Crosscurrents

An exploration of how music and musicians have moved between North America and Europe and the positive exchanges that have resulted.

Throughout the 20th century, exchanges between North America and Europe were vital to the development of musical life on both sides of the Atlantic, shifting from a postcolonial imbalance of cultural power at the opening of the century to an increasing sense of encounters between equals. There were productive exchanges of all sorts and in both directions, with ever-shifting dynamics over time. American musicians studied in Europe; European musicians visited the U.S. or were driven into exile there, orchestras and soloists crisscrossed the ocean to give concert tours; music festivals attracted an international clientele; and printed music, recordings, journalism, radio, and eventually the internet flowed freely within a transatlantic circuit.

This volume, based on the papers presented at an international conference held at Harvard University and the University of Munich (2008/2009), explores how music and musicians - both Europeans and Americans - have moved across cultures, creating mutual benefit as well as occasional misunderstanding. It includes contributions by leading historians, theorists, and scholars of American studies as well as interviews with two prominent "transatlantic" composers of today, Betsy Jolas and Steve Reich.

The main chapters of the book are devoted to the following topics: "Performing National Identity", "Touring onthe Other Side", "Networks of Pedagogy and Patronage", "Exile and Emigration", "Wartime Concerns", "Cultural Politics on the Cold War", "Technological Intersections", "Institutional Havens and Confrontations", "Musical Languages:Concergences and Divergences", "Questioning Hierarchies, Challenging Boundaries".

This volume has been edited by Felix Meyer, Carol J. Oja, Wolfgang Rathert and Anne C. Shreffler.