Wikipedia

Music of Pennsylvania

The Music of Pennsylvania dates from the pre-colonial-era through the 21st century, and 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.

Rock band Poison from Mechanicsburg, whose song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", released in 1988, was a number one hit

The Philly sound of the 1970s is soul music that includes notable Pennsylvania performers Gamble and Huff, The O'Jays, The Stylistics, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin, and The Delfonics, jazz legends like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and John Coltrane. Philadelphia gave to the musical world diverse singers, such as Marian Anderson, Mario Lanza, Solomon Burke, Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, and the trio performing as The Golden Boys, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, and Fabian Forte, who grew up together in the same Philly neighborhood. Philadelphia was also the birthplace of American Bandstand, and the home of Cameo-Parkway Records and the famed Philadelphia Orchestra.

The tradition of Pennsylvania's history with music pre-dates the American Revolution. Philadelphia became especially renowned for musical development and was the home of the esteemed Alexander Reinagle, John Christopher Moller, Rayner Taylor, and Susannah 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 the Declaration 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, Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania became the birthplace of Stephen Foster, easily the most popular American songwriter of the century.

There were several concert bands that formed in the 19th century during the rise in popularity of community bands. Two examples are the Allentown Band of Allentown and The Emigsville Band of Emigsville.

Pennsylvania musicians and groups include:

21st century

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Lizzy Hale, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Halestorm, a rock band from Red Lion has had six number one Mainstream Rock hits since 2013 with "Freak Like Me" (2013), "Apocalyptic" (2015), "Amen" (2015), "Uncomfortable", "Back from the Dead" (2021), and "The Steeple" (2022)

20th century

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1990s

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Pink, an American pop singer from Doylestown, launched her music career in 1995.
 
The Hooters, a rock band formed in Philadelphia in 1980
 
Poison, a glam metal band formed in 1983 in Mechanicsburg
 
The Live Aid concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, featured Led Zeppelin, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Madonna, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and other bands in a concert broadcast on MTV and globally.
 
The Bloodhound Gang, an alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Philadelphia
 
Fuel, a rock band formed in 1989 in Harrisburg

1980s

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1950s

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On May 20, 1954, Bill Haley & His Comets from Chester, Pennsylvania released "Rock Around the Clock," the first rock and roll song to reach #1 on the U.S. charts.
 
Hall & Oates formed in Philadelphia in 1970, and went on to reach the U.S. Top 40 with 29 of their 33 singles between 1974 and 1991.

Punk rock

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Hip hop, R&B, and neo soul

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Will Smith, a rapper from West Philadelphia, known for "Gettin' Jiggy wit It", "Wild Wild West", and other songs

Hip hop music, R&B music, and neo soul music are popular elements of entertainment in Pennsylvania, including:

Blues

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Jazz

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Pennsylvania has a rich jazz music history, especially in Philadelphia, producing Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Eddie Lang, and Stan Getz. Others include McCoy 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. Singer Ethel Waters was born in nearby Chester. John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Odean Pope, moved to Philadelphia from the Carolinas. Pearl Theatre was a notable jazz venue in Philadelphia.[2]

Jazz musicians from Pittsburgh include pianist/composers Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Art Blakey, pianist Dodo Marmarosa, pianist Walt Harper, trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Tommy Turrentine, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, hard bop pianist Horace Parlan, singer and bandleader Billy Eckstine, drummer and bandleader Kenny Clarke, double bassist and cellist Ray Brown, double bassist Eddie Safranski, drummer Roger Humphries, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, guitarist George Benson, and singer Dakota Staton. Hill District was an important jazz hub from the 1920-50s, including the famous jazz club Crawford Grill.

Composer, arranger, and trombonist Slide Hampton was born in Jeannette. Pianist Sonny Clark was born in Herminie. Singer Maxine Sullivan was born in Homestead. Influential pianist Earl Hines was from Duquesne. Influential jazz organist Jimmy Smith was from Norristown. Tenor saxophonist Joe Thomas was born in Uniontown. Saxophonist Eric Kloss was born in Greenville. Trumpeter Joe Wilder was born in Colwyn. Pianist Keith Jarrett was born in Allentown. Trombonist Lou Blackburn was born in Rankin. Organist/pianist Gene Ludwig was born in Cambria County. Multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter was born in Wilkinsburg. Trumpeter Randy Brecker and saxophonist Michael Brecker were from Cheltenham. Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey of The Dorsey Brothers were born in Schuylkill County.

