finale version 25 response and verse text

To demonstrate Rzewski’s style, this paper explores the composer’s political beliefs as well as his general views on the politics of music itself.

1938) serves as a strong example of protest expressed through abstract instrumental art music. It examines the significance of introducing traditional US American protest tunes into contemporary art music compositions, inviting a short discussion of protest songs, the representation of social issues in art music, and the compositional technique of melodic quotation. It emphasizes issues related to poverty, corruption, and class conflict within the Appalachian coal mines of the 1930s, and the ways in which these concerns have been reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary art music.

This paper addresses the contemporary expression, through music, of resistance and solidarity among the struggling working class. Folk songs have long served as a persuasive vehicle for political activism and social change, especially when used to protest war, poverty, racism, or labor conditions.

Finale version 25 response and verse text