Work Of Musicians Research Articles

For-the-record aesthetics and Robert Johnson's blues style as a product of recorded culture

Robert Johnson (1911–1938) is the most venerated of all pre-war blues musicians; the veneration borders on hagiography. Recently published revisionist literature has constructed a sociologically realistic portrayal of a professional musician working among other musicians for a contemporary audience in a specific historical context. This has left unexplained, however, the veneration granted to his music by the audience for his records from the 1960s to today. This paper presents the case that these two bodies of fact can be connected and the one serve as an explanation for the other. As Robert Johnson learned his craft from records and radio, and polished his songs to be recorded, he effectively developed a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic that made his music sound different to that of his Delta contemporaries and many others who used musical techniques honed in performance for an audience. Decades later, when a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic was the taken-for-granted standard in popular musical culture, Robert Johnson's records sounded better than those of his contemporaries, and the audience from the 1960s to today has had a reason to think that he and his music were special.

La música al Seminari de Tortosa

[ca] Aquest article analitza el tractament i la importància creixent de la música litúrgica, el cant gregorià, la música sagrada polifònica i també del conreu de la música popular i profana al Seminari Diocesà de Tortosa durant els cinquanta anys de la seva existència. Es posa en evidencia la gran tradició musical d'aquesta institució tortosina seguint el fil de la vida i obra de musics i musicòlegs com Felip Pedrell, Vicent Ripollés, Mn. Josep M. Peris i Mn. Vicent Garcia Julbe. I es dona a conèixer quin va ser l'humus i el nodriment del Dr. Josep Pavia com a musicòleg i prevere de l'Església des deis anys de la seva adolescència.

English musicians in the age of exploration

A study of English musicians' part in the growth of Britain's overseas interests, from the accession of Elizabeth I to the end of the 17th century. Sections focus on the musical community of the long-distance sailing ship, the work of musicians in overseas enterprise in the New World and in the East

Riverboat Music from St. Louis and the Streckfus Steamboat Line

Although jazz historians have focused their attention on the music of the musicians who played on the Mississippi riverboats, the majority of this work has centered on the brief three-year period from about 1919 until 1922 when Louis Armstrong was employed by the Streckfus Steamboat Line. But this three-year period covers only a brief moment in the history of riverboat music. Geographically, many of the musicians who played on the riverboats, unlike Armstrong, never went beyond the banks of the Ohio or Mississippi Rivers to fortune and fame. Consequently, the musical life and work of these musicians has been documented by fewer than two dozen recordings (see Appendix) and a handful of newspaper accounts of the period. This paper will examine the structure of the excursion steamboat world and the participation in that world of the riverboat musicians, primarily those St. Louisans who worked on the Streckfus Steamboat Line between 1901 and 1942. To this end, what follows is a brief history of the Streckfus Steamboat Line, a discussion of its financial and social goals, and the professional lives and works of black musicians who worked on the riverboats during the earlier part of this century.