Music in the 1920s

by Richard Shead

25 years ago many musicians were apt to describe the 1920s as a period of rather foolish frivolity, a frivolity eventually shaken off by the worthier composers of the time, who 'settled down' in the subsequent decade to become responsible musical citizens. One facet of these developments is that the 1920s are now regarded in a new light. Included in this book are discussions on music and the ballet, neoclassicism, the music-hall and the circus, and key works of Satie and Stravinsky, and others.

148 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1977

Reviews

[Todd Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad overall, but it's pretentious in the extreme. Shead was one of those arts writers whose opinion of his talents was as grand as his opinions of English music. Among other things, he assumed that everyone who would ever read his work was fluent in French, so he never bothered to translate any of the multiple French quotations he cited. His bias towards British composers here is glaring, and he was remarkably inconsistent as a writer. At one point here he states that it would be prudent to touch upon the works of Mexican and Latin American composers... but then he doesn't, choosing instead to segue into Ravel. In the long run, this can be a pretty informative book if you are willing to suffer Shead's eccentricities and utter pomposity.