The Parting of the Ways

During the pre-World War I era the music of Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin and John Philip Sousa influenced the popular musical tastes of America. Abroad Debussy, Strauss and Mahler filled concert halls, while Igor Stravinsky advanced the revolution with The Rite of Spring. With the dawn of the 20th century, the audio recording was invented. In contrast with the sophisticated and impressionistic music of Europe, American music at the turn of the century was influenced by African rhythms and melodies which produced the blues, spirituals, minstrel shows and ragtime. These new musical forms were popularized by the advent of motion pictures.