Troubled authenticity amd the romanticized West: reevaluating Charles Wakefield Cadman's 1918 opera Shanewis

In 1918, American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman completed the opera Shanewis or the Robin Woman, which was featured during two consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. It was the first American opera to receive the honor of a double run and was popular throughout the 1920s. However, the opera-and its composer-have since receded into complete obscurity, due partly to our increasing discomfort with the early twentieth-century treatment of American Indians. Cadman draws directly from American Indian musical sources in his construction of the score, quoting dictated native melodies and incorporating other musical elements readily associated with the continent's original inhabitants. He strives for authenticity and integrity in his representation of American Indians, but has been criticized for appropriating indigenous melodies and using them to present a stereotyped portrait of the "noble savage." To date, most studies of Shanewis have emphasized its historical novelty and role in the development of opera in the United States. The discourse has been heavily influenced by postmodern ideas about American Indian culture and racial identity in America. This thesis aims to expand the present field of scholarship to include a more critical approach. It questions the definitions of "authenticity" previously used to iv dismiss the work and suggests that Shanewis warrants analysis as a cultural artifact capable of providing unique insight into the debate surrounding Indian identity and public policy that raged between the Dawes Act of 1887 and the Indian New Deal of 1934. The introduction calls for a reevaluation of Shanewis and other coeval Indianist works. The next chapter provides a brief historical survey of the opera and its composer. The central chapters model the kind of analysis called for in the introduction and investigate notions of authenticity, racial representation, and gender relations within the work. The penultimate chapter addresses questions of authenticity in performance practice. The goal of this study is to unpack the complexities of American and Indian identity in the early twentieth century through an analysis of Shanewis as an authentic cultural artifact that both reflected public opinion and helped to create it.

TROUBLED AUTHENTICITY AND THE ROMANTICIZED WEST: REEVALUATING CHARLES WAKEFIELD CADMAN'S 1918 OPERA SHANEWIS by Briawna A. Anderson A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Musicology School of Music The University of Utah May 2013 Copyright © Briawna A. Anderson 2013 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF THESIS APPROVAL The thesis of Briawna A. Anderson has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Susan Neimoyer , Chair 3/4/2013 Date Approved Michael Chikinda , Member 3/4/2013 Date Approved Catherine Mayes , Member 3/4/2013 and by James Gardner , Chair of the Department of Music and by Donna M. White, Interim Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT In 1918, American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman completed the opera Shanewis or the Robin Woman, which was featured during two consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. It was the first American opera to receive the honor of a double run and was popular throughout the 1920s. However, the opera-and its composer-have since receded into complete obscurity, due partly to our increasing discomfort with the early twentieth-century treatment of American Indians. Cadman draws directly from American Indian musical sources in his construction of the score, quoting dictated native melodies and incorporating other musical elements readily associated with the continent's original inhabitants. He strives for authenticity and integrity in his representation of American Indians, but has been criticized for appropriating indigenous melodies and using them to present a stereotyped portrait of the "noble savage." To date, most studies of Shanewis have emphasized its historical novelty and role in the development of opera in the United States. The discourse has been heavily influenced by postmodern ideas about American Indian culture and racial identity in America. This thesis aims to expand the present field of scholarship to include a more critical approach. It questions the definitions of "authenticity" previously used to iv dismiss the work and suggests that Shanewis warrants analysis as a cultural artifact capable of providing unique insight into the debate surrounding Indian identity and public policy that raged between the Dawes Act of 1887 and the Indian New Deal of 1934. The introduction calls for a reevaluation of Shanewis and other coeval Indianist works. The next chapter provides a brief historical survey of the opera and its composer. The central chapters model the kind of analysis called for in the introduction and investigate notions of authenticity, racial representation, and gender relations within the work. The penultimate chapter addresses questions of authenticity in performance practice. The goal of this study is to unpack the complexities of American and Indian identity in the early twentieth century through an analysis of Shanewis as an authentic cultural artifact that both reflected public opinion and helped to create it. This thesis is dedicated to Kenneth M Howard, who first taught me to love research. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, knowledge, and love. I love you, Papa. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………. iii LIST OF EXAMPLES……………………………………………………………. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………. ix Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………….. 1 2. COMPOSING SHANEWIS……………………………..…………………….. 15 2.1 Childhood and Musical Beginnings……………..…………………….. 20 2.2 Professional Success and the Indianist Movement…………………… 23 2.3 Sharing the Indianist Spirit: Lecture Recitals and Tours……………… 28 2.4 First Opera: Daoma…………………………………………………… 32 2.5 Revisiting Indian Opera: Shanewis……………………………………. 36 2.6 Concluding Thoughts: Reception Issues and Economic Factors……… 40 3. TROUBLED AUTHENTICITY AND THE CASE FOR A REEVALUATION OF SHANEWIS…………………….…………………… 44 3.1 Redefining Indian Identity: 1887-1934…………..……………………. 47 3.2 Defining Authenticity………………………………………………….. 51 3.3 Coding for Authenticity in Shanewis………………………………….. 55 3.4 Invalidating "Inauthenticity"………………………………………….. 78 4. RACIAL REPRESENTATION AND THE ROMANTICIZED WEST: MAPPING PRIMITIVISM IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA…………………………………………………………………..… 91 4.1 Negotiating Primitivism and Ethnic Identity……………….………… 93 4.2 Defining Indianness in the Early Twentieth Century………………… 108 4.3 Anthropological Priorities and Problems……………………………. 116 4.4 The "Noble Savage" and "Real" Indians……………………………. 118 vii 4.5 Musical Representations of the Indian Identity Crisis………………… 123 5. THE ROBIN WOMAN: A NEW NARRATIVE OF FEMININITY FOR THE AMERICAN WEST…………….………………………………… 132 5.1 Intersections of Gender and Race in Feminist Criticism………………. 133 5.2 Frontier Ethics and Femininity………………………………………… 139 5.2 Women and the American Frontier……………………………………. 145 6. PERFORMING INDIANISM IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY……… 150 7. CONCLUSION………………………………………………..……………… 166 Appendices A. PLOT SYNOPSIS OF SHANEWIS…………………………………………… 173 B. THE DAWES ACT OF 1887 AND THE INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1934.………………………………………… 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………. 181 LIST OF EXAMPLES 3.1 Shanewis expresses gratitude………………………………………………… 59 3.2 Andante Calmo - Shanewis retreats to the forest…..………………………... 61 3.3 Percussive bass line…………………………………………………………... 62 3.4 Comparison of "Spring Song" and Curtis's ethnography……………..……… 62 3.5 Opening of Cadman's Osage ceremony from Part Two……………………… 82 4.1 Descending chromatic bass line……………………………………………… 125 4.2 Shanewis modulates to B-flat Major…………………………………………. 126 4.3 Shanewis sings all twelve pitch-classes………………………………………. 128 4.4 Lionel chases Shanewis through key changes……………………………….. 129 4.5 Lionel moves to E Major…………………………………………………… 129 4.6 Shanewis entreats Lionel to come to the reservation…………………………. 131 6.1 Osage ceremonial song………………………………………………………. 162ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to offer my sincere thanks to my committee members, whose guidance and insight were invaluable to this project. I am deeply indebted to my advisor, Susan Neimoyer, who has been a wonderful mentor and teacher. Thank you for your encouragement and support and for the countless hours spent editing, advising, and discussing this project. I also wish to express my appreciation to Michael Chikinda for years of good council and the best theory classes I have had the pleasure to attend, and to Catherine Mayes, for whose career advice and research suggestions I am deeply thankful. I would like to extend my gratitude to Dan Edwards, whose knowledge of Indian history and culture were formative to my early research. Thank you for the time you took to share your traditions and way of life, and for grounding my understanding of contemporary Indian issues. I am profoundly grateful to my dear, patient husband, who has spent many nights and weekends at home, refilling my coffee, and never complained once. Thank you, Aaron, for being my sounding board and listening to each new idea attentively. Thank you for making time for me during this process and for supporting my career without hesitation. And to Daisy and Lily, I promise there will be many more walks and trips to the park now-thank you for being good dogs.x To my family-Mom, Rod, Dad, and Kimberli-thank you for always supporting me. To my siblings: Dayne, Kira, Shaye, Colton, Genna, Marohn, and Keaton, I love you. To Zachary Milliman, thank you for your many suggestions and thought-provoking conversations. To Trieste and Taylor, your encouragement and friendship mean the world to me. