of the American experience. From the start of our collaboration in 1984, George Tindall and I strove to write an engaging book focused on political and economic developments but animated by colorful characters, informed by balanced analysis and social texture, and guided by the unfolding of key events. Those classic principles, combined with a handy format and low price, have helped make America: A Narrative History one of the most popular and well-respected American history textbooks. This brief edition, which I have crafted by streamlining the narrative by nearly 20 percent, remains the most coherent and lively of its kind.
This Tenth Brief Edition of America features a number of important changes designed to make the text more teachable and classroom-friendly. Chief among them are major structural changes, including the joining of several chapters to reduce the overall number from thirty-four to thirty-two as well as the resequencing of several chapters to make the narrative flow more smoothly for students. Major organizational changes include:
• New Chapter 6, Strengthening the New Nation, combines Shaping a Federal Union and The Federalist Era from previous editions to better integrate the events after the Revolution.
• New Chapter 19, Political Stalemate and Rural Revolt, 1865–1900 combines The Emergence of Urban America and Gilded Age Politics and Agrarian Revolt from previous editions to connect the clash of urban and rural cultures.
In terms of content changes, the overarching theme of the new edition is the importance of the culture of everyday life in understanding American history. While an introductory textbook must necessarily focus on major political, constitutional, diplomatic, economic, and social changes, it is also important to understand how ordinary people managed everyday concerns: housing, jobs, food, recreation, religion, and entertainment.
xix
I have looked to broaden the political narrative by incorporating more social and cultural history into the text, primarily using the refreshed and expanded coverage of the culture of everyday life as the main vehicle for doing so. Key new discussions include:
• Chapter 1, The Collision of Cultures, features new material about Native American religious beliefs and practices as well as aspects of everyday life.
• Chapter 2, England’s Colonies, provides additional insights into the status of indentured servants and slavery in the colonies.
• Chapter 3, Colonial Ways of Life, includes a new portrait of Antonio, an enslaved African brutalized by his Dutch owner in Maryland in the mid-seventeenth century. There is also new material about colonial houses, taverns, diets, and the competition among American colonists for British luxury goods in the 1760s and 1770s.
• Chapter 4, From Colonies to States, has more material on the nonimportation efforts (boycotts of British goods imported into America) led by ordinary Americans. It also includes new material about the conversion of farmers into soldiers after the shooting at Lexington and Concord.
• Chapter 5, The American Revolution, 1776–1783, includes more material about slaves who took advantage of the war to escape or join the British forces, and about the ways in which women, Native Americans, and slaves became engaged in the war effort.
• Chapter 6, Strengthening the New Nation, includes more about Shays’s Rebellion and other expressions of agrarian discontent across the nation that occurred after the Revolution, and more on how women, Native Americans, and slaves figured into the thinking of the Founding Fathers during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
• Chapter 7, The Early Republic, 1800–1815, has new material on the way in which the War of 1812 affected slavery/blacks.
• Chapter 8, The Emergence of a Market Economy, 1815–1850, includes new discussions of the emergence of the cotton culture in the South, the nature of farming, canals, boats, and steamship travel, and the plight of the Irish fleeing the famine at home and heading to America.
• Chapter 9, Nationalism and Sectionalism, 1815–1828, more fully fleshes out the role of labor advocates and unions in helping to forge what would become the Jacksonian movement.
• Chapter 10, The Jacksonian Era, 1828–1840, describes the effects of the Panic of 1837 and the ensuing depression on the working poor.
• Chapter 11, The South, Slavery, and King Cotton, 1800–1860, has substantial new material related to slavery, cotton, and everyday life within African American society. There is also a new discussion of a New Orleans slave uprising led by Charles Deslondes in 1811, the largest slave revolt in American history.
• Chapter 12, Religion, Romanticism, and Reform, 1800–1860, includes enriched treatment of the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening, a rewritten discussion of Mormonism, and a new section on Sylvester Graham and his health reform movement (Grahamism).
• Chapter 13, Western Expansion, 1830-1848, is enlivened by textured portraits of John Fremont and Sam Houston and a much fuller profile of James K. Polk.
• Chapter 15, The War of the Union, 1861–1865, includes new material about the social history of the Civil War, including more material on the everyday life of common soldiers, rioting in opposition to the military draft, and backwoods violence rarely included in discussions of the war, such as the summary of the execution of thirteen Unionists in Madison County, North Carolina.
• Chapter 16, The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877, has more material about former slaves—from their perspective. It also includes new examples of the ways in which the Freedmen’s Bureau helped negotiate labor contracts between white planters and freedmen.
• Chapter 17, Business and Labor in the Industrial Era, 1860–1900, discusses the emergence of a new middle class during the Gilded Age, and includes substantially revised material on women’s and labor history.
• Chapter 18, The New South and the New West, 1865–1900, includes a rewritten section on the emergence of new racial segregation in the South, and also new material about the everyday realities of Western expansion.
• Chapter 21, The Progressive Era, 1890–1920, includes new sections on the attitudes of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson concerning race.
• Chapter 22, America and the Great War, 1914–1920, now discusses the war’s social effects in the United States, with special attention to women, blacks, and Mexican Americans. There is also new material about the grim nature of trench warfare.
• Chapter 23, A Clash of Cultures, 1920–1929, includes new material on the consumer culture, women’s history, and revised material on the Harlem Renaissance with a new profile of Zora Neale Hurston. There are also fresh treatments of the impact of the radio, automobiles, cinema, and airplanes.
