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Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Theater Music of Louis A. Hirsch (review)

Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Theater Music of Louis A. Hirsch (review) RECORDING REVIEW Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Theater Music of Louis A. Hirsch. The Para- gon Ragtime Orchestra. Rick Benjamin, director. Liner notes by Rick Benjamin. 2010. New World Records 80707–2. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s newest release celebrates the music of the com- poser Louis A. Hirsch, whose name was well known during the 1910s and 1920s but has since become hazy in the mist of musical theater ’s past. Rick Benjamin, the conductor for the group as well as the author of the substantial liner notes, posits several reasons for Hirsch’s current obscurity. Hirsch died at a relatively young age, before modern technology could broadcast his music across the mod- ern mass media, including radio and sound film. Benjamin adds that “we are still in the very early days of research into the history of the American musical stage,” suggesting that “a wider study of first generation materials—particularly the scores themselves—reveals that much of tremendous value has been over- looked.” This comment gets to the heart of the matter, which remains that there is an immense amount of fantastic music that sits unplayed and unheard by many who might otherwise adore it, scholar and fan alike. Benjamin does not http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Music University of Illinois Press

Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Theater Music of Louis A. Hirsch (review)

Westover, Jonas.
American Music , Volume 31 (4) – Mar 28, 2014
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Publisher
University of Illinois Press
ISSN
1945-2349

Abstract

RECORDING REVIEW Midnight Frolic: The Broadway Theater Music of Louis A. Hirsch. The Para- gon Ragtime Orchestra. Rick Benjamin, director. Liner notes by Rick Benjamin. 2010. New World Records 80707–2. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s newest release celebrates the music of the com- poser Louis A. Hirsch, whose name was well known during the 1910s and 1920s but has since become hazy in the mist of musical theater ’s past. Rick Benjamin, the conductor for the group as well as the author of the substantial liner notes, posits several reasons for Hirsch’s current obscurity. Hirsch died at a relatively young age, before modern technology could broadcast his music across the mod- ern mass media, including radio and sound film. Benjamin adds that “we are still in the very early days of research into the history of the American musical stage,” suggesting that “a wider study of first generation materials—particularly the scores themselves—reveals that much of tremendous value has been over- looked.” This comment gets to the heart of the matter, which remains that there is an immense amount of fantastic music that sits unplayed and unheard by many who might otherwise adore it, scholar and fan alike. Benjamin does not

Journal

American Music – University of Illinois Press

Published: Mar 28, 2014

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