Folk

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Pennsylvania, at the crossroads of Appalachia, the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest has a rich history of Folk Music sharing influences with many other regions of the nation.[3] Notable artists include Robert 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's Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors.[4] Buster Red a depression era singer who often wrote about locales in Pennsylvania.[5][6] Jim Croce arguably one of the most famous folk artist of the 1970s was born born and raised in Pennsylvania and worked at WXVU while in college.

Indigenous music

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Main article: Indigenous music of North America § Eastern Woodlands

History

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Religious music in the colonial era

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Main article: Music history of the United States during the colonial era

During the colonial era, the Province of Pennsylvania was home to the Quakers, Moravians, and Lutherans. 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 the Ephrata Cloister, innovated his own system of harmonic theory. Lutherans Johann Sebastian Bach, Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel, and C. F. W. Walther were propagated all over colonial-era Pennsylvania, and especially in present-day Bethlehem, which was the first Lutheran settlement in colonial America and remains a center of Lutheran musical traditions into the 21st century.

Ephrata Cloister

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Main article: Ephrata Cloister

The Ephrata Cloister (Community of the Solitary) was founded in what is now Lancaster County on the Cocalico River in 1720. This was a group of Seventh Day Baptists led by Peter Miller and Conrad Beissel, who believed in using music as an integral part of worship.[7] Beissel codified the Ephrata Cloister's unique tradition in his Beissel's Dissertation on Harmony; here, he divided notes into two types. These were masters, or notes belonging to the common chord, and servants, 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.

Harmony Society

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Main article: Harmony Society

In 1803 and 1804, a group of Christian pietists led by George Rapp arrived from Württemberg, Germany, settled in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and formed the Harmony Society in 1805. The group lived communally, were pacifistic, advocated celibacy, 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-day Ambridge, Pennsylvania contains archives with sheet music that is still performed at special community events.

Lutherans

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Main article: Lutheranism

Justus Falckner was the first Lutheran pastor ordained in the United States. He was ordained during 1703 as a minister of the Church of Sweden in the Gloria Dei Church. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on November 24. Falckner wrote hymns such as Rise, Ye Children of Salvation (German: Auf! ihr Christen, Christi Glieder) which he composed while a student at the University of Halle in 1697. Falckner's published works include Grondlycke 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.

Mennonites

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Main article: Mennonite

The Mennonites, followers of Menno Simons, settled in Germantown after emigrating from the German Palatinate and Switzerland between 1683 and 1748. They were led by Willem Rittinghuysen, grandfather of astronomer and mathematician David Rittenhouse. The Mennonites used a hymnbook from Schaffhausen, reprinted in the present-day Germantown section of Philadelphia in 1742 as Der Ausbund Das ist etliche schöne christliche Lieder.

Moravian Church

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Main article: Moravian music

Founded in 1457, the Moravian Church originally spread across Moravia, Poland, and Bohemia before persecution forced the remaining faithful to Saxony, where they lived under the protection of Count Nikolaus 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 of Bethlehem on the banks of the Lehigh River. A group then left for Salem, North Carolina in present-day Winston-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 the French 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 the Delaware language.

Moravians also had a tradition of secular art music that included the famed composer Johann Friedrich Peter, who was a German born in Holland who emigrated to Bethlehem in 1770. He brought with him copies of compositions by Joseph Haydn, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Johann Stamitz and C. F. Abel. After living in Bethlehem for a time, Peter moved to Salem, where he founded the Collegium 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 sacred anthems like "It Is a Precious Thing" and arias like "The Lord Is in His Holy Temple".

The Moravian Church continued to produce a number of renowned composers into the 19th century, including John 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.

Pietists

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Main article: Pietism

In 1694, Johannes Kelpius brought a group of German Pietists to the banks of the Wissahickon 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 in The Lamenting Voice of the Hidden Love. It is likely that he wrote the text, though the tunes are mostly based on German 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.

Classical composers

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Cover Versions: 25 of the best Andy Warhol record sleeves". Thevinylfactory.com. 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  2. ^ "Big Band Jazz in Philadelphia". Phillyhistory.org. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  3. ^ https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/3216/3047/0 [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Songs".
  5. ^ "American Folk Song Collection".
  6. ^ "Buster Red 78's".
  7. ^ Sanford, Don A. (1992). A Choosing People: The History of Seventh Day Baptists. Nashville: Broadman Press. pp. 127–286. ISBN 0-8054-6055-1.
 
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