• Chapter 26, The Second World War, 1933–1945, includes new material about the social effects of the war at home, including the wartime experience of Mexican Americans.
• Chapter 27, The Cold War and the Fair Deal, 1945–1952, includes new coverage of George Kennan’s role in inspiring the containment doctrine, women industrial workers, and also the efforts of Latinos to gain equal rights in the aftermath of World War II.
• Chapter 28, Cold War America, 1950-1959, features enhanced treatments of the emerging civil rights movement.
• Chapter 29, A New Frontier and a Great Society, 1960–1968, includes a new portrait of Fannie Lou Hamer, a black Mississippi activist, in the section on the early civil rights movements.
• Chapter 30, Rebellion and Reaction, 1960s and 1970s, includes new material on the women’s movement, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans.
• Chapter 32, Twenty-First-Century America, 1993–Present, features developments in the twenty-first century—the presidency of Barack Obama , the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the emergence of the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements—as well as the stagnant economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
In addition, I have incorporated throughout this edition fresh insights from important new scholarly works dealing with many significant topics. Whether you consider yourself a political, social, cultural, or economic historian, you’ll find new material to consider and share with your students.
As part of making the new editions even more teachable and classroom friendly, the new Tenth Brief Edition of America: A Narrative History also makes history an immersive experience through its innovative pedagogy and digital resources. Norton InQuizitive for History—Norton’s groundbreaking, formative, and adaptive new learning program—enables both students and instructors to assess learning progress at the individual and classroom level. The Norton Coursepack provides an array of support materials—free to instructors—who adopt the text for integration into their local learningmanagement system. The Norton Coursepack includes valuable assessment and skill-building activities like new primary source exercises, guided reading exercises, review quizzes, and interactive map resources. In addition, we’ve created new Office Hours videos that help students understand the Focus Questions and make history relevant for them (see pages xxiii–xxv for information about student and instructor resources).
Media Resources for Instructors and Students
America’s new student resources are designed to make them better readers, guiding them through the narrative while at the same time developing their critical thinking and history skills.
The comprehensive ancillary package features a groundbreaking new formative and adaptive system, as well as innovative interactive resources, including maps and primary sources, to help students master the Focus Questions in each chapter and continue to strengthen the skills they need to do the work of historians. Norton is unique in partnering exclusively with subject-matter experts who teach the course to author these resources. As a result, instructors have all of the course materials they need to successfully manage their U.S. history survey course, whether they are teaching face-to-face, online, or in a hybrid setting.
Instructor Resources
learning management system coursepacks: strong assessment and lecture tools
• New! Office Hour Videos: These segments feature David Shi speaking for 90 seconds on the Focus Questions of each chapter. There are over 100 of these new video segments.
• New! Primary Source Exercises: These activities feature several primary sources with multiple-choice and short essay questions to encourage close reading and analysis.
• Guided Reading Exercises: These exercises are designed by P. Scott Corbett (Ventura College) to help students learn how to read a textbook and, more important, comprehend what they are reading. The reading exercises instill a three-step Note-Summarize-Assess pedagogy. Exercises are based on actual passages from the textbook, and sample feedback is provided to model responses.
• Interactive iMaps: These interactive tools challenge students to better understand the nature of change over time by allowing them to explore the different layers of the maps from the book. Follow-up map worksheets help build geography skills by allowing students to test their knowledge by labeling.
• Review Quizzes: Multiple-choice, true/false, and chronological-sequence questions allow students to test their knowledge of the chapter content
and identify where they need to focus their attention to better understand difficult concepts.
• Primary Sources: Over 400 primary source documents and images are available on the Student Site that accompanies America: A Narrative History, Tenth Edition. Instructors and students can use these resources for assignments and further research on each chapter.
• Norton American History Digital Archive: The Digital Archive offers roughly 2,000 images and audio and video files spanning American history. The comprehensive collection provides endless opportunities to enhance lecture presentations, build new assignments, and expand your students’ comprehension through visual history and artifacts. From government documents, to personal artifacts, this collection enhances students’ understanding of history.
Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual for America: A Narrative History, Tenth Brief Edition, is designed to help instructors prepare lectures and exams. The Instructor’s Manual contains detailed chapter outlines, lecture ideas, in-class activities, discussion questions, as well as chapter concept maps.
Test Bank
The Test Bank contains over 2,000 multiple-choice, true/false, and essay questions. This edition of the Test Bank has been completely revised for content and accuracy. All test questions are now aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy for greater ease of assessment.
Lecture PowerPoint Slides
These ready-made presentations provide comprehensive outlines of each chapter, as well as discussion prompts to encourage student comprehension and engagement.
Student Resources
New! Norton InQuizitive for History
This groundbreaking formative, adaptive learning tool improves student understanding of the Focus Questions in each chapter. Students receive personalized quiz questions on the topics with which they need the most
help. Questions range from vocabulary and concepts to interactive maps and primary sources that challenge students to begin developing the skills necessary to do the work of a historian. Engaging game-like elements motivate students as they learn. As a result, students come to class better prepared to participate in discussions and activities.
New! Student Site
wwnorton.com/college/history/America10
Free and open to all students, Norton Student Site includes additional resources and tools to ensure they come to class prepared and ready to actively participate.