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In 1918, American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman completed the opera The Robin Woman, or Shanewis (pronounced Sha-NEE-wis), which was featured during two seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. It was the first American opera to receive the honor of a double run and was wildly popular throughout the 1920s. However, the opera-and its composer-have since receded into complete obscurity, largely due to our increasing discomfort with the early twentieth-century treatment of American Indians. The plot of the opera centers on a young American Indian woman, Shanewis, and the White benefactors who educate and provide for her (and, because it is an opera, the love triangle that entangles them all). Shanewis was composed at the end of an approximately two-decade-long movement in American music known as "Indianism," which advocated the use of American Indian musical and cultural material as the foundation for a national school of composition. Cadman draws directly from American Indian musical sources in his construction of the score, quoting dictated Indian melodies from numerous tribes and incorporating other musical elements readily associated with the continent's original inhabitants. He strives for authenticity and integrity in his representation of American Indians, but his efforts are troubled by the realities of a dynamic and actively changing 2 Indian identity in the early twentieth century. Ultimately, the work encapsulates the debate and dilemma surrounding the redefinition of what it meant to be Indian at the close of the western frontier. Cadman's treatment of American Indian material sets native melodies according to the European tradition, with distinct nods to Puccini. He incorporates musical fragments from many tribes, and never provides the tribal identification of the title character. This seems to have been a deliberate choice on the part of Cadman and his librettist, Nelle Richmond Eberhart, and a testament to the growing formation of a Pan-Indian identity in the twentieth century. The opera was a modest undertaking: a one-act show with a cast of five principal characters. The libretto is loosely based on events from the life of Tsianina Redfeather, a classically trained mezzo-soprano of Creek and Cherokee descent, who toured and collaborated musically with Cadman. Tsianina was the model for the opera's title character Shanewis, a young American Indian woman who has been educated in New York and trained as a classical singer through the generosities of her White benefactress, a Mrs. J. Asher Everton. Throughout the opera, Shanewis navigates her place in American society and tries to reconcile conflicting versions of her Indian identity. Racial discord is a major thematic element of Cadman's opera, and questions of Indian assimilation, interracial coupling, and the wrongs of historical mistreatment are raised continually throughout the work. Most modern appraisals of this and other Indianist compositions are clouded by contemporary assumptions about what it means to be an "authentic" American Indian. Often these expectations are the result of more than a century of anthropological study and discourse, which have culminated in a relatively 3 new and somewhat contrived ideal. In reality, a number of early twentieth-century Indian persons and groups would have challenged even the most commonly accepted twenty-first- century conceptualizations about "traditional" Indian culture. The years 1887-1934 were accompanied by abundant discourse about the nature and future of Indian culture in America, including how traditional and mainstream cultures should interact.1 Art historians have been particularly adept at analyzing the history and contexts of this discourse in the visual artwork of the era. Musicologists, on the other hand, have been slow to unpack the complex racial and political implications of Indianist works.2 This reticence has left a number of insights into American cultural history unexplored. As art scholar Susan Hiller explains: Artists are full participants in their society and their work always expresses certain beliefs and values of that society, carrying them forward in time. But simultaneously, by ignoring, enhancing, or contesting other themes in their culture, artists are also actively involved in changing their society and in reflecting possibilities of change. One strength of art is its reflexive truthfulness, the way it functions as a mirror to show us what we don't know that we know. The artist may not know "the truth" either, and certainly at the time a work is produced its latent "truthfulness" can be overlooked, misrepresented, or obscured, but retrospectively it clearly functions as a reliable witness to history, psychology, culture, and the connections between them.3 Cadman's work functions as a "reliable witness" to an important period of American history. Growing cultural sensitivity towards the condition of American Indians and their treatment since the European "rediscovery" of America has left our 1 Sherry L. Smith, Reimagining Indians: Native Americans Through Anglo Eyes, 1880-1940 (Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2000), 5. 2 Joseph Kerman first lamented musicology's tendency to avoid critical cultural analysis in Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985). Since that work's first publication, significant inroads have been made in the field of musicological criticism; however, the discipline still lags behind art history and literary criticism, to name a few. 3 Susan Hiller, forward to The Myth of Primitivism: Perspectives on Art (London: Routledge, 1991), 3. 4 society reticent to entertain stereotypes or representations of Indians that the ethnographic sciences and the humanities now label as "inauthentic" or "nontraditional."4 However, this inadvertently contributes to the further effacement of diverse Indian peoples. The process of assimilation and the conflicting nature of Indians' dual identity as both tribal members and American citizens is an important part of their history, with ramifications for public policy and their treatment in society. There is an historical injustice perpetrated when we present a whitewashed view of Indian culture and history that seeks to resurrect a pre-European-contact version of their customs and traditions without acknowledging the dynamic acculturation process that defined their existence for centuries. By examining cultural artifacts that do function as reliable witnesses to this history, scholars can give voice to thousands of Indians whose perspectives and personal stories have been overshadowed, often in the name of anthropology and science, by social expectations about what it means to be an "authentic American Indian." Michael V. Pisani has expressed in another way the need to reevaluate early twentieth-century musical representations of Indians: Censoring a stereotype-even one based in sound-does not make it disappear. But putting a frame around it, consciously acknowledging its borders, and addressing its history at least helps us to understand why such stereotypes exist in the first place, and perhaps even to recognize, when we next encounter them, their effects on us and on society as a whole. Understanding how both stereotype and real Indian experiences intersected in post-frontier America grounds our understanding of turn-of-the-century American history in 4 Barry Lopez has aptly retermed the European landing in North America as a "rediscovery," pointing to the fact that the arrival of Cristoforo Colombo in the New World was not an act of discovery so much as incursion. See The Rediscovery of North America (New York: Vintage Books, 1992), 5. 5 the broader context of the diverse cultural landscape that existed at the dawn of modernism. The study of American music plays an important role in the history of American culture. In recent years, a renewed interest in music of the Americas has swept through musicological circles, generating new scholarship and challenging many assumptions regarding the artistic relevance of music from the New World. American opera, in particular, has received more attention than ever before from scholars and performers alike. As this renaissance of scholarship on American music continues, it demands a deepening of analysis and thought, especially in the case of American opera. Much of the research on operas composed in the United States before 1950 has focused largely on biographical, contextual, and bibliographical information.5 This early scholarship has been crucial to the revival of these works, laying a foundation for more complete and nuanced scholarship to follow. The time for that deeper and more complete analysis has come. Rather than treating the existence of early American opera as a curiosity to be added to historical surveys, scholars must now regard these works as part of a living, continuing tradition-one with value and relevance to modern performers and audiences. Aside from their abstract musical value, early American operas also offer insight into the cultural, political, and sociological realities of their time. As dramatic media intended for the stage, these operas catered to the audiences of their day, and in so doing became time capsules containing important clues about contemporary social environments. Therefore, 5 See Elise K. Kirk, American Opera (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001); and Ken Wlaschin, Encyclopedia of American Opera (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2006). 6 they warrant examination from the vantage point of many different disciplines for their ability to illuminate historical truths and cultural sentiments.6 Relatively little musical scholarship has been produced about Cadman or Shanewis since the composer's death. Much of the most recent scholarship privileges previously published data provided by musicologists and rarely includes in-depth interdisciplinary analysis. For a work as complex as Shanewis, this presents problems, and often produces outright errors. For example, several sources describe one of Cadman's Indian collaborators, Francis La Flesche, as "the son of an Omaha woman and a French trader."7 The French trader was actually La Flesche's grandfather. La Flesche was born of two Indian parents-his father, the son of the Frenchman and an Indian woman, even held a position as chief for a time-and La Flesche was raised on a reservation, speaking the Omaha language.8 While small, this error contributes to a general misunderstanding about Cadman's sources and his ties to the Indian community. Further ignorance of the details of La Flesche's complicated life and relationships has led some scholars to draw conclusions about the nature of Cadman's and La Flesche's relationship that are largely unsupported.9 6 All operas possess the potential for meaningful social, political, and cultural commentary. It seems necessary to call this out, however, when discussing American opera because so little has yet been done to analyze the ways in which opera in the United States reflects historical climates and criticisms. 7 Beth E. Levy, Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 91; and "Charles Wakefield Cadman," Naxos, accessed March 5, 2013, http://www.naxos.com/person/Charles_Wakefield_Cadman/25915.htm. 8 Hartley B. Alexander, "Francis La Flesche," American Anthropologist 35, no. 2 (April-June 1933): 328. Sherry L. Smith, "Francis La Flesche and the World of Letters," American Indian Quarterly 25, no. 4 (Autumn 2001): 583. 9 Tara Browner, "Native Songs, Indianist Styles, and the Processes of Music Idealization," in Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures, eds. Pamela Karatonis and Dylan Robinson (Surrey: Ashgate Press, 2011), 180-181. 