Orpheus in Manhattan

Winner of the ASCAP Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography The musical landscape of New York City and the United States of America would look quite different had it not been for William Schuman. Orpheus in Manhattan, a fully objective and comprehensive biography of Schuman, portrays a man who had a profound influence upon the artistic and political institutions of his day and beyond. Steve Swayne draws heavily upon Schuman's letters, writings, and manuscripts as well as unprecedented access to archival recordings and previously unknown correspondence. The winner of the first Pulitzer Prize in Music, Schuman composed music that is rhythmically febrile, harmonically pungent, melodically long-breathed, and timbrally brilliant, and Swayne offers an astute analysis of his work, including many unpublished music scores. Swayne also describes Schuman's role as president of the Juilliard School of Music and of Lincoln Center, tracing how he both expanded the boundaries of music education and championed the performing arts. Filled with new discoveries and revisions of the received historical narrative, Orpheus in Manhattan confirms Schuman as a major figure in America's musical life.

Steve Swayne is Jacob H. Strauss 1922 Professor of Music, and Music Department Chair at Dartmouth College. He is also an accomplished concert pianist and an award-winning composer.

Introduction: The Impact of a Single Symphony Part 1: The Early Years Chapter 1: The Family Tree Chapter 2: A Kid Grows In Queens and Manhattan Chapter 3: Camp Cobbossee (And a Summer Abroad) Chapter 4: A Flash in Tin Pan Alley Chapter 5: Frankie Chapter 6: An Unconventional Education Part 2: The Sarah Lawrence Years Chapter 7: Sarah Lawrence and the Beginning of the Decade of War Chapter 8: "The pupil is outdoing the master": Harris, Schuman, and the Second Symphony Chapter 9: Schuman, Copland, Koussevitzky, and Bernstein Chapter 10: Populism, Progressivism, and Politics Chapter 11: World War II and the Prize-winning Composer Chapter 12: The Modern Meteor I Sing Part 3: The Juilliard Years Chapter 13: Wringing the Changes Chapter 14: Dancing in the Dark Chapter 15: Family Matters Chapter 16: An Old Religion, Two Champions, and a New Symphony Chapter 17: Delays and Distractions Chapter 18: Striking Out Chapter 19: The (Mostly) Off-Stage Ambassador Chapter 20: With an Eye on the Marketplace Chapter 21: International Man of Music Part 4: The Lincoln Center Years Chapter 22: The Dream Defined Chapter 23: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed Chapter 24: One Nightmare After Another Chapter 25: The Potemkin Center Chapter 26: The Deaths of the Dreamers Chapter 27: The Death of the Dream Part 5: The Years of Completion Chapter 28: The Administrator Reinvents Himself Chapter 29: The Composer Reasserts Himself Chapter 30: Round and Round and Round He Goes Chapter 31: Bicentennial Fireworks Chapter 32: Reflections and Ruminations Chapter 33: Triplets Chapter 34: The Wind Was With Him Chapter 35: A Rare Vintage Epilogue: Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life