An American Folk Opera? Triangulating Folkness, Blackness, and Americaness in Gershwin and Heyward'sPorgy and Bess

Bibliographic Data

ID2824312
AuthorsRay Allen (corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume117
Issue465
Pages243-261
Publication date2004-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American Folklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/4137739
OpenAlexW4313035301
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

The conscious choice of an "American Folk Opera" as the subtitle for George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward's 1935 opera Porgy and Bess reveals much about the interplay of tradition, race, and national identity during the Great Depression. Although the opera's authentic "folkness" was brought into serious question by such period critics as Virgil Thomson and Hall Johnson, Porgy and Bess did generate a critical debate that propelled the triangulation of folkness, blackness, and Americaness into the national consciousness at a crucial moment when the country was struggling to define who its folk were and how folk heritage(s) could form the foundation of a common American identity

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Consciousness · George (robot) · Identity (music) · Literature · Opera · Subtitle · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Music History and Culture · Philosophy · Theater, Performance, and Music History

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