7 This thesis aims to take a dramatic step towards the kind of critical and interdisciplinary analysis now necessary to move the field of American opera studies forward. Cadman's opera Shanewis is particularly appropriate for a project of this nature. Like many American operas of the time, its plot utilizes the then-rampant popularity of the American Indian in both plot and musical devices. Among all such operas-now labeled "Indianist" works-Cadman's is the most appropriate selection for my project for several reasons. First, it is one of the more popular American operas of the first two decades of the twentieth century. The opera's popularity in 1918 and its numerous performances make it a better signifier of the cultural climates and audience dispositions of the era than other coeval American operas that failed to resonate with the public. In addition, it has been studied more thoroughly and frequently by modern scholars than many other operas I could have selected. Much of this scholarship has either been superficial or strictly historical (rather than critical). This preliminary work provides a good foundation upon which to build my own research, but it also makes the lack of a more serious critical approach apparent, again suggesting the necessity of my methodology. Second, its plot and characters are set in then-present-day America, with scenes taking place in both California and Oklahoma. Many other Indianist operas from the same decade are based on mythologies and traditional tales of the American Indian people, but no other work portrays modern, acculturated Indians in scenarios that would have been familiar to real-life Americans of that age. These factors make this work a more useful tool for understanding the complexity of American Indian issues in U.S. 8 society, politics, and law. This opera proves to be a valuable cultural artifact, with relevance to many historical and analytical disciplines. Finally, the music of this opera is viable. Cadman was largely self-taught, and was one of the few American composers who did not study in Europe. Decoding his musical style offers key insights into the development of a national idiom in America, and for this reason, I am surprised the task has not been taken up sooner and with more vigor. The opera is a relatively early work; Cadman's style matures, transforms, and solidifies in later years, but Shanewis is of sound compositional making. It would be enjoyable to play and to sing, as well as to listen to. The critical analysis in which I engage here builds on the foundational research of several scholars, including Harold E. Briggs, Harry D. Perison, Gary William Mayhood, Beth E. Levy, Michael V. Pisani, Tara Browner, and Aaron Ziegel. Briggs's 1976 thesis surveyed the Indianist movement broadly and provided the first significant investigation of issues of representation in American Indianist operas, as presented in eight works over a thirty year span. Perison's 1978 dissertation for the Eastman School of Music completed the first and, to date, only comprehensive sketch of Cadman's life and works. Mayhood and Browner have focused more exclusively on his Indianist works, Shanewis in particular, but have primarily addressed the history and context of its composition, including the various collaborations involved. Browner's contribution to the 2011 book Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures scrutinizes the relationships that most significantly influenced and informed Cadman's perception of American Indians. 9 Pisani's 2005 monograph Imagining Native America in Music investigates the long history of musical representations of American Indians. It offers unique critical perspectives to the Indianist movement and emphasizes the historical context of these works, a task I aim to take up in even greater detail here. It suggests the emergence of a new perspective of growing tolerance and greater understanding for what Cadman accomplished; at many junctures, Pisani praises Shanewis for its faithfulness to "a more naturalistic portrait of a young Indian woman of the 1910s."10 In particular, Pisani's survey of legal and commercial aspects related to the popularization of Indian-inspired music in America is a valuable contribution to the literature. Both Levy and Ziegel venture into critical analyses that have been, for the most part, meritorious, even if their scope has been limited. Ziegel's 2011 dissertation for the University of Illinois examines Shanewis along with five other composers' attempts at founding a school of American opera in the early twentieth century. His work is insightful and goes further than any previous studies in examining the cultural milieu surrounding the work's composition and premiere, but his purpose is a broader study of the developmental arc of American music within the genre of opera rather than a focused study of Shanewis itself. Levy's research is presented in two places: a 1996 article addressing the Indianist compositions of Cadman and Arthur Farwell and a 2012 book (based on her doctoral dissertation at UC Berkeley) titled Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West. Levy's work currently represents the most in-depth critical investigation of Shanewis. 10 Michael V. Pisani, Imagining Native America in Music (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), 274. 10 In the last few years, Cadman and other Indianists have made a strong showing in newly published scholarship. However, in reading many of the studies published to date, I have been struck by the presence of an underlying network of assumptions that have, at times, influenced the outcomes of recent research. The biases I sometimes see reflected in the scholarship are threefold: that Shanewis is an inferior work of art, that Shanewis presents an inauthentic representation of Indian culture, and that Shanewis is irrelevant in the modern world and will never be performed again. Much of the scholarship on this work has amounted to an examination of a dead opera as a passing curiosity, with little to tell us about the people and culture it depicts and no possibility for modern rejuvenation. It is often treated with condescension that unfortunately precludes the discovery of many meaningful insights. The most notable exceptions to this observation are Pisani's monograph and Zeigel's dissertation. Zeigel recognizes "that historiography privileges artistic breakthroughs over a continuing tradition."11 He attributes the obscurity of Shanewis and several of its contemporaries to this bias, and seeks to rescue them "from their unenviable, present-day status as an operatic footnote."12 In so doing, he lays the groundwork for a reconsideration of Shanewis and other early American operas (which he rightly describes as "late-Romantic") as suitable for the standard performance repertoire and greater scholarly attention. Browner's recent investigation of the sources of musical borrowing in Shanewis focuses on the relationships between Cadman and his ethnographical partners, Francis La Flesche and Alice Fletcher, from whom he borrowed most of his Indian melodies. As an 11 Aaron B. Ziegel, "Making America Operatic: Six Composers' Attempts at an American Opera, 1910-1918" (PhD diss., University of Illinois, 2011), xxiii. 12 Ibid., xxvi. 11 ethnomusicologist, Browner approaches Shanewis with a strong anthropological bias, which I address directly in Chapters 3 and 4. In Chapter 3, I examine how this bias has led to inaccurate assumptions and I challenge a number of Browner's findings. Ultimately, she dismisses Shanewis's potential as a valuable cultural artifact, claiming that it failed to articulate a version of Indian identity compatible with the actual experiences of native persons. In so doing, she privileges the reading of history advanced by her field, but ignores alternate expressions that many Indians championed during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Levy does acknowledge the central issue that makes Shanewis relevant for historians when she states that Shanewis "struggles to reconcile past and present identities,"13 but she avoids a thorough exploration of Cadman's presentation of these dichotomous personas. Instead, she continually returns to her assumption of the impossibility that Cadman-a White appropriator-could have meaningfully participated in the complex discourse of redefining Indian identity and questioning U.S. Indian policies. Most significantly, she labels Indianism as a passing exoticism (and implies an association with the worst kind of Orientalism). I argue that this opera is better described as a work of primitivism, and in Chapter 4, I outline the disparities between primitivism and other varieties of exoticist representations, concluding that the former is a better, more informative label for Shanewis. Levy's most valuable contribution is in her cataloguing of "ecosystems of the West" and the exploration of relationships "between people, places, and sounds," as 13 Beth E. Levy, Frontier Figures, 120. 12 represented in the works of Cadman and his contemporaries.14 This survey of musical representations of the American West and the national mythology that formed around it offers a starting point for future analyses of culture and critical history through the lens of music and theatre. She addresses conflicts of religion, gender identity, and democratic values at their intersections with race and ethnicity. Levy also contributes substantially to the body of literature on Cadman, clarifying aspects of his biography and appropriately contrasting the performances of Shanewis at the Met with those at the Hollywood Bowl a few years later. She fills out the history of the work's production and adds to it by offering some critical commentary on the role of the opera in an era troubled by the "Indian problem." However, her analysis seems reticent to venture too far from the comfortable conception of all Indianist works as short-sighted appropriations of indigenous elements for the purposes of commercial and artistic exploitation. She sees Shanewis as occasionally approaching significant commentary, but refuses to acknowledge the sophisticated statements it contributed to a vigorous debate that waged throughout the first three decades of the twentieth century. This oversight is largely due to the fact that her analysis does not include an exploration of the contemporary movements within parallel artistic disciplines and within the Indian community itself. This thesis aims to fill that void, and in doing so places Shanewis in a broader context. It is clearly more comfortable to position Cadman and other Indianists on the fringes of meaningful dialogue. The horrors of White appropriation and conquest are still too raw, and the idealization of Indian melodies has the potential to mimic the atrocities 14 Beth E. Levy, Frontier Figures, 124-153. 13 of White invasion and extermination. I in no way wish to act as an apologist for Indianists. However, Cadman and his contemporaries did not compose in a vacuum, and as difficult to accept as many of their representations are, they were not singularly inspired by popular White sentiment. When we marginalize works like Shanewis, it is not just Cadman who is silenced in the process, but an entire era of Indian activists who approached the question of assimilation and the preservation of heritage from a unique vantage point. It is often said that history is written by the victors; in the struggle to define "Indianness," the victorious parties have largely been anthropologists and ethnologists. While their contributions are valuable and have contributed significantly to the restoration of tribal identity and Indian autonomy (especially after the Indian New Deal of 1934), their approach is not without problems of its own. Before this anthropological methodology emerged as dominant in the mid-twentieth century, a competing perspective was championed by many Indians and non-Indians, and organized under the banner of groups like the Society of American Indians (SAI). Positioning Cadman's Shanewis at the center of the debate, which reached its peak in the 1920s, opens new doors to understanding this turbulent period of history, and to uncovering misperception and bias that persists today. My critical analysis will address four approaches to Cadman's Shanewis in the central chapters of this thesis. Chapter 2 will summarize the historiographical research done to date, providing brief biographical information on the composer and the history of the work. It will also discuss the collaborations involved in its composition and early performances. Chapter 3 will address the fundamental question for which this thesis is titled, namely the dialectic of cultural authenticity in theatrical representations of 14 marginalized cultures. Chapter 4 will build on the conclusions of its predecessor, addressing the trope of the "noble savage" and analyzing how the romanticization of American Indians in early twentieth-century art, literature, and music corresponded with the broader movement of primitivism. It will assert that Shanewis acts as a valuable cultural artifact, revealing a