Incidental and Dance Music in the American Theatre from 1786 to 1923 Vol. 3

The history of American theater would not have developed nor impacted the sound of music today without the composers, directors, and choreographers of incidental and dance music. From the earliest immigrant composers to mainstream maestros and film composers, their successes and sorrows mirrored the masses with failed marriages, alcoholism, earning a living, and dying alone and forgotten. Much of their music was destroyed in fires or lost while touring . . . until now.

Elaborating on the introduction and chronology in Volume 1 and the biographical profiles in Volume 2, the author explores the careers of the masterminds of music from Edgar Stillman Kelley to Charles Zimmerman, with more than 150 musical examples and extensive Notes.

About the author: composer John Franceschina served as Musical Director for more than 150 shows over 50 years. He served on the Musical Theatre Faculties at Florida State University, Syracuse University, and Pennsylvania State University. His previous published works include Sisters of Gore: Seven Gothic Melodramas by British Women, 1790–1843; Gore on Stage: The Plays of Catherine Gore; Homosexualities in the English Theatre: From Lyly to Wilde; Socialists, Socialites, and Sociopaths: Plays and Screenplays by Frank Tuttle; Rape, Incest, Murder! The Marquis de Sade on Stage (3 volumes); David Braham: The American Offenbach; Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists; Duke Ellington’s Music for the Theatre; Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire; and Music Theory through Musical Theatre.