• Office Hour Videos: These segments feature David Shi speaking for 90 seconds on the Focus Questions of each chapter. There are over 100 of these new video segments.
• iMaps: Interactive maps challenge students to explore change over time by navigating the different layers of the maps from the book. Practice worksheets help students build their geography skills by labeling the locations.
• Online Reader: The online reader offers a diverse collection of primary source readings for use in assignments and activities.
Primary Source Readers to Accompany America: A Narrative History
• New sixth edition of For the Record: A Documentary History of America, by David E. Shi and Holly A. Mayer (Duquesne University), is the perfect companion reader for America: A Narrative History. For the Record now has 250 primary-source readings from diaries, journals, newspaper articles, speeches, government documents, and novels, including a number of readings that highlight the substantially updated theme of African American history in this new edition of America. If you haven’t scanned For the Record in a while, now would be a good time to take a look.
• New Norton Mix: American History enables instructors to build their own custom reader from a database of nearly 300 primary- and secondary-source selections. The custom readings can be packaged as a standalone reader or integrated with chapters from America into a custom textbook.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This Tenth Brief Edition of America: A Narrative History has been a team effort. Several professors who have become specialists in teaching the introductory survey course helped create the test bank, interactive media, and primary source exercises:
Erik Anderson, San Antonio College
Melissa Weinbrenner, Northeast Texas College
Mark Goldman, Tallahassee Community College
Brian McKnight, University of Virginia at Wise
Laura Farkas, Ivy Tech College–West Lafayette
Jon Lee, San Antonio College
The quality and range of reviews on this project were truly exceptional. The book and its accompanying media components were greatly influenced by the thoughts and ideas of numerous instructors.
Milan Andrejevich, Ivy Tech College–South Bend
Evan Bennett, Florida Atlantic University
Laura Bergstrom, Ivy Tech College–Sellersburg
Keith Berry, Hillsborough Community College
Albert Broussard, Texas A&M, College Station
Blanche Brick, Blinn College
Cory Burger, Ivy Tech College–Terre Haute
Brian Cervantez, Tarrant County College–Northwest Campus
Michael L. Collins, Midwestern State University
Lee Cowan, Tarrant County College
Thomas A. DeBlack, Arkansas Tech University
Scott Derr, Ivy Tech College–Bloomington
S. Matthew DeSpain, Rose State College
Michael Downs, Tarrant County College–Northeast Campus
Shannon Duffy, Southwest Texas State University
Karen Dunn-Haley, University of California, Davis
Stephen D. Engle, Florida Atlantic University
Laura Farkas, Ivy Tech College–West Lafayette
David Haney, Austin Community College
Andrew Hollinger, Tarrant County College–Southeast Campus
Frances Jacobson, Tidewater Community College
Robert MacDonald, Ivy Tech College–Lafayette
Richard McCaslin, University of North Texas–Denton
Suzanne McFadden, Austin Community College
Joel McMahon, Kennesaw State University
Greg Miller, Hillsborough Community College
Catherine Parzynski, Montgomery County Community College
R. Lynn Rainard, Tidewater Community College
Hazel Ramos, Glendale Community College
Nicole Ribianszky, Georgia Gwinnett College
Allen Smith, Ivy Tech College–Indianapolis
Bruce Solheim, Citrus College
Mark Stanley, University of North Texas–Denton
Melissa Weinbrenner, Northeast Texas College
As always, my colleagues at W. W. Norton shared with me their dedicated expertise and their poise amid tight deadlines, especially Jon Durbin, Justin Cahill, Melissa Atkin, Linda Feldman, Travis Carr, Ashley Horna, Laura Wilk, Chris Hillyer, Sarah England, Hope Goodell Miller, Stephanie Romeo, Marne Evans, John Gould, Heather Laskey, and Donna Ranieri.
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
It has also been said that the founder of French opera, though humble and abject in the presence of the powerful, was proportionately insolent and despotic with his artists and the persons employed at the Opéra. It is true that Lully often flew into a passion and accused the performers of clumsiness, and he went so far, on one occasion, as to break the violin belonging to one of the members of the orchestra upon the head of the unfortunate performer, because he had failed to render a somewhat difficult passage in a satisfactory manner. The composer made amends for his violence, however, by presenting to the insulted violinist three times the value of the broken instrument, and also by inviting him to dinner.
Apart from the acts he committed in moments of passion, Lully was a model director and far outshone any who preceded him. He found time to do everything; he composed, attended the court, saw to the mise-en-scène of his operas, and superintended the rehearsals of both the vocal and instrumental elements of the piece. He paid great attention to the scenic effects, which were very complicated in that day, and being a clever comedian and an accomplished dancer, he acted as stage manager and general director of all dramatic performances.
Lully married the daughter of Lambert, who is mentioned by Boileau in his third satire; and their union was a happy one. In the course of time the composer became wealthy, and the owner of several houses in Paris. His death was brought about by a curious accident. Louis XIV. having been ill, on his recovery, Lully composed, as a thanks-offering, a “Te Deum” which was performed under his direction at the Feuillants in the Rue Saint-Honoré, on the 8th of February, 1687. During one of the rehearsals Lully was beating time with his cane, and, in so doing, accidentally struck his toe, inflicting a bruise. The injury, which seemed at first nothing more than a slight concussion, speedily developed into a serious sore; an abscess appeared, and of such a malignant character that the doctors considered it would be necessary to amputate the affected part. Lully hesitated to sanction this extreme step, and in a short time it became a question, not of amputating merely the toe, but the entire foot. The patient would not consent to this, however, and the disease, making rapid progress, soon affected the whole leg, and the one hope of
saving his life lay in the amputation of that member. Unfortunately, at the very moment when he appeared willing to undergo the operation, a quack came on the scene and offered to cure the patient without recourse to amputation; but the efforts of this empirical pretender were in vain, and the illustrious composer passed away at Paris, on Saturday, the 22d of March, 1687, aged fifty-four years. Of him Mme. de Sévigné wrote, after listening to some of his more serious music, “If there be music in heaven, it must be the music of Lully.”