complex discourse on racial and ethnic identity in which American Indians took an active part, rather than a one-dimensionally racist portrait of hegemonic stereotype. Chapter 5 will examine issues of sexuality and gender identity, namely how the intersection of gender and race operates within the opera to illuminate unique expressions of femininity in the American West. Finally, Chapter 6 will scrutinize the practicality of performing this work in the twenty-first century, addressing the major obstacles to performance and how a modern production might be approached. In Chapter 7, final conclusions about Shanewis will be drawn, and a closing argument made for conducting similar investigations into other American operas and Indianist works. Appendix A provides a plot summary of the opera. Appendix B gives a brief history of the Dawes Act (1887) and the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), which are the two legislative acts framing the period of assimilation dealt with in this document. Ultimately, this thesis will endeavor to act as a proof-of-concept for the treatment of these early American compositions, demonstrating their feasibility as part of a continuing, active, and lively tradition of composition in America, and as viable options for an expanded standard repertoire that can invigorate a new generation with an enthusiasm for American music. CHAPTER 2 COMPOSING SHANEWIS Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946) is a puzzling figure in the history of American music. His career spans one of the most turbulent eras in the nation's musical and artistic development; he witnessed Victorian-era conservatism, the subsequent quest for stronger cultural independence from Germanic traditions, and the eventual success of a more avant-garde academic musical community in dominating the art-music scene. He brought about several important "firsts" in the timeline of American musical history, and rose to public prominence in his lifetime as a herald of the new American school of composition. For a time, it seemed that his place within the canon would become permanent, but that period was short-lived. By the time of the composer's death in 1946, he had all but disappeared from the musical arena, and his works have seen few performances since then. Cadman's opera Shanewis was the first by an American composer to be featured for two seasons at the Metropolitan Opera; it was also the first written by a female librettist. Like many of his contemporaries, Cadman advocated the creation of a unique American compositional style, but he was among the first American composers to16 become successful without European training. Reviews of Cadman's early works praise them as the fulfillment of the quest for an American school of composition. As expressed by the editor of one music periodical, The Violinist: Charles Wakefield Cadman's success may mark an epoch in the history of the American composer, who now will undoubtedly come into his own . . . America is in debt to Mr. Cadman for being able to break down the heretofore known barriers in the way of American composers.1 Cadman's fierce popularity during the 1910s and 1920s is well documented in numerous periodicals and newspapers from across the country. In 1916, the Utah paper The Logan Republican, in an announcement heralding a scheduled performance by Cadman in Salt Lake City, stated, "Cadman has proved his leadership in the American song realm!"2 A review of that same performance appeared in The Ogden Standard a few days later, calling Cadman "one of America's most gifted composers."3 Cadman Clubs sprang up across the country, dedicated to performing his works and organizing appearances by the composer. One such club-sponsored appearance in Oklahoma inspired a review by the Morning Tulsa Daily World that labeled Cadman "one of the most noted and popular of American composers."4 Cadman was appointed chairman of the Congress for the Encouragement of American Music in 1915.5 His works were featured in performances throughout the event, alongside those of Amy Beach, George W. Chadwick, Arthur Foote, Horatio 1 Editor's note to: Charles Wakefield Cadman, "Some Confessions About ‘Shanewis'," The Violinist 23 (July, 1918): 353. The editor was likely Ada E. Taylor. 2 The Logan Republican, March 07, 1916. 3 The Ogden Standard, March 10, 1916. 4 The Morning Tulsa Daily World, December 28, 1920. 5 The Musical Monitor 4, no. 10 (June 1915): 434. 17 Parker, and Edward McDowell.6 (This same conference witnessed the well-reviewed premiere of Cadman's Piano Sonata in A Major, which was performed by Claude Gotthelf.7) In 1914, Cadman was first included in Marquis's popular annual publication Who's Who in America and was also highlighted in Musical America.8 So many other publications featured the composer that it would be impossible to enumerate them all. By 1920, Cadman was a household name, with numerous recordings of his compositions in production and robust sheet music sales that allowed the composer to survive without supplementary income from performances or academic postings. Within a few short decades, however, the composer's works disappeared from the repertoire and fell out of popular favor. Several factors doomed his music to obscurity, not the least of which was his fundamentally conservative style, which earned him popularity among the equally conservative public for a time, but left him looking old-fashioned as modernism took hold in America. Cadman was not entirely averse to developments in musical style, but insisted that ventures outside the language of early-twentieth-century Romanticism be undertaken slowly, and without the eagerness of radicalism. Compounding the problems of his outmoded style was his association with the American Indianist movement, a short-lived but enthusiastic campaign inspired by Antonín Dvořák's call for American 6 Harry D. Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman: His Life and Works" (PhD diss., University of Rochester, 1978), 162-164. 7 The Musical Monitor 4, no. 10 (June 1915): 480. 8 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 155. 18 composers to utilize the folk music of their nation's indigenous inhabitants in the formation of a national style.9 The Indianist movement's brief period of prominence was part of a nationwide endeavor at the turn of the century that sought to redefine Indian identity and challenge mainstream attitudes towards native cultures. In the early twentieth century, vigorous debate emerged over the "Indian problem," and a number of Indians and Anglo- Americans produced a body of literary, artistic, and musical works that confronted popular misconceptions and questioned White superiority; Cadman's Shanewis belongs to this group.10 The diversity of strategies employed in this discourse resulted in a profusion of differing ideas about who and what defined culture and identity for the Indian community. However, the plurality of opinions conveyed during this time-and the works that expressed them-were eventually forgotten as society accepted a largely uniform new view, embodied in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 championed by Bureau of Indian Affairs commissioner, John Collier. Also known as the "Indian New Deal," this dramatic new policy reversed the Dawes Act of 1887 and abandoned the policies of allotment and assimilation.11 As the nation united around this new approach and advanced towards the civil rights era, works of artistic, literary, and musical Indianism fell out of favor with the general public. Cadman's Indianist period spanned 9 Antonín Dvořák, "Music in America," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 90, no. 537 (February 1895): 429-434. 10 Other exemplary works include: American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Ša (Gertrude Bonnin), Fire Light by Angel DeCora, Old Indian Trails by Walter McClintock, The Middle Five by Francis La Flesche, Winter in Taos by Mabel Dodge Luhan, and the basketry of William and Mary Benson. See: Linda M. Waggoner, Fire Light: The Life of Angela De Cora, Winnebago Artist (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008); Sherry L. Smith, Reimagining Indians: Native Americans Through Anglo Eyes, 1880-1940 (Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2000); Elizabeth Hutchinson, The Indian Craze: Primitivism, Modernism, and Transculturation in American Art, 1890-1915 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009). 11 Appendix B provides a brief description of these two legislative acts. 19 only eleven years over an almost fifty-year career (and three of those eleven saw a nearly complete hiatus from Indianist composition), but the works of this interval became his best-known pieces. Although Cadman's compositional output included a number of valuable non-Indianist works, he never shook his association with the movement, and his position in the American spotlight died with it. Cadman's works are not known today, but his brief celebrity in the early twentieth century speaks to a number of valuable insights about American culture and artistic development. For a time, he was a national icon and few Americans would have been unable to immediately identify his most popular tunes. His music both reflected public sentiment and helped to create it. Cadman viewed himself in this light, and was conscious of the effect his works could and would have on the American public, particularly in shaping their regard for American Indians. In analyzing the cultural exchange between composer and public, the most relevant materials for the modern scholar are Cadman's best-known compositions, which centered on the appropriation of American Indian musical materials. Within these works is a glaringly accurate (and often uncomfortable) picture of the cultural and political realities surrounding American Indian communities and individuals in the period of assimilation. Shanewis stands as a particularly significant portrait of the American Indian circa 1918, both as perceived and understood by White audiences, and as viewed by the Indian community itself. Cadman, himself, has only been treated by a few scholars. The first and, to date, only complete biographical portrait of the composer was undertaken by Harry D. Perison, in his 1978 doctoral dissertation. Perison's work is thorough, and consults a large body of 20 correspondence left by the composer and his associates, as well as a great many other primary sources. The document focuses on a survey of the composer's life and works, and includes the first catalogue of Cadman's complete output. While it discusses the historical nature of Shanewis and provides an account of its composition and first production, Perison's purpose precludes any critical analysis. A 1991 thesis by Gary William Mayhood focuses solely on Shanewis and expands on Perison's work by investigating in greater depth the full history of the composer, librettist, and all key performers in the work's premiere with the Metropolitan Opera and its few revivals. These two studies provide an almost entirely complete portrait of the relevant historical facts surrounding the opera, its composer, and its production history. Therefore, a full reiteration of this information is unnecessary here. The remainder of this chapter will summarize from these (and several other) sources the biographical and historical information most critical to the subsequent analysis. A plot summary of the opera is provided in Appendix A. Childhood and Musical Beginnings The most salient feature of Cadman's musical background is his definitive lack of academic training. He was almost entirely self-taught, a fact that he was openly proud of, but which also fed private self-doubts. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1881. Cadman's childhood was difficult, and though he recounts as an adult his own early proclivity for music, his family circumstances prevented him from pursuing any formal study of music until he was fifteen years old. His father, William Charles Cadman, was an alcoholic, whose poor temper and bad health were about all Cadman ever recollected 21 via letters and interviews.12 William Charles was never supportive of his son's musical aspirations, and refused to provide musical instruction or resources. Undaunted, Cadman crafted his own rudimentary instruments from various household items and attempted to make music in any way he could.13 In 1895, his father's failing health forced the young Cadman to leave school and work as an errand boy for the Carnegie Steel Company, in the family's new home of Duquesne. Because Cadman was now the sole financial supporter of his family, he was able to override his father's objections and save enough money to buy a piano and pay for lessons.14 In 1896, Cadman attended his first opera, a production of Reginald DeKoven's Robin Hood in Pittsburgh.15 This experience had a remarkable impact on Cadman, who immediately resolved to become a great composer. He was particularly interested in composing a great American opera; this aspiration never left him, and he dedicated much of his career to seeing it through. His mother encouraged him constantly, and he quickly took up composition, writing a few short pieces for piano.16 Cadman secured his first church position at age 17. Shortly thereafter, he began teaching piano lessons and took up selling a few of his compositions door-to-door.17 Over the next few years (1899-1901) Cadman composed a number of short pieces, mostly 12 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 17, 19. 13 Lulu Sanford-Tefft, Little Intimate Stories of Charles Wakefield Cadman (Hollywood, CA: David Graham Fischer Corporation, 1926), 19. 14 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 21-22. 15 Ibid., 22-23. 16 Ibid., 24. 17 Ibid., 27-30. 22 piano works and some songs, and two operettas.18 The scores for these early dramatic works have not survived and were likely destroyed by the composer, who later regarded them as juvenile experiments. Seeking to develop his technical skills, he contracted with Leo Oehmler in 1902 for two terms of music theory lessons.19 In that same year, Cadman began collaborating with poet Nelle Richmond Eberhart, who would become his principle lyricist and librettist for the remainder of his career. Prior to meeting Cadman, Eberhart taught in a rural public school in northeastern Nebraska, near the Rosebud Indian reservation, and gained an appreciation for Indian culture and mythology during her time there.20 Cadman and Eberhart experienced mild success with a number of songs in the popular ballad style, and it was Eberhart who first suggested the use of American Indian themes. Cadman began writing as a music critic and correspondent during this time, to supplement his income. As Cadman's financial situation was eased by sheet music sales and newspaper work, he was able to slow the pace of his compositional output. His style showed increasing sophistication from 1907-10, marked by an expanded harmonic vocabulary, increased chromaticism, and more complex thematic development.21 Cadman and Eberhart had produced several songs on American Indian themes, but none of them utilized authentic Indian melodies or attempted to be more than romanticized representations. However, in 1907, Cadman came across the work of ethnographer Alice 18 William Gary Mayhood, "Charles Wakefield Cadman and His Opera Shanewis" (Master's thesis, Kansas State University, 1991), 6. 19 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 34. 20 Tsianina Redfeather Blacksone, Where the Trails Have Led Me, 2nd ed. (Santa Fe, NM: Vergara Printing Company, 1970), 46. 21 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 415-416. 23 Cunningham Fletcher, who specialized in the music and folklore of the Omaha Indians. Fletcher's first book for the general public, Indian Story and Song, was published in 1900 and contains a collection of transcribed Omaha melodies and descriptions of the relevant accompanying cultural ceremonies and folklore. The work was completed with the assistance of music theorist John Comfort Fillmore (1843-1898) and an Omaha Indian named Francis La Flesche (1857-1932).22 Immediately upon discovering Fletcher's work, Cadman expressed a desire to use the transcribed melodies in the creation of original compositions. He began corresponding with Fletcher, and maintained a relationship with both her and La Flesche for many years. Cadman's first body of work based on authentic American Indian songs is a suite titled June on the Niobrara and contains short piano solos and songs, all based on melodies found in Fletcher's book and utilizing texts provided by Eberhart.23 The suite failed to interest publishers initially, but four songs were extracted and published in 1909 as a song cycle, which Cadman titled Four American Indian Songs, Op. 45. The most popular work from the cycle was "From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water," which sold over a million copies in Cadman's lifetime and was heavily promoted by the famous soprano Lillian Nordica.24 Professional Success and The Indianist Movement Several factors converged at this juncture in Cadman's life. The immediate success of "From the Land of Sky-Blue Water" launched his national reputation. His 22 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 63. 23 Ibid., 66-67. 24 Ibid., 58-59. 24 initial work as a music critic led to offers for several other columns, articles, and papers. Growing financial security allowed for the expansion of his compositional style; Cadman capitalized on this fiscal freedom by taking time to establish himself as a serious composer of art music, and not merely the next generation's Stephen Foster. In his capacity as a music critic, Cadman attended nearly every major concert in the Pittsburgh area, which was home to a diverse and healthy music scene in the early twentieth century; his exposure to and opinions about nearly every style and type of music are recorded in these journalistic excerpts.25 A portrait emerges from these writings of Cadman's maturing stylistic preferences. They reveal a composer firmly rooted in the late nineteenth-century tradition, with a particular affinity for Italian Romantic opera. He wrote music that emphasized melody, and strove for long, singable lines. He saw all music (or at least all "good" music) as being inherently programmatic in some way and gravitated towards dramatic genres, hence the preponderance of vocal music in his catalogue. 26 As Cadman's Four American Indian Songs became increasingly popular, the composer developed a reputation as an expert on American Indian music. Cadman came late to the Indianist movement but became one of its most memorable participants, largely due to his method of setting Indian melodies, which he called "idealization." Cadman used Indian melodies, which he acquired from ethnographical transcriptions and cylinder recordings of American Indian songs, in the creation of original compositions in the style and harmonic language of the Western-European Classical and Romantic 25 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 49-55. 26 Ibid., 55-56. 25 traditions. His basic approach was outlined in an article he wrote for the Musical Quarterly in 1915. Cadman sought always to use the melodies with as few alterations as possible, and in the spirit of the original. He insisted that "a war-song cannot be made to ring true if treated as a love-song, and vice-versa."27 For this reason, he found "only one-fifth of all Indian thematic material is valuable in the hands of a composer-is suitable for harmonic investment."28 Ultimately, Cadman privileged those Indian melodies that best aligned with European expectations for symmetrical phrase structures. Because of this, it is important to note that his work cannot be representative of the entire American Indian musical tradition, or even a significant portion of it. However, this process of filtering Indian music for those elements that were most compatible with Anglo expectations is not unlike the coterminous movement in many Indian communities that emphasized aspects of Indian culture most acceptable to mainstream America. Cadman's approach to idealizing Indian melodies was deeply influenced by the work of Fletcher, Fillmore, and La Flesche. Fletcher was a prominent scholar and expert on Indian culture and society, and Fillmore was a well-known music theorist who assisted Fletcher in taking accurate transcriptions of the melodies and subsequently harmonized them. The matter of harmonizing Indian melodies stirred discussion and debate even in the nineteenth century. Fletcher and her associates insisted that the Indians with whom they worked preferred to have their melodies presented harmonized.29 27 Cadman, "The ‘Idealization' of Indian Music," The Musical Quarterly 1, no. 3 (July 1915): 390. 28 Ibid., 391. 29 Alice Cunningham Fletcher, "A Study of Omaha Indian Music," with Francis La Flesche and John Comfort Fillmore (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 10. First published in Archaeological and ethnological papers of the Peabody Museum 1, no. 5 (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, 1893). 26 Fletcher defended her practice of publishing Indian melodies with such harmonizations in 1898: The music has not been published in this manner for the purpose of dressing up the melodies, or for the importation into them of any of our own notions; but the songs were the songs of the Indians, and it was deemed proper to print the instrumental rendition of them in the manner the Indians approved. Second: The harmonization so especially insisted upon by the Indians helped to lay bare the structure of the songs, which were found to be built along harmonic lines, a startling discovery, because we are accustomed to regard harmony as a development of culture music, and not as fundamental to musical expression. Dr. Richard Wallascheck of the University of Vienna, referring to this discovery, writes: "I do not share the not unfrequent opinion that a sense of melody arose first by itself, and that to this, later on, a sense of harmony was added; for I do not think that any one can appreciate melody, as melody, if one has not some slight harmonic sense."30 Cadman had no trouble ascribing harmonies to the monophonic melodies he appropriated, though he often selected different harmonizations than Fillmore had provided in Indian Story and Song. Cadman described an esoteric requirement that the composer of idealized Indian themes be responsive to and in tune with the original source material. He cautioned that such a composer "would have to exercise intimate sympathy and understanding-in other words, would have to put himself en rapport with the native mind."31 He saw little difference between his practice of harmonizing Indian melodies and that of the many late-nineteenth-century, non-German nationalist composers of Europe and Scandinavia, who utilized similar monophonic melodies in orchestral works, chamber music, and song.32 Even into the twentieth century, European nationalist 30 Alice Cunningham Fletcher, "Indian Songs and Music," The Journal of American Folklore 11, no. 41 (April-June 1898): 93. 31 Cadman, "The ‘Idealization' of Indian Music," 390. 32 Ibid., 389. 