In A Cole Porter Companion, a parade of performers and scholars offers essays on little-known aspects of the master tunesmith's life and art. Here are Porter's days as a Yale wunderkind and his nights as the exemplar of louche living; the triumph of Kiss Me Kate and shocking failure of You Never Know; and his spinning rhythmic genius and a turkey dinner into "You're the Top" while cultural and economic forces take "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" in unforeseen directions. Other entries explore notes on ongoing Porter scholarship and delve into his formative works, performing career, and long-overlooked contributions to media as varied as film and ballet.
Prepared with the cooperation of the Porter archives, A Cole Porter Companion is an invaluable guide for the fans and scholars of this beloved American genius.
| Cover Title Copyright Contents Foreword William Bolcom Editors' Preface - Don M. Randel, Matthew Shaftel, and Susan Forscher Weiss PART 1. "What a Joy to Be Young": From Peru to Paris via Yale and Other Academies 1. Cole Porter at Yale / Robert Kimball 2. When the Little Bluebird Starts to Sing: Porter's Musical Formation / Susan Forscher Weiss 3. Cole Porter, European / Wilfried Van den Brande 4. Landed: Cole Porter's Ballet / Simon Morrison PART 2. Porter the Poet and Performer 5. Lists of Louche Living: Music in Cole Porter's Social World / Mitchell Morris 6. Which Comes First, the Music or the Lyrics? "You're the Top" / Rob Kapilow 7. "I Hate Parading My Serenading": The Historical Record of Porter as a Performer / Eric Davis 8. From "Young Bears" to "Three-Letter Words": "Anything Goes," 1934–1962 / James Hepokoski 9. Keeping Faith with John Q. Public: Cole Porter, Billy Rose, and Seven Lively Arts / James O'Leary 10. "The Beat Beat Beat of the Tom-Tom": Cole Porter and the Exotic / Joshua S. Walden PART 3. Approaches to the Analysis and Criticism of Porter's Works 11. Licentious Harmony and Counterpoint in Porter's "Love for Sale" / Michael Buchler 12. About Cole Porter's Songs / Don M. Randel 13. You Never Know Anatomy of a Flop / Cliff Eisen 14. A Consideration of Drama, Lyrics, and Musical Structure in a Porter Film Broadway Melody of 1940 / Matthew Shaftel 15. Kiss Me, Kate / Lynn Laitman Siebert PART 4. Materials for the Study of Cole Porter's Music 16. Cole Porter's Papers / Mark Eden Horowitz 17. Secondary Materials and the Study of Cole Porter / Gregory J. Decker Selected Bibliography / Gregory J. Decker About the Contributors Index | Certificate of Merit for Best Discography, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2017 — Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC)|Don M. Randel is the author of The Harvard Dictionary of Music and Musicians and former president of the University of Chicago. Matthew Shaftel is the Dean of Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University and coauthor of Aural Skills in Context: A Comprehensive Approach to Sight Singing, Ear Training, Keyboard Harmony, and Improvisation. Susan Forscher Weiss is Professor of Musicology and German & Romance Languages and Literature at The Johns Hopkins University and editor of Music Education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.