The distinguishing qualities of Lully’s dramatic music are nobility of style, correct declamation, and truth of sentiment, dramatic and scenic. Most of the ornate effects in vocal music which were then fashionable in Italy were excluded from French opera by Lully.
In “Alceste,” a lyric tragedy in five acts, with prologue, the words by Quinault, Lully’s third work, performed in the month of January, 1674, we find the celebrated air sung by Charon. It is a veritable masterpiece of lyric declamation, and is still frequently sung and has not become old-fashioned, for it embodies that supreme quality that knows no date, human sentiment voiced in a truthful manner.
“Cadmus et Hermione” was the first great work produced by Lully. The master had just taken possession of the Palais-Royal hall, as director of the Opéra, by royal favor, and it was with this piece that he inaugurated his control. So far, the composer had written only interludes, interspersed with songs and dance music, among which the most important were those written for pieces by Molière, “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,” “La Princesse d’Elide,” “Le Mariage Forcé,” “L’Amour Médecin,” “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac,” and “Psyché.” He had also written, prior to his brilliant début as a dramatic composer, the music for the ballets “La Raillerie,” “Le Ballet des Muses,” “Cariselli,” “Les Amours Déguisés,” and several others.
Before his first tragic work, Lully had produced the pasticcio, composed of airs borrowed from his own répertoire, “Les Fêtes de l’Amour et de Bacchus,” a pastoral in three acts for which Molière, Benserade, and Quinault wrote the words. The composer, ever fortunate, had the pleasure of seeing, at a performance at which the king was present, the Duke of Monmouth, the Duc de Villeroy, and the Marquis de Rassen dance in this pastoral; for, with a view to
acquire graceful deportment, they were content to mix with professional dancers. This fact is significant of the manners of society during that period in the history of France, and the applause bestowed by Louis XIV. upon the noble dancers, also redounded to the credit of Lully and contributed to his promotion.
“Atys” was a particularly fortunate piece, for it gave especial pleasure to Le Grande Monarque, who might have said, without undue exaggeration, “La France, c’est moi!” This work, on which Quinault collaborated, was produced for the first time at the Château of St. Germain, in the month of January, 1678, in the presence of Louis XIV., and was not brought to the notice of the Parisians before the month of August of the following year. “Atys” was therefore called the “Opéra du Roy.”
LULLY.
From an engraving in Clément’s Musiciens Célèbres. Probably suggested by the Mignard portrait, although the face is reversed.
The first performance of this lyric tragedy at St. Germain was made especially attractive because the dances were executed by lords and ladies of the court, in conjunction with the ordinary dancers of the Royal Academy of Music. Many of the morceaux in “Atys” are worthy of mention. The critics of the time have greatly eulogized the air “Le Sommeil” in the third act, on account of the persistence of the rhythm in the bass (four quarter notes).
Just as “Atys” was called the “King’s Opera,” so “Isis” received the name of the “Musicians’ Opera.” A music critic of the times writes as follows concerning the work: “This opera is the most erudite ever written by Lully, who spent an infinite time upon it. At the court performance, the great number of instruments, played by the most accomplished masters, contributed not a little to emphasize the beauties of the music.”
M. de Lajarte, formerly the librarian of the Opéra library, and one of the principal collaborators of the publisher, Michaelis, of Paris, has recently realized the happy idea of reconstituting and condensing, with piano accompaniment, the masterpieces of the French opera of the seventeenth century, and he makes the following interesting remark respecting this “great number” of instruments: “The extraordinary number spoken of by Fresneuse dwindles down to trumpets in the prologue, and flutes at the end of the third act. But, by a happy coincidence, these two symphonic members of the work which so astonished our forefathers are also a subject of astonishment for us modern critics, at least in the matter of the trumpets. The degree of skill and certainty in tonguing displayed by the trumpet players in Lully’s orchestra was nothing short of marvellous.” The trumpet parts in the works of Bach and Handel are not less difficult of execution, and at this day it would seem that they could not possibly be played.
Now that the music known as imitative has made such notable progress, frequently exceeding the limits of good taste, now that Meyerbeer, Berlioz, and, above all, Wagner have carried to such perfection the complicated art of orchestration, it is very interesting to read in the score of “Isis” the air imitative of the noises in nature and called the “air de Pan.” It enables us to realize the extraordinary progress made in instrumentation since Lully’s time. This air was exceedingly popular at that day. In addition to the sounds heard in
nature, which are not made very prominent, however, this page of music is rich in declamation, and is not without charm. But sweeter to the ear, in our opinion, is the duet of nymphs in the second act. It is simple, clear, and remarkably graceful.