27 composers used like methods when treating folksong material, as in Sibelius's 1913 tone poem Luonnotar. Indeed, there is a substantial European precedent for dealing with folk tunes in this manner, dubbed "idealization" by Cadman but certainly not invented by him. Nicholas Cook has detailed the "cross-cultural encounters" immortalized in the late eighteenth-century appropriations of Hindostannie folk songs by British colonial musicians who "idealized" these tunes according to the common practice style. 33 As with Cadman's settings, these British collections were often accompanied by "assertions of authenticity."34 Cook acknowledges that the strategies implemented by British adapters of Hindostannie folk tunes were remarkably similar to those Haydn employed in his Scottish folksong settings. Both placed the original material, which they obtained from transcriptions made by someone else (just as Cadman sourced his melodies from ethnographies by Fletcher, Burlin, etc.), in the context of the Western-European musical idiom, but often capitulated to the needs of the borrowed musical material, when necessary, to protect the authenticity of the melody. Matthew Head identifies an example of such treatment in Haydn's setting of the Scottish tune "O'er Bogie," explaining that "the song ends on the submediant chord, indicating Haydn's willingness to adapt the resources of modern harmony to the requirements of Scots melodic tradition."35 Cadman 33 Nicholas Cook, "Encountering the Other, Redefining the Self: Hindostannie Airs, Haydn's Folk Song Settings, and the ‘Common Practice' Style," in Music and Orientalism in the British Empire, 1780s - 1940s: Portrayal of the East, ed. Martin Clayton and Bennett Zon (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007), 14. 34 Ibid., 24. 35 Matthew Head, "Haydn's Exoticism: ‘Difference' and the Enlightenment," in The Cambridge Companion to Haydn, ed. Caryl Clark (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 88. 28 popularized this approach among American audiences, but the tradition was more than a century old by the time he began implementing it. In all of the above instances, an underlying commercial motivation is at work, as the majority of these folksong settings were created for amateur use in the home parlor. Sharing the Indianist Spirit: Lecture-Recitals and Tours At the prompting of friends and colleagues, Cadman devised a plan to present a public lecture on the subject of Indian music, emphasizing American Indian culture and utilizing the materials provided by Fletcher and La Flesche. He arranged a meeting with the ethnographer and her associate to outline a presentation that would accurately demonstrate their research to the public. He also introduced his own theory of composition and outlined his process of "idealizing" American Indian melodies and rhythms. Cadman's intent-to which he remained firmly dedicated for his entire life-was to treat the Indian material as authentically as possible. He strove for absolute adherence to the melodies as they were recorded in Fletcher's work.36 He also constantly stressed the necessity of a White composer's sympathy for and understanding of American Indian life and culture before attempting to manipulate their music. Cadman set aside money for trips to Indian reservations, and endeavored to get as close to the original source of his borrowed material as possible.37 In very short order, Cadman's participation in the growing "Indianist" movement was transformed from an artistic exercise into a moral imperative. Cadman believed that by interesting the public 36 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 67-68. 37 Ibid., 80. 29 in the music and culture of the American Indians he could inspire greater sensitivity towards their race and, eventually, better their situation. His desire to venerate the Indian through his work contributed to a shift in his compositional approach, as he deliberately moved away from the popular ballad style and towards a more serious brand of art music. Cadman no longer focused on appeasing public taste for immediate fiscal return. Instead, he expressed a willingness to forgo all profits if it would get his work published. After sending his manuscript for June on the Niobrara to the Wa-Wan Press, Cadman wrote to Fletcher concerning his desire to have this first major Indianist work made available to the public at any cost: I am sincerely hoping that Mr. Farwell will become interested in the suite and agree to publish it for me. I would sacrifice all remuneration in order to have him get it out. Believe me, I have not written it and spent the hours and hours of love-labor over it to "make money." I shall be amply repaid if Mr. Farwell approves of the work. My heart is in it and I shall feel it keenly if it "falls flat."38 His goal was the expression of an artistic idea and the advancement of a social agenda; for Cadman, the two were one in the same. Cadman's humanitarian impulse followed him throughout his career, as did his pursuit of authentic representation of Indian peoples. However, the composer found the latter goal troubling at times. By the early twentieth century, American Indian culture was in a state of flux. The Indian identity, both tribal and personal, had been brutally attacked by the assimilation, relocation, and extermination policies of the nineteenth-century United States government. By 1909, what remained of that identity was fractured and insecure. Racial genocide was followed by cultural genocide, in which Indian children were stripped from their families and homes and thrust into boarding schools 38 Cadman to Fletcher, March 18, 1908, as quoted in Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 73. 30 that attempted to "civilize" the new generation. The practice of removing Indians to reservations separated them from mainstream society, and the impoverished conditions most inhabitants faced on those reservations caused many Indians to want to leave their tribal homes and adopt the customs, lifestyles, and citizenship of White Americans. The United States government relegated what was left of traditional Indian life to desolate areas with few resources, and the preservation of these once-vibrant cultures quickly gave way to mere survival. White Americans who were sensitive to the plight of the American Indian were eager to protect what was left of their nation's indigenous civilizations. Unfortunately, their eagerness often manifested itself in romanticized portrayals of Indians in a mythological American West, with much of the subtlety and diversity of the nation's many tribal cultures unrecognized. Perison describes the "Indianist" movement as "a musical response to the veneration of the ‘noble savage.'"39 Even among trained scholars, such as Fletcher, the tendency to objectify their subjects often prevailed. And although Cadman always spoke highly of Indians and consistently sought to represent them as accurately as he could, condescension occasionally colors his writing, belying a latent racism. Cadman never questioned his role as purveyor of Indian culture and music to his fellow White Americans, and never gave evidence of any consideration for the possible complications of appropriating Indian music. His goal was the advancement of Indian welfare via the promotion of idealized Indian culture among the mainstream. Essentially, his attitude demonstrated an early twentieth-century understanding of race relations in 39 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 60. 31 America, with high-minded ideals that had yet to mature into a true awareness of the mechanisms of racial oppression. However easy it may be to criticize Cadman and his contemporaries, the truth of the matter is that many of the questions Cadman faced do not have easy answers, even today. Investigating his decisions can problematize even some twenty-first century notions of authenticity. For instance, in preparation for his public presentation on Indian music, which took the form of a lecture-recital, Cadman assembled a number of Indian instruments. He enlisted the aid of La Flesche in obtaining the most authentic artifacts he could find. When he searched for an Indian drum, he discovered that the Omahas had begun using kegs to create their drums instead of carving them from tree trunks as they had traditionally. In an effort to present the most "authentic" drum possible, Cadman had a drum commissioned by a local instrument maker to exact specifications provided by the Omahas. The question remains: which item would be more authentic: the actual Indian drum crafted with a keg as was the current custom, or the drum made by a White man to look the most "authentic"? Although modern audiences might find much to criticize in Cadman's lecture program, it was largely successful; he toured the country delivering it from coast to coast for more than a decade. With each tour, his reputation as an expert on the subject of Indian music grew, as did his commitment to using Indian melodies in larger forms. He was predisposed to prefer dramatic genres, and began composing his first Indianist opera in 1909. In preparation, he undertook an in-depth study of orchestration with Luigi von Kunits and intended the work to be his greatest to date.40 Cadman expressed an intent to 40 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 95-96. 32 follow the Puccini and post-Verdi schools of opera, and attended local performances of works by the Italian masters in an effort to internalize their style.41 The completed work, Daoma, was ultimately unsuccessful. It was never produced in the composer's lifetime and proved to be Cadman's greatest professional disappointment. First Opera: Daoma Daoma's libretto was written by Eberhart, and is based on an outline provided by La Flesche. It tells the story of star-crossed lovers in a legendary Omaha Indian setting. Both composer and librettist corresponded frequently with La Flesche to ensure an accurate representation of American Indians. La Flesche's role as cultural consultant was so involved that the trio decided to split any profits from the opera in three equal parts. Previously, Eberhart's texts had not attempted any proximity to the original Indian lyrics; Cadman had simply selected the melodies he found fit for "idealization" and Eberhart had composed poems with romanticized Indian themes. However, the composer sought to attain a greater level of agreement between the operatic settings of Indian melodies and their original purposes. To that end, Cadman appealed to La Flesche to provide "specific melodies for the various texts in the interest of making the work ‘ethnologically as well as artistically right.'"42 Eberhart's approach did not change, but Cadman sought to treat the music in a way that aligned the libretto and the borrowed musical material. During the composition of Daoma, Cadman joined La Flesche at a Nebraskan Omaha Indian reservation in the summer of 1909. Here he took up learning the Omaha 41 Cadman, "Some Confessions About Shanewis," 353. 42 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 97. 33 language, transcribing Omaha melodies, and photographing ceremonies.43 His efforts display his deep regard for the Omaha people and their customs, as well as a desire to present both Indian characters and melodies accurately. However, several contentions arose between La Flesche and his White colleagues regarding the authentic representation of American Indians. Among the most virulent was La Flesche's contention that no Indian male would stop to sing an aria before going into battle. Eberhart's rebuttal simply stated that no White man would do so either, but that the nature of opera as a genre demanded it!44 Here Cadman faced a common problem of operatic representations of non-White cultures. Opera constitutes a dramatic, musical portrayal of its characters and subjects. Even when it strives to be "realistic," it never strives actually to imitate reality. Opera is imaginative, exaggerated, and quixotic; what then, does it mean to portray a marginalized culture in this medium "realistically"? For Cadman, the answer was always to respect the traditions of grand opera, as well as the traditions of the indigenous people depicted. He never entirely lost his instinct to give the audience what they wanted, and his works aim to be entertaining as much as they aim to be anthropologically "correct." After the failure of Daoma, Cadman began to broaden his compositional horizons. He abandoned the practice of composing only vocal and program music and embraced more "serious" forms in an effort to detach himself from the label of "songwriter." In 1913, he completed a piano trio; Perison describes the work as "his most brilliant and complex work to date."45 It reflects Cadman's appreciation for the late nineteenth-century European masters, particularly Brahms and Dvořák. It reveals the composer's proficiency 43 Sanford-Tefft, Little Intimate Stories of Charles Wakefield Cadman, 31. 44 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 104. 45 Ibid., 141. 34 at the piano, as well as his lack of training on any stringed instrument: the piano writing is complex and imaginative, while the string writing is often less so. As much as Cadman's musical conservatism is in evidence, it is not fair to label this work as simply derivative. The trio shows the unmistakable stamp of uniquely American influences, particularly in the last movement, which employs elements of ragtime and afro-Cuban rhythms. Though none of his melodies were deliberately borrowed from Indian sources, his years of studying Indian music are apparent in his predilection for pentatonic melodies and certain expressive gestures, such as downward appoggiaturas, short-long rhythmic patterns, and a tendency for unison melodic statements at climactic moments. His harmonic language is quite conservative in this work, and implements traditional late-nineteenth-century chromaticism with a smattering of features from the sentimental ballad tradition. It is an unradical, modest work but accomplishes the goal of displaying his abilities apart from songwriting. In the same year, Cadman met another collaborator whose influence and friendship would have a profound impact on his life. The tours of his Indian lecture-recital had taken him across the country, and Cadman had received a particularly warm welcome in Denver, Colorado where he met and befriended the vocalist John C. Wilcox. In 1913, Wilcox introduced Cadman to a student of his, a young American-Indian woman of Cherokee and Creek descent named Tsianina Redfeather.46 Her life story would become the inspiration for Cadman's most famous opera, Shanewis. Tsianina was born in 1892 in Oklahoma and attended an Indian school where she was noticed by the 46 Tsianina Redfeather (also sometimes referred to as Tsianina Blackstone) went by her first name only, and in the remaining text, I will refer to her simply as "Tsianina." 35 Oklahoma Congresswoman Alice Robertson. Robertson discerned that Tsianina had an exceptional aptitude for music and became her personal champion and benefactress. Tsianina was sent to Denver to study piano with Arthur B. Fleck. When her piano instructor recognized her vocal talents, he referred her to Wilcox. Until Cadman's introduction to Tsianina, he had presented his lecture-recital with a variety of vocalists. He often contracted with whatever singers were available in the areas he toured, all of them White. Tsianina's first performance with Cadman was so successful that it cemented the partnership permanently. Tsianina wore an Indian costume of white beaded buckskin (which she designed herself) when she sang Cadman's songs, and audiences responded enthusiastically to the "atmosphere" she provided.47 Although Cadman continued to present his lecture-recitals on Indian music and was active in promoting Indian welfare, he temporarily gave up composing Indianist works in the wake of his disappointment over Daoma's failure. He composed his second opera, The Garden of Mystery in 1915. It made no use of Indian material in libretto or score. It also differed from Daoma in its length and cast requirements. Sensitive to the economic resources required for a large, long production (and suspecting that this might have played a factor in Daoma's stagnation), Cadman insisted that The Garden of Mystery be small: it contained five characters, no chorus, and is in one act. The opera demonstrates development in Cadman's compositional style, as well. It employs greater and freer chromaticism, modal melodies, and a more modernist approach to dissonance but is certainly not ultra-modernist, nor post-tonal. The opera was completed entirely in piano-vocal score, but Cadman became engaged in other projects and postponed 47 Blackstone, Where the Trails Have Led Me, 27. 36 orchestrating it. It was finally completed and published in 1925, after the success of his third opera, Shanewis. 48 Revisiting Indian Opera: Shanewis Shanewis was created at the urging of Cadman's friends and associates (primarily Wilcox) who were eager to see an opera based on the life of Tsianina. Cadman enlisted Eberhart as librettist yet again, but with strict directions regarding details of the storyline. While Cadman agreed to use Tsianina as an inspiration for the work, he insisted that it be only a starting point, and that the final libretto live up to the dramatic expectations for a grand opera. He wanted a big, tragic ending that would allow him to compose impressive, dramatic music. He insisted that the opera be easy to produce; it is in one act with a small cast of five principal characters and a chorus. 49 Perhaps most interesting of all, he broke from the tradition of romanticizing Indians in mythological or legendary settings. Shanewis does not take place in the ancient past, nor is it based on Indian folklore. Rather, it is set in the present day, and contains Indian characters as Cadman knew them first-hand. These characters face the same complications that all American Indians did in 1918, and dress as their real-life counterparts would have. On the point of costuming, Eberhart and Cadman seemed to have disagreed. Eberhart greatly preferred the look on stage of traditional Indian garments. Cadman, however, wanted these characters to be as true to his own encounters with Indians as possible; he finally agreed to allow Shanewis to be dressed in the same 48 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 157-158. 49 Ibid., 179-180. 37 beaded buckskin outfit worn in recitals by Tsianina, seeing as the title character is based on his real-life colleague. The rest of his Indian characters wear modern clothing; Cadman aimed for Shanewis to be his most authentic representation of American Indians to date. Cadman returned to his Indianist compositional methods for this work, and used the transcriptions and advice of Fletcher and La Flesche once again. However, Cadman also borrowed melodic material from many different tribes and not exclusively from the Omaha tribe, as he had done in his first opera. He expanded his repertoire of American Indian ethnographical samples by investigating the work of Natalie Curtis Burlin, Frances Densmore, and Frederick Burton. The focus of this opera differs from his previous Indianist works in two ways. First, Cadman's intent was to provide more authentic representations of Indians than ever before, and he accomplished this largely by focusing on modern-day Indians; he created his characters using his first-hand experiences and relationships with La Flesche and Tsianina. Second, Cadman intended this work to exist outside of the Indianist tradition. In the years prior to Shanewis, he distanced himself from the style of composition that earned him the label of "Indianist." This opera represented a return to the practice of borrowing Indian material, but Cadman was specific in shirking the associated brand. He states in the foreword to the published piano-vocal score: The composer does not call this an Indian opera. In the first place the story and libretto bear upon a phase of present-day American life with the Indian in transition. As it is not a mythological tale nor yet an aboriginal story, and since more than three-fourths of the actual composition of the work lies within the boundaries of original creative effort (that is: not built upon native tunes in any 38 way) there is no reason why this work should be labeled an Indian opera. Let it be an opera upon an American subject or if you will-an American opera!50 Cadman's desire that Shanewis be regarded as an American opera-and not an Indianist opera-was largely unrealized. He never escaped the Indianist label, but was, for a time, characterized as America's champion of national opera. Cadman completed Shanewis in August of 1917, just before an announcement by Metropolitan Opera director Giuilo Gatti-Casazza that all German operas would be canceled for the coming season. The cancellation was due to the charged political climate during the climax of World War I. This sudden programming change left Gatti-Casazza frantically searching for non-German replacements. On the recommendation of an associate, Gatti-Casazza asked to see all of Cadman's opera scores. He saw the full score of Daoma, which was in New York, and approved of Cadman's orchestral technique enough that he only needed to see the piano-vocal score of Shanewis before accepting it for production.51 It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on March 23, 1918. Tsianina was present for rehearsals as a cultural advisor, to ensure that Indian elements were presented correctly. The publicity surrounding the opera's premiere was positive and abundant. Audiences and critics seemed most impressed by the contemporary setting and modern portrayal of Indians.52 The opera was produced five times in its first run, and revived the following season for two performances in the spring of 1919. Sheet music for the two most famous arias sung by the title character sold 50 Charles Wakefield Cadman, The Robin Woman (Shanewis): An American Opera (Boston: White-Smith Music Publishing Co., 1918), 3. 51 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 189-190. 52 Ibid., 191-192. 39 abundantly in the years following, and Cadman's position in the spotlight of American music seemed assured. The opera was performed in Chicago in 1922 and again in Los Angeles in 1926, but soon after disappeared from the repertoire.53 Perison attributes the work's impermanence solely to compositional weaknesses. However, this is an easy explanation for a complicated problem. While Cadman's style was conservative and at times indulged the idioms of the sentimental-ballad tradition, he nevertheless had a firm grasp on the compositional process. His formal design and orchestration techniques were deliberately modeled after the Italian opera composers he idolized, and his command of the same late-Romantic musical language was thorough.54 Aaron Ziegel broadens the discussion in his condemnation of the archaic language of many American opera librettos, including that of Shanewis. He suggests that "the inauthentic and awkward manner of speech jarred with [audience] expectations for beautiful singing."55 Indeed, Eberhart's texts often struggle to be believable, and are written in a language that seems intended to suggest high art; instead, they frequently sound ridiculous. This critique seems a more plausible explanation for the demise of Shanewis than Perison's, for, as Ziegel rightly points out, Cadman's orchestration techniques were applauded by critics and his instrumentation carefully chosen by the composer to include authentic Indian percussion instruments.56 53 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 197. 