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Chapter 13 Thought Questions

1. Make a list of 15 American-born Jewish composers arranged by birth date.  Can you infer anything from the chronological distribution of that list?
   
2. Imagine that you are going to teach a college class on American Jewish composers.  Which composers would you select to be discussed in the class, and which of their compositions?  Why?
   
3. How did American music “profit” from German persecution of Jewish musicians?  Cite specific examples from the fields of performance, popular music, film music, concert music, and music scholarship.
   
4. In the first half of the twentieth century there was an enormous influx of Jewish musicians into every aspect of American music: concert artists, composers, popular musicians, and even related fields like music criticism and concert management.   What factors do you think promoted this happening?
   
5. Compare the twentieth century in the United States with the Middle Ages in Europe from the standpoint of Jewish professionals in secular music. What similarities do you see?  What differences?