Tag Archives: music

Refugee Intellectuals

“Refugee Intellectuals: (1930-1940) During the 1930s, a galaxy of European intellectuals–authors, artists, scholars, scientists–fled European totalitarianism and found refuge, permanent or temporary, in the United States. Their contributions to the nation’s cultural life–and later to its war effort–were incalculable. The hundreds of refugee intellectuals included:

  • George Balanchine, Russian dancer and choreographer, to U.S. 1933
  • Hans Bethe, German physicist, to U.S. 1935.
  • Bertolt Brecht, German playwright and poet, in U.S. 1941-49
  • Marcel Breuer, Hungarian architect, to U.S. 1937
  • Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher, to U.S. 1936
  • Albert Einstein, German physicist, to U.S. 1933
  • Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst, to U.S. 1933
  • Max Ernst, German painter, in U.S. 1939-49
  • Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, to U.S. 1938
  • Erich Fromm, German psychoanalyst, to U.S. 1934
  • Walter Gropius, German architect, to U.S. 1937
  • George Grosz, German painter, to U.S. 1933
  • Paul Hindemith, German composer, in U.S. 1940-52
  • Hans Hofmann, German painter, to U.S. 1930
  • Karen Horney, German psychoanalyst, to U.S. 1932
  • Wolfgang Kohler, German psychologist, to U.S. 1934
  • Fritz Lang, German film director, to U.S. 1934
  • Thomas Mann, German author, in U.S. 1938-53
  • Herbert Marcuse, German political philosopher, to U.S. 1934
  • Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect, to U.S. 1937
  • Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, to U.S. 1937
  • Hans Morgenthau, German political scientist, to U.S. 1937
  • Erwin Panovsky, German art historian, to U.S.
  • Erwin Piscator, German theatrical director, in U.S. 1939-1951
  • Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer, to U.S. 1931
  • Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist, to U.S. 1932
  • Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-Yiddish novelist, to U.S. 1935
  • Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer, to U.S. 1937
  • George Szell, Hungarian conductor, to U.S. 1937
  • Leo Szilard, Hungarian physicist, to U.S. 1938
  • Edward Teller, Hungarian physicist, to U.S. 1935
  • Paul Tillich, German theologian, to U.S. 1933
  • Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, to U.S. 1930
  • John Von Neumann, Hungarian mathematician, to U.S. 1930
  • Bruno Walter, German conductor, to U.S. 1938
  • Kurt Weill, German composer, to U.S. 1935
  • Max Wertheimer, German psychologist, to U.S. 1933
  • Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist, to U.S. 1930

Excerpted from: Rosenbaum, Robert A. The Penguin Encyclopedia of American History. New York: Penguin, 2003.

Neil Young

“Neil Young: (b. 1945) Canadian singer and songwriter. Born in Toronto, he began his career as a folksinger in Winnipeg and later moved to Los Angeles, where he formed the rock group Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. In 1968 he released a solo album; in 1969 he joined Stills, David Crosby, and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. With a new band, Crazy Horse, he had great success with albums such as Harvest (1972) and Comes a Time (1978). In the 1980s he experimented with rockabilly and electronic music.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Amy Beach

“Amy Beach originally Amy Marcy Cheney known as Mrs, H.H.A. Beach: (1867-1944) U.S. composer and pianist. Born in Henniker, New Hampshire, to a distinguished family, she was a precociously brilliant and mostly self-taught musician, and she performed as soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. As a composer, she was devoted to German romanticism rather than American themes or sources. Her best-loved works were her songs. Her Gaelic Symphony (1894) was the first symphony written by an American woman. Other works include a piano concerto (1899), the choral pieces The Chambered Nautilus (1907) and Canticle of the Sun (1928), the opera Cabildo (1932), and a piano quintet.”

­­­­­­Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

The Weekly Text, 20 March 2026, Women’s History Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Madonna

For a variety of reasons I have resisted posting, especially during Women’s History Month, this reading on Madonna and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Why? I don’t know: maybe simple sexism? There is something about her that has always annoyed me. Maybe her apparent vanity? Maybe her ubiquity over a long span of time?

The fact remains that during the early 1990s, when I was an undergraduate at Hampshire College, a number of critics and scholars touted Madonna as a feminist icon. That’s not what I see when I look at her, but what do I know? In any case, Madonna at this point is unarguably a part of women’s history (however we all feel about that).

Does anyone still pay attention to her? On the chance that she still has an audience, I have tagged this as a high-interest item.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Alice Childress

“Alice Childress: (1916-1994) U.S. playwright, novelist, and actress. She grew up in Harlem and studied drama with the American Negro Theater, where she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, Florence (produced 1949). Her other plays, some featuring music, include Trouble in Mind (produced 1955), String (1969), The African Garden (1971), and Gullah (1984). She was also a successful writer of children’s books, including A Hero Ain’t Nothing But a Sandwich (1973).”

­­­­­­­­­Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: We Shall Overcome

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the song “We Shall Overcome.” This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension question. A spare, but necessary, introduction to this “…best-known song of the civil rights movement.”

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review

Cultural Literacy: Spirituals

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on spirituals. This is a half-page document with a reading of three sentences and five comprehension questions. The reading is straightforward, and even the longish third and final sentence is simply a list of famous spirituals that shouldn’t cause a reader at any level much trouble.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review

Frederick Douglass on Slave Songs

“[Of slave songs:] Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.”

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ch. 2 (1845)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Cultural Literacy: Chuck Berry

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Chuck Berry. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. The sparest of introductions to this musical innovator, but one nonetheless that notes his influence on The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review

Wayne Shorter

“Wayne Shorter: (1933-2023) U.S. saxophonist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied at New York University, He played with Art Blakey’s group 1959-64, acting as its musical director, then joined Miles Davis’s remarkable mid-1960s group, including Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. In 1970, he and Joe Zawinul formed Weather Report, the most significant jazz-rock ‘fusion’ band of the 1970s, with bassist Jaco Pastorius. He has written many distinctive jazz standards.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.