It will be readily understood that the limits of this biography will not admit of an exhaustive criticism of Lully’s works. We can only point out, in a somewhat cursory manner, the finest passages of his better-known operas, “Psyché,” “Bellerophon,” “Proserpine,” “Armide,” etc. In “Bellerophon” one is fain to quote the entire prologue, in order to show the ideas, the subjects, or, to put it in another way, the mere melody. This grand spectacular lyric tragedy was performed with great success during ten consecutive months, and it was afterward reproduced several times.
“Phaéton”—for some inexplicable cause—has been called the “people’s opera,” just as “Armide” has been styled the “women’s opera.”
Lully’s “Armide,” although much inferior to the “Armide” of Gluck, must nevertheless be included among his works best adapted for the stage, and the most concentrated in style. Only eight years before the appearance of Gluck’s immortal “Armide,” that is to say, in 1764, the Academy of Music performed the opera of the same name by Lully for the last time, and with brilliant success.
“Persée” is, without doubt, one of Lully’s finest works. The score abounds with charming morceaux, the product of a skilled and fertile pen. This opera held its place for long in the répertoire, and each time it was revived the public accorded it a favorable reception. The libretto, by Quinault, the faithful collaborator of the musician, is written in a superior style, offering excellent situations for the musician. Nor should we forget to mention “Proserpine,” Lully’s tenth opera in order of representation.
We have already observed that the distinguishing trait of the dramatic music of Lully, as compared with his contemporaries, is pre-eminently the grandeur of his style, with a declamation so exact that it may be described as perfect. His music is the embodiment of the art of moderation in the recitative, and the accessories of song so lavishly employed by nearly all the Italian composers of the seventeenth century are not permitted by him to overwhelm the essential note of the melody. Lully shows less variety, less flexibility
in the ensemble of his productions, than do Carissimi, Léo, Pergolèse, and Marcello, but he comes nearer dramatic truth than any of these masters. His music, for the most part, has the killing frost of age upon it; but that he was a man of genius is scarcely in need of demonstration. He was an innovator, as surely as was Gluck, and, moreover, was an epoch-maker in operatic music. As a musician he was not without learning, as an examination of his overtures will clearly evidence. Some charming pieces for the clavecin show him as a pleasing and skilful writer for that instrument. The student can still find much in Lully’s scores that will repay thoughtful attention.
The name of Lully is inseparable from that of his faithful collaborator, Quinault, the versatile and imaginative poet who aided the composer by providing him subjects which were not only suited to the taste of the time, but contained situations adapted for the purposes of the musician. Before all and beyond all, Quinault, who in no wise deserved the bitter satires that Boileau showered upon him, thoroughly understood the genius of Lully, and knew how to adapt that genius to the tragedies which he was thereby inspired to write.
It will be understood why we do not give a facsimile reproduction of Lully’s musical manuscript, when we say that neither in the musical library of the Opéra, nor in that of the Conservatoire, nor at the National Library of Paris, nor anywhere else, can a single note of music from the pen of the founder of French opera be discovered. The same is true of his handwriting, not a line of which has come down to us. All that remains of it are three signatures. The composer of the music of “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” has this in common with its author, Molière, of whose writing only two or three signatures are extant.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Reproduction of an excellent lithograph portrait of Rameau.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Just as Lully was the glory of the seventeenth century, so French musical genius is represented in the eighteenth by Rameau, the most learned theorist and illustrious composer of his time.
Jean Philippe Rameau was born at Dijon on the 25th of September, 1683. His father and mother were amateur musicians, and they carefully taught their son the elements of the art of which he was destined to become such a celebrated master. The little Rameau made very rapid progress, and his numerous biographers are agreed that at the age of seven there was no musical score which he could not execute at sight on the harpsichord.
In spite of his extraordinary talent for music, Rameau’s parents did not wish him to become an artist. They desired that he should enter the magistracy, and placed him as a student in the care of the Jesuits. He did not make much progress, however, and did not get beyond the fourth class in Latin; for his head was full of music and he could not apply himself to study, insomuch that he became a deplorable example for his school-fellows. His copy-books were annotated with fragments of music which passed through his mind and which he took a great pleasure in putting upon paper. He was at last sent away from the Jesuit college as an intractable pupil; he had but a very slight knowledge of Latin, French, or history, and the same might be said of other subjects.
On returning to his family he gave himself up completely to the study of the harpsichord and the organ, and also learned to play upon the violin. As regards harmony, the youthful Rameau failed to get beyond the first principles of that art-science, as he could not find in Dijon any musician sufficiently well informed on the rules and practice of counterpoint to perfect his knowledge of harmony. Who knows whether it was not precisely this unfortunate blank in his studies which caused him later on to undertake the theoretical inquiries into the formation of chords that are the subject of his admirable treatises on harmony?
Before he had thoroughly learned the laws of harmony, Rameau, as yet a beardless youth, yielded to the law laid down by the little winged god whose name is Cupid. He fell madly in love with a widow who was his neighbor. Everybody knows that nothing exercises a more unfortunate or more beneficial influence over the mind of a young lover than the advice given him by the woman he loves. Happily the widow gave good advice to her adorer. She went so far one day as to reproach him with his ignorance of the French language. “You spell like a scullion!” she told him. Rameau did not die on the spot in consequence of this outrage, for he was a strongminded youth; but his face became scarlet, and he promised to study —a promise he kept.
