During the 1930s, musical boundaries were hardly defined.
All music
blended with all other music. So it is a difficult topic to discuss. As
has been discussed in Music In Greenbelt,
classical music was very popular in Greenbelt. Classical music of the
1930s was heavily influenced by a combination of the the French classical
music of the 1820s, and of the big band music of the period
("Entertainment" 189). One of the pioneers of modern day classical music
was Irving Berlin. He was known for his musical scores - his score for
the movie Blue Skies starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, was
nominated for an Academy Award. He was popular for his excellent fusion
of swing jazz and traditional classical music. During the 1930s, classical
music, also known as European concert music, was performed by jazz
artists. The style was changed a bit but the content remained the same.
This was met with resentment by many people including the Bach Society of
New Jersey. They claimed that the jazz artists were "desecrating" the
original music. This came to ba a major issue during this time
period.
Everyone from the guy down the street to the First Lady were involved
about what their opinions were on the subject. Opinion in the jazz
community was also split. Artists like Benny Goodman and the Dorsey
Brothers, who were the first few to experiment with "swinging the
classics" thought that there was nothing wrong with bringing the music
up-to-date. In favor of copying the music, Paul Whiteman argued that
Bach was once dismissed from the church because he improvised too much
with the
traditional hymns. Others, like Count Basie, thought that the jazz artists
were "desecrating American's beautiful old melodies and favorite music."
The First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, saw no potential harm in copying, or
reinterpreting, the old music. (Stowe, 94-97). This question lingered
for quite some time - whether jazz musicians were running out of
material so that they were copying classical music. This issue was put
to rest during the late 1930s when jazz music flourished based on
original works produced by the likes of Benny Goodman and Duke
Ellington.