54 Cadman to LaFlesche, (October 3, 1909), as quoted in Perison, 102. 55 Aaron B. Ziegel, "Making America Operatic: Six Composers' Attempts at an American Opera, 1910- 1918" (PhD diss., University of Illinois, 2011), 106. 56 Ibid., 208. 40 However, both arguments minimize the significance of racial depictions in the opera. Of course, most scholars to date are quick to note that the representations of American Indians in all Indianist works are "inauthentic" and politically incorrect according to twenty-first century standards. Indeed, Shanewis fails to depict an anthropologically correct picture of indigenous Americans in their pre-European contact environment; but this was never Cadman's intention. Shanewis portrays Indians in the America of 1918, and in this, Cadman is remarkably accurate. The present document argues that the greatest reason for the opera's removal from the repertoire is the accuracy of its Indian portrayals (rather than its inaccuracy). The question of American Indian identity in the early twentieth century is uncomfortable for modern audiences; it forces a confrontation with the horrific effects of nineteenth-century United States governmental policies espousing the removal, assimilation, and extermination of massive numbers of the Indian population. Shanewis fell from grace as White America matured in its understanding of race relations and developed an embarrassed self-consciousness regarding the situation of all Indians in postfrontier America. By the mid-twentieth century, few Americans recognized Cadman's name or his music, and his Indianist works have seen virtually no significant performances since that time. Concluding Thoughts: Reception Issues and Economic Factors Although Cadman dreamed of becoming a great composer of art music, his primary concern was still the financial responsibility of providing for his family. This 41 forced his earliest musical endeavors to be commercially oriented, and most of his compositions from this early era were devoid of lofty artistic goals. Perison claims that Cadman's lower-middle-class background and early financial burdens tainted his compositional philosophy-Cadman was dedicated to creating "serious" art music in theory, but never allowed himself to venture far from the methods he knew his audience would pay for.57 Perison's description of Cadman's entrepreneurial inclinations as "disturbing" is a bit overwrought; however, there is value in his observations of the ways in which economic considerations might have shaped Cadman's process. In describing his early works, most of which were songs and ballads that sold by the thousands to fill the parlors of America, Cadman insisted that he always "suited [his] talents to the needs of the current market."58 The few instances in which he began to experiment with more avant-garde techniques, the lack of public interest in these pieces inspired him to turn back to his more conservative roots.59 As Perison notes, "before Cadman's time there had been no American composers of serious music whose income was derived solely, or even principally, from their compositions."60 In this, Cadman was a first. Many of his predecessors and contemporaries were supported by academic institutions and held teaching or conducting positions. However, Cadman never returned to school after dropping out at age thirteen to 57 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 402. 58 Ibid., 41. 59 Ibid., 123. 60 Ibid., 403. 42 support his family. He never attended college, and his only formal musical education, besides those early piano lessons, consisted of two terms of music theory instruction in 1902 and private orchestration lessons with Luigi von Kunits, which began in December of 1908. Cadman had no ties to the academic community, and no formal academic training. Even when members of the academy reached out to him, his self-doubts about his place within that community caused him to turn away. As Perison recounts, "he declined the tempting offer of a professorship and chairmanship of the music department at the University of Wisconsin in 1913 because he knew ‘absolutely no rule or even the first principles' of music theory." 61 This is an overstatement of the composer's lack of theoretical knowledge-Cadman was known for being, at times, self-deprecating. Yet it underscores the fact that his appeal was not to the academic elite, but to a public still enamored with the music of the late nineteenth century. His financial dependence on that audience often led him to compose in a style many have considered less academic. The tendency to equate "academic" with "sophisticated" is a twentieth-century bias that contributed greatly to Cadman's decline. Cadman's populist leanings compounded with his conservative, late-Romantic style to yield real problems for his place in the canon. However, it may be time for a reappraisal of his works and, more importantly, of his place within the complex cultural landscape of the early twentieth century. Shanewis is the ideal candidate for initiating a reevaluation of early twentieth-century American opera, but it is not the only musical artifact of its era worthy of further study. Many coeval works-both operatic and otherwise-contain valuable insights into forgotten chapters of the American musical 61 Perison, "Charles Wakefield Cadman," 421. 43 narrative, with much to tell us about the development of an idiomatic national style. By setting aside the predisposition to favor works of the avant-garde and the Academy, we gain access to a wealth of forgotten material fit for the standard performance repertoire as well as scholarly examination. Shanewis is suitable for this purpose, but beyond it there also lies a wonderful cache of instrumental, vocal, and chamber music by Cadman that can be better understood when approached through his early operas. By engaging with Shanewis and other works like it with new eyes and ears, we can reconstruct a more accurate and insightful history of early twentieth-century music and culture in America, and reintroduce new material into the performing repertoire of modern musicians. CHAPTER 3 TROUBLED AUTHENTICITY AND THE CASE FOR A REEVALUATION OF SHANEWIS The portrayal of American Indians in Cadman's Shanewis is problematic. The opera presents Indians in a twentieth-century setting and its characters express a version of native culture that, though championed by many Indians at the time, has fallen out of favor with mainstream conceptions. Our current notions of what qualifies as authentic Indian culture are largely dictated by a century of anthropological discourse and theory. Cadman's opera has been neglected for many years in part because it fails to present a version of Indian culture that is aligned with the postmodern idea of traditional Indian life. While some, like Gary Mayhood, have advocated that works like Shanewis be "given a new hearing," others have claimed that Indianism's eventual demise was inevitable and judicious because it was viewed as inauthentic by Indians, who "had not been particularly supportive."1 It is easy to call Cadman's work inauthentic, indeed too easy. Yet by dismissing this work (and others like it from the same era), scholars have missed the 1 Gary William Mayhood, "Charles Wakefield Cadman and his Opera Shanewis" (master's thesis, Kansas State University, 1991), 110; Tara Browner, "Native Songs, Indianist Styles, and the Processes of Music Idealization," in Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011), 184. 45 opportunity to broaden their understanding of how American Indian culture and identity were constructed and redefined in the early twentieth century. Authenticity is a dynamic concept, and multiple authenticities can coexist within divergent expressions of history and culture.2 In recent years, scholars of art history and literary studies have begun to revisit representations of Indians in American works of the turn of the century. However, musicology has generally avoided an analysis of the complexities of cultural authenticity within Indianist works.3 This thesis proposes a revitalization of the discourse surrounding the portrayals offered by Anglo-American composers of Indian culture and music, using Cadman's Shanewis as an example. A reevaluation of Shanewis has two things to offer. First, it presents modern scholars and audiences with a snapshot of what life was like for many American Indians in the early twentieth century, when the debate surrounding assimilation and cultural preservation was at its peak. Second, it contextualizes the historical narrative of this era, which is currently clouded by postmodern ideas of "authentic" Indian culture, largely informed by anthropological scholarship and discourse. Although anthropology has much to offer by way of insight into and 2 Some scholars reject the notion of "authenticity" in representative works; See Matthew Head, Orientalism, Masquerade and Mozart's Turkish Music (London: Royal Musical Association, 200), 82-83. However, authenticity is a common theme in the literature of cultural appropriation and ethnic studies. Scholarship on American Indian history and culture is forced to address the question of authenticity continually, as divergent expressions of Indianness have tended to be categorized as either "authentic" or "inauthentic." Although it is a "messy" term, I use it here without apology; I recognize that contentions to its use exist, but believe that an analysis of Indianist music is better served by engaging with the complexities of the idea of authenticity rather than avoiding them. 3 Tara Browner, "Native Songs, Indianist Styles, and the Processes of Music Idealization," in Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures, eds. Pamela Karatonis and Dylan Robinson (Surrey: Ashgate Press, 2011), 174-184; Harry D. Perison, "The ‘Indian' Operas of Charles Wakefield Cadman," College Music Symposium 22, no. 2 (Fall 1982): 48. 46 knowledge of tribal cultures and traditions, it is not without its own agenda, and any historical narrative derived solely from its sources is necessarily incomplete. The complexities of American Indian identity are reduced by the assumption that anthropology offers the only "authentic" version of Indian cultural expression; such an approach truncates the discourse surrounding racial identity and further marginalizes the people it describes. In this chapter, I argue that the problems of racial representation in Cadman's work are reasons for its continued performance, not reasons against. By encapsulating the complexity of American Indian racial identity in the early twentieth century, Shanewis gives audiences the opportunity to examine this historical juncture in a new light and question how and whether some of these powerful racial assumptions might still operate in modern society. Cadman's setting of Indian melodies against the harmonic and textural background of the Western European musical idiom does in fact reveal something about the situation in which many real American Indians would have found themselves at the time of the work's first production. Created in collaboration with his American Indian friends and colleagues, Shanewis is a representative artifact of the large movement within the Indian community itself to redefine their cultural and ethnic identity in the early twentieth century. Thus, Cadman's work