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Introducing Harold Arlen
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Abstract
Arlen’s inventiveness as a songwriter made him a favorite of musicians like André Previn and Stephen Sondheim. His experience as arranger, singer, and pianist in the 1920s contributed to the distinctive richness of harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, and textural detail in his songs. In interviews Arlen always stressed that a lyricist is the composer’s “best friend”; together they work to achieve a “happy wedding” of music and words. Although like all standards Arlen’s songs change constantly as they are interpreted by performers, this study will treat them in part as stable works whose formal, harmonic, and melodic features can be closely analyzed. This chapter closes with a discussion of two key elements of Arlen’s musical identity—his formative years as the son of a prominent Jewish cantor in Buffalo and his early, close association with Black musicians in New York.
Title: Introducing Harold Arlen
Description:
Abstract
Arlen’s inventiveness as a songwriter made him a favorite of musicians like André Previn and Stephen Sondheim.
His experience as arranger, singer, and pianist in the 1920s contributed to the distinctive richness of harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, and textural detail in his songs.
In interviews Arlen always stressed that a lyricist is the composer’s “best friend”; together they work to achieve a “happy wedding” of music and words.
Although like all standards Arlen’s songs change constantly as they are interpreted by performers, this study will treat them in part as stable works whose formal, harmonic, and melodic features can be closely analyzed.
This chapter closes with a discussion of two key elements of Arlen’s musical identity—his formative years as the son of a prominent Jewish cantor in Buffalo and his early, close association with Black musicians in New York.
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