| Self-taught American composer Henry Partridge Joslyn (1884--1931) composed works for a wide range of media. Included in his output were symphonic works, chamber works, works for solo piano, popular songs, folk-song arrangements, a commercial jingle for Barbasol shaving cream, and work on a Broadway show. An advertising agent by trade, Joslyn used his skills as a promoter to work his way into the American Music scene.;This study includes the first biography of Joslyn, based upon newspaper articles, program notes, and other contemporary sources such as a collection of 106 family letters written by Joslyn and another 26 letters between Joslyn and members of the American Music community. Particularly helpful was an interview with Joslyn's daughter, Magdalene Joslyn Fincke, a mere three years before her death in 2004. Also in this study is the first critical edition and stylistic analysis of one of his works, Prairie: Poem for Viola and Wind Orchestra (1926), a piece approximately twenty-two minutes in length composed for a virtuoso violist, nine winds, piano, harp, and percussion. A list of works and a catalog of the Joslyn holdings in the Library of Congress conclude the study.;During his lifetime, his music, which utilized twentieth-century harmonies, explorative orchestrations, and the influence of Native American music, jazz, Broadway, and Tin Pan Alley styles, drew interest from a variety of prominent musicians, including conductors Modest Altschuler, Nat Finston, Leopold Stokowski, Eric Coates, and Erich Kleiber, band leader Paul Whiteman, and composer Edgard Varese. His untimely death at the age of 46 brought an unexpected end to his growing career and to his influence on American Music. None of Joslyn's major works were published and few today know of either the man or his music. |