Rameau’s father, however, who desired to put an end to the intrigue carried on by his son—who was as precocious in passionate gallantry as he was talented on the harpsichord—broke off the liaison by sending him to travel in Italy. Rameau did not tear himself away from his fair neighbor without great emotion, his heart beating prestissimo appassionato; but he was bound to obey the paternal behest.
The future author of “Castor and Pollux” was not yet eighteen years of age when he arrived in Milan. The works of the Italian composers then in vogue did not at all modify his taste, which was entirely the outcome of his own peculiar character. He heard the music of Scarlatti, Lotti, Duni, Caldara, Leo, and it caused him surprise rather than satisfaction. He remained but a short time in the capital of Lombardy, and did not continue his Italian excursion further than that point. He had but one desire, and that was to return to France. Chance having brought him into contact with a theatrical
manager, who had come to Milan to get together an orchestra and an operatic troupe for a tour in the south of France, Rameau accepted an engagement as violinist. It was several years later when he returned to Dijon. Whether or not he sought the widow for whom he had felt such an affection history does not say. We are rather inclined to think that he did not see her again, as he remained at Dijon but a very short time. Henceforth, he patiently awaited the moment when he should be able to go to Paris, to sit at the feet of eminent masters who would perfect him in the art of composition.
Finally he left for the French capital, and arrived there in the course of the year 1717, being then about thirty-four years of age. It was very late to commence the study of an art of which he as yet only imperfectly understood the technique. Especially was it late to dream of attaining celebrity in theatrical music, access to which was always very difficult for unknown composers.
Rameau at last believed that he had found a protector and a professor who would be disposed to complete his musical education, in the person of the organist Marchand, who was held in great esteem in Paris. But Marchand at once detected the superior genius —although it was then in a latent state—of the Dijon musician, and under the influence of fear and jealousy he sent him away. He acted indeed in a most culpable manner towards Rameau and showed unjust partiality to others, as we shall see.
The position of organist at the Church of St. Paul becoming vacant, it was submitted to public competition. Rameau, being obliged to work to keep the pot boiling, presented himself as a competitor against one Daquin, who was an indifferent organist, and still more indifferent composer. Marchand was appointed judge of the competition. According to the testimony of all who were present at this interesting trial, Rameau stood forth immensely superior to Daquin. Nevertheless Marchand decided in favor of the latter, and consequently the position was given to him. After this check, Rameau was obliged to accept a place as organist at Lille. He left Paris regretfully; but his departure was a source of great satisfaction to Marchand, who feared his presence there.
Rameau did not remain long at Lille. He had a brother at Clermont, in Auvergne, who was a musician of some talent, and organist of the cathedral of that city. Wishing to retire, he offered
Jean Philippe the position which he was leaving, and the place being a remunerative one, Rameau accepted. He was, however, to his deep regret, obliged to enter into an engagement for a certain number of years, for towards Paris his eyes were ever turned.
Situated in the midst of the mountains, the town of Clermont was at that time very little visited by strangers, and Rameau concentrated himself in his own personality. He wrote motets and pieces for the harpsichord. There, too, he reflected upon the natural laws governing the formation of chords, the theory of which had not then been expounded. After deep and continuous study—like Newton when he discovered the law of gravitation—Rameau at last discovered the secret of harmony. To him belongs the glory of being the first to formulate these laws, in his first work, of which we shall speak presently.
Four years had passed away, yet Rameau was bound to remain at Clermont for several years more, in accordance with the terms of his agreement; but he still saw Paris in his dreams, Paris, the only city where he could produce his compositions and his book on theory. He was, however, held in great esteem at Clermont, and in spite of his repeated attempts to cancel the agreement he was unable to do so. He then devised a plan by which he should be sent away from his church for reasons contrary to those which were advanced by the friends and admirers who desired him to remain there. They thought that he was an inspired organist and that his harmonies were of an elevated and powerful character. Rameau suddenly began to play on his noble instrument like an ignorant musician, destitute of ideas, bringing forth such discordant and frightful sounds that the clergy were scandalized and the faithful stopped their ears. Remonstrances were made to him. He answered that he could do no better; that it was in this wise that the noble art of the organist had been suddenly revealed to him, and that he should always play in this manner. He was accordingly dismissed and received his discharge with infinite joy. At the last service which he attended, when his successor sat by his side, he ceased his practical joking and played upon the organ in such a manner as to compel the admiration of all who heard it. He was determined that they should regret his departure, and he succeeded marvellously.
Thus Rameau returned to Paris, where, in the course of a short time, he published his treatise on harmony. But the subject was so novel and the explanations given by the author so abstruse that musicians failed to understand it. This, however, did not prevent them from speaking of it malevolently, with the naive and base assurance born of ignorance and vanity. Profoundly saddened but not discouraged by this result, he turned to composition for the renown which was not accorded to him as a theorist.
Rameau wrote with rare facility cantatas with choruses, sonatas, and other pieces for the harpsichord, which caused him to be regarded with great interest by the public. Pupils came to him and he obtained the position of organist at the church of Sainte-Croix-de-laBretonnerie. He would have been perfectly happy in this position, had he not yearned for a grander destiny, of which mention has already been made—success as a composer of grand opera.
