''Music Appreciation Hour'' was a

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

radio series that offered lectures on

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

aimed at students. The show was part of a broader mid-20th-century movement to popularize

serious music Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...

. From 1928 to 1942,

orchestra conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties o ...

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a Prussian-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Aa ...

hosted the show. ''Radio Guide'' (March 18, 1939) commented: :In this music workshop Dr. Walter Damrosch analyzes types of compositions, illustrates functions and effects of instruments, reviews and compares the works of outstanding composers to promote an enjoyment of good music through an understanding of it. Except for the West Coast, ''Music Appreciation Hour'' was broadcast during school hours, and NBC provided teachers with supplementary materials. It also aired on Saturdays; in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, local NBC affiliate WSM aired the program immediately before its weekly

barn dance A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with Folk dance, traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building. The term “barn dance” is usually ...

broadcast. A comment from Damrosch on a 1928 broadcast about there being no room in the classics for realism prompted host George D. Hay to comment how much the barn dance contrasted with the classics: as opposed to grand opera, Hay's program presented the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

'', thus offhandedly giving that program the name it has held for nine decades since.

References

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Sources

* Joseph Horowitz, ''Understanding Toscanini—How He Became an American Culture–God and Helped Create a New Audience for Old Music'' (Knopf, 1987) * Theodor W. Adorno, "Analytical Study of the NBC 'Music Appreciation Hour.'" Unpublished manuscript. 1938-40. ''The Musical Quarterly'' 78:2 (Summer 1994): 325-377. American classical music radio programs 1928 radio programme debuts 1942 radio programme endings 1920s American radio programs 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs