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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
In the 1930s, the New York press often referred to Dana Suesse (1909-1987) as the "girl Gershwin." Like George Gershwin, Suesse got her start as a Tin Pan Alley songwriter before a string of hit songs made her one of the wealthiest musicians in America by the time she was 25 years old. Like Gershwin, she was unsatisfied with success as a popular songwriter and aspired to a career as a "serious" composer. Unlike Gershwin, she lived long enough to actually pursue that career for the second half of her life.
Born in Kansas City, Suesse was a prodigy at a young age, beginning to play the piano at two and touring on the Midwestern vaudeville circuit at the age of nine. As a teenager, she was especially impressive as an improviser; she would ask audiences to give her a theme, on which she would improvise an entire piano piece in classical form. In 1926, she moved with her mother to New York City, where she studied composition with Rubin Goldmark (who was also one of Gershwin's teachers) and formed a prolific songwriting partnership with lyricist Billy Rose. Though she wrote few complete musicals, her songs regularly featured in the Ziegfeld Follies and in Rose's own Diamond Horseshoe revues.
Suesse's debut as a classical composer came through the same channels as Gershwin's: Paul Whiteman, who had previously commissioned Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, commissioned a piano concerto from Suesse in 1932. The result was Suesse's Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms, the piece that first drew comparisons with Gershwin. Her biggest popular hit, "You Oughta Be in Pictures," followed soon after and rapidly became the unofficial anthem of Hollywood. After the Second World War, no longer needing to earn money from music, Suesse traveled to France and studied composition under Nadia Boulanger. From then on, she focused on composing music for the concert hall, including two more piano concertos. She never entirely stopped writing music for the theater, however; she sporadically composed musicals and incidental music for plays, and was midway through composing a musical when she passed away in 1987.
Suesse was never nearly as successful with her concert music as she was with her popular music. While many of her songs remain standards, her Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms is probably best described as the forgotten concerto of the Jazz Age, performed only a handful of times after the 1930s. As the title suggests, each movement is based on a different popular music style, though at the premiere the movements were listed in the program only by their Italian tempo markings. Programs at later performances included the titles of the movements: a bold, assertive Foxtrot in sonata-allegro form, a slow, mournful Blues movement, and a jaunty Rag that features the piano and orchestra constantly riffing off one another.
I. Foxtrot: Allegro ma non troppo
II. Blues: Adagio
III. Rag: Presto
In the 1930s, the New York press often referred to Dana Suesse (1909-1987) as the "girl Gershwin." Like George Gershwin, Suesse got her start as a Tin Pan Alley songwriter before a string of hit songs made her one of the wealthiest musicians in America by the time she was 25 years old. Like Gershwin, she was unsatisfied with success as a popular songwriter and aspired to a career as a "serious" composer. Unlike Gershwin, she lived long enough to actually pursue that career for the second half of her life.
Born in Kansas City, Suesse was a prodigy at a young age, beginning to play the piano at two and touring on the Midwestern vaudeville circuit at the age of nine. As a teenager, she was especially impressive as an improviser; she would ask audiences to give her a theme, on which she would improvise an entire piano piece in classical form. In 1926, she moved with her mother to New York City, where she studied composition with Rubin Goldmark (who was also one of Gershwin's teachers) and formed a prolific songwriting partnership with lyricist Billy Rose. Though she wrote few complete musicals, her songs regularly featured in the Ziegfeld Follies and in Rose's own Diamond Horseshoe revues.
Suesse's debut as a classical composer came through the same channels as Gershwin's: Paul Whiteman, who had previously commissioned Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, commissioned a piano concerto from Suesse in 1932. The result was Suesse's Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms, the piece that first drew comparisons with Gershwin. Her biggest popular hit, "You Oughta Be in Pictures," followed soon after and rapidly became the unofficial anthem of Hollywood. After the Second World War, no longer needing to earn money from music, Suesse traveled to France and studied composition under Nadia Boulanger. From then on, she focused on composing music for the concert hall, including two more piano concertos. She never entirely stopped writing music for the theater, however; she sporadically composed musicals and incidental music for plays, and was midway through composing a musical when she passed away in 1987.
Suesse was never nearly as successful with her concert music as she was with her popular music. While many of her songs remain standards, her Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms is probably best described as the forgotten concerto of the Jazz Age, performed only a handful of times after the 1930s. As the title suggests, each movement is based on a different popular music style, though at the premiere the movements were listed in the program only by their Italian tempo markings. Programs at later performances included the titles of the movements: a bold, assertive Foxtrot in sonata-allegro form, a slow, mournful Blues movement, and a jaunty Rag that features the piano and orchestra constantly riffing off one another.
I. Foxtrot: Allegro ma non troppo
II. Blues: Adagio
III. Rag: Presto