To test his strength he made his debut in a small theatre, as the author of the scores for several pieces written by his fellow-Dijonais, the poet Piron, of happy memory, with songs and dance-tunes, which did not pass unnoticed. Then, resuming his labors on musical theory, he published his second book on the subject. This book, like the first, did not escape the malevolent criticism of ignorant persons; but this tended to spread abroad the name of the author, which came to be talked of in spite of the efforts made to keep it secret. Rameau’s instrumental music began to be sought after, and his pieces for the harpsichord were played everywhere. This result was not what he had hoped to attain: conscious of his superiority as a dramatic composer, his goal, as we know, was the Académie de Musique. He applied to the echoes of the neighborhood, that is to say, to all the lyric poets who had a reputation. These turned a deaf ear to his request, being fearful of collaborating at the debut (always an uncertain matter) of a composer in so difficult, so complex an art as lyric tragedy.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU.
From a lithograph at the Paris Opera Library, made after a drawing by E. Nesle.
At last, however, Rameau found the golden key which, so the proverb says, opens every door, even the door of the Opera, in the person of the great financier, M. de la Popelinière, whose wife was one of his pupils and took lessons on the harpsichord. M. de la Popelinière arranged a meeting at his house between the most illustrious Voltaire and Rameau, the humble aspirant to musical glory. Voltaire promised to write an opera for the protégé of the great Farmer-General, and this piece appears in the complete works of Voltaire under the title of “Samson.” The literary masterpiece of the great writer pleased Rameau greatly, and he set to work upon the accompanying music with great enthusiasm. When the score was finished the musician rendered it at de la Popelinière’s house, in presence of Voltaire and a chosen few. Rameau emerged from the ordeal triumphant; but, alas! there’s many a slip ’twixt cup and lip. The director of the Académie de Musique would have nothing to do with the piece, which he considered unsuitable for the opera, because
founded on a biblical subject. It is interesting to remember what Voltaire has written on this question.
“Rameau,” says he, in speaking of “Samson,” “Rameau, the greatest musician in France, set this opera to music about the year 1732. It was about to be produced, when the same cabal which at a later date succeeded in causing the representations of ‘Mahomet’ (one of Voltaire’s tragedies) to be suspended, prevented the production of ‘Samson’ at the Opéra.”
I do not know whether the cabal spoken of by the author of the “Dictionnaire Philosophique” was responsible in this matter. I should be inclined to think that the director of the Opéra simply took counsel with himself. Whatever the fact, Voltaire adds:
“And at the very time when permission was given for this piece (“Samson”) to be played at the Theatre of the Comédie Italienne, and when ‘Samson’ worked miracles conjointly with Arlequin, permission was not granted for the same subject to be represented in a noble and worthy manner at the Theatre of the Académie de Musique. Our musician has since made use of nearly all the airs in ‘Samson’ in other lyric compositions, which envy was unable to suppress.”
It is quite true that Rameau utilized, but long afterwards, a part of the music in “Samson” for his opera “Zoroastre.” This work was not his début at the opera. The composer appeared before the Académie de Musique with “Hippolyte et Aricie,” by the Abbé Pellegrin, a worldly abbé if there ever was one, and a great playwright, concerning whom these verses were written:
Le matin catholique et le soir idolâtre, Il dîne de l’autel et soupe du théâtre.
M. de la Popelinière advanced 500 livres to the Abbé to secure him against the possible failure of the piece, and Rameau set to work again. This opera was given on the first of October, 1733. The composer attained renown in his fiftieth year: he was old in years but young in fame, as we have seen.
RAMEAU.
From a copperplate engraved by J. W. Bellinger, Berlin, 1802.
Before examining the dramatic works of Rameau and forming an opinion as to their influence upon French art, we will add a few words concerning the composer’s personal appearance. He was tall in stature and extraordinarily thin. His face was furrowed by deep wrinkles; he had an aquiline nose, a broad and open forehead and prominent cheek-bones. The mouth was large, the look frank and bold and indicative of energy, perseverance and will power. One might have supposed him a person of delicate health, although he was never seriously ill, owing to the very sober regime which he had adopted. Given much to reflection, he was not talkative and never spoke of himself. He married a young lady named Marie Louise Mangot, who was a good musician and had a very fine voice, and she made her illustrious husband very happy in his home circle by her amiable character and her kindness of heart. He had by her three children, one son and two daughters. Rameau died at the age of about eighty-one, in the same month as that which saw his birth—the
12th of September, 1764—leaving behind him a considerable quantity of dramatic music, although he had only begun to write for the theatre, as we know, at an age when many men have finished their career.
STATUE OF RAMEAU IN PARIS OPERA HOUSE
Reproduced from a photograph made for this work by special permission. One of four life-size statues placed in the vestibule of the Opera House, at the foot of the grand marble staircase.
“Hippolyte et Aricie” met with but doubtful success, about which there was difference of opinion. Accustomed as the public was to the flowing music of Lully, that of Rameau was considered brusque and his harmonies rough and dissonant. They were indeed very bold for the time. What astonished the amateurs and put to rout the imitators
of Lully, such as Colasse, Desmarets, Blamont, was the novelty of the modulation, the suddenness of the changed chords, the character and style of the instrumentation. With Rameau, the flutes, hautbois, bassoons, manifested themselves at intervals, without any interruption of the general theme of the symphony. Rameau sought to give and gave to each instrument its own particular force and value, which enhanced the interest without detracting in any degree from the unity of style of the piece.
At a later date, when he had attained the full measure of his experience, Rameau certainly produced better work than “Hippolyte et Aricie.” At the same time this first opera of the great French master is full of dramatic beauty and attractive conceptions. We may cite, as an example, the charming chorus of nymphs in the prologue, the graceful gavotte which was sung: “A l’Amour rendons les armes.” And again, the fine air sung by Aricie in the first act, the chorus, “Dieux vengeurs, lancez le tonnerre”; with a purely instrumental page to imitate the thunder, which certainly does not equal the storm of the pastoral symphony, but which at the same time is not wanting in effect, particularly the violin arpeggios. The second act, the scene of which is laid in the infernal regions, is characterized by a boldness of harmony and a striking novelty for the period. The two first movements of the first scene are simply pure Weber. The rest is of the same fantastic character.
There is no musician, however humble his attainments, who does not know and admire the trio of the Fates, “Quelle soudaine horreur.” The succession of chords on the words, “Où cours-tu, malheureux?” are striking in their expression. This would appear even at the present day as a happy and wonderfully effective discovery.
“Les Indes Galantes,” an heroic ballet, was the second work that Rameau gave to the Opéra. He was then fifty years of age. The public, who had become more accustomed to the musician’s peculiarly characteristic style, received this work in the most favorable manner. From that time forth, the master who had experienced such difficulty in obtaining access to the Opéra, was rewarded with one long series of triumphs. He reigned in the opinion of the musicians and the habitués of the Académie de Musique as an omnipotent sovereign of the art. “Les Fêtes d’Hébé,” “Dardanus,” “Zoroastre,” “Anacréon,”
“Platée,” “Les Fêtes de Polymnie,” “Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour,” are works which bear the impress of Rameau’s genius. His talent appeared to the most advantage, however, in “Castor et Pollux,” his dramatic masterpiece, which indeed is a fine example of theatrical music.
We mentioned above the theoretical works of Rameau, and now propose to make further reference to them. Rameau’s theory, which threw a flood of light upon what before his time was darkness and empiricism, is entirely based upon the eternal law governing the creation of chords by the resonances of the monochord. Rameau found in these resonances the fundamental bass of the different chords composed of a succession of thirds. This discovery of the fundamental bass showed the true nature of the inversions of chords which before the theoretical exposition of the great Dijon master had been considered as so many peculiar kinds of chords.
Rameau had discovered the natural formation of chords, a thing wonderful in itself and sufficient to make his name immortal; but in thus establishing the principles of harmony he had not established all its laws. He left to his didactic successors the work of laying down the important rules of the attraction of notes for the determination of chords, as also the rules governing their movement in modulation. It is thus that we find in Rameau’s work certain hazardous harmonies which are more due to the non-observance of these laws than offences against good taste or fancies of the composer’s imagination. We see, indeed, in the music of this artistic genius successions of fifths, faulty relation of notes, brusque modulations offensive to the ear, which are nothing more than faults in writing. Thus he who has been truly called the “Father of Harmony,” made mistakes in harmony which, even at the present day, in spite of the great liberty taken by composers of the advanced school with their successions of modified chords, still remain faults in musical grammar.
Rameau wrote his last opera, “Les Paladins,” at the age of seventyseven. In reading this score we find nothing to indicate any failing of the vigorous mind of this extraordinary musician, who, following Lully, was the pioneer in the great field of dramatic music that Gluck was destined to cover with incomparable power and genius.
Fac-simile musical manuscript written by Rameau.
Reproduced from original in the Paris Opera Library.
This article would be very incomplete were we not to say a few words concerning the pieces for the harpsichord composed by Rameau, which form such an important item in the fine work by A. Mereaux, “Les Clavecinistes,” containing a selection of pieces by these musicians from 1637 to 1790, classed in their chronological order, and revised, annotated and accented with the variations and ornaments of the period and in full notation. What pianist of the present day has not delighted in playing, from amongst the numerous compositions by Rameau for the harpsichord, his “Musette,” “Tambourin,” “Poule,” “Rappel des Oiseaux,” “Fanfarinette,” “Egyptienne,” and “Entretiens des Muses,” etc. Few pianists, however, have succeeded in executing these delightful inspirations on the instrument for which they were written, and
which gives them their full effect, with all the freshness of idea, color, and ingenious accompaniment. It is a feast for a musical epicure to hear music by Couperin, or Frescobaldi, or Scarlatti played by an educated musician and pianist of taste, in conjunction with music by Rameau executed upon a well-preserved or newly-manufactured harpsichord. For the celebrated piano manufactory of Pleyel, Wolff et Cie., of Paris, yielding to the desire expressed by a few artists and amateurs, has made for them a limited number of harpsichords which out-rival in a remarkable manner, both as to quality of sound and the number of pedals, the finest instrument of the celebrated Taskin.
In 1888, the Paris Society of Musical Composers gave an exclusively artistic soirée in the Salle Pleyel, the memory of which yet remains. By the side of magnificent grand pianos, the most noble instruments produced by this musical establishment, was a harpsichord, which gave promise of great things. It was not found wanting when put to the test; for, in the hands of M. Diémer and Mme. Roger-Miclos, two virtuosos whose reputation is well established, it rendered the music of the composers who wrote for the harpsichord in a wonderful manner, particularly the pieces by Rameau.
A statue has been erected to the memory of Rameau in his native town of Dijon, due to the initiative of a Dijon composer of considerable talent, M. Poisot, who opened a subscription in order to put on record the public admiration for this great and illustrious musician of Burgundy.
