From a philological-musical point of view, the productive and receptive dynamics of Tiger Rag, perhaps the most famous piece of classical jazz, have been marked by irreconcilable controversies concerning both its correct authorial attribution and the specific origin of the “floating folk strains” that the copyright holder (©1917), the Italian-American Nick La Rocca, assembled by his own admission. In a recent article by the presentauthor, the authorship of La Rocca has been confirmed in contrast to the version of the pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, who repeatedly claimed authorship of the piece, which led to him being credited as the true author by jazz historiography.As evidence of the importance of Tiger Rag, it is worth noting that Morton even indicated it as the piece from which the history of jazz started. It was the result of a rhythmic-improvisational treatment of a quadrille of European origin. In this article the sources are examined with results that substantially reshape the historiographic and philological framework outlined by the standard critical edition, the retrospective score published by the Library of Congress based on the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s historical recording. The new attribution to La Rocca is not only consistent with the musician’s indications, but the use of appropriate philological tools has made it possible to identify other sources which have not been taken into consideration until now. In this new interpretative perspective, Tiger Rag acquires the character of a symbolic divide between traditional oral music, in which the “floating folk strains” were the common heritage of New Orleans musicians, and what the present author has dubbed ‘audiotactile music’, fully integrated into a context of mass-media and participating in the authoritative and aesthetic dimension of an art-music tradition.

Nuove prospettive interpretative sulle fonti di 'Tiger Rag'

Caporaletti. Vincenzo
2018-01-01

Abstract

From a philological-musical point of view, the productive and receptive dynamics of Tiger Rag, perhaps the most famous piece of classical jazz, have been marked by irreconcilable controversies concerning both its correct authorial attribution and the specific origin of the “floating folk strains” that the copyright holder (©1917), the Italian-American Nick La Rocca, assembled by his own admission. In a recent article by the presentauthor, the authorship of La Rocca has been confirmed in contrast to the version of the pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, who repeatedly claimed authorship of the piece, which led to him being credited as the true author by jazz historiography.As evidence of the importance of Tiger Rag, it is worth noting that Morton even indicated it as the piece from which the history of jazz started. It was the result of a rhythmic-improvisational treatment of a quadrille of European origin. In this article the sources are examined with results that substantially reshape the historiographic and philological framework outlined by the standard critical edition, the retrospective score published by the Library of Congress based on the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s historical recording. The new attribution to La Rocca is not only consistent with the musician’s indications, but the use of appropriate philological tools has made it possible to identify other sources which have not been taken into consideration until now. In this new interpretative perspective, Tiger Rag acquires the character of a symbolic divide between traditional oral music, in which the “floating folk strains” were the common heritage of New Orleans musicians, and what the present author has dubbed ‘audiotactile music’, fully integrated into a context of mass-media and participating in the authoritative and aesthetic dimension of an art-music tradition.
2018
Olschki
Internazionale
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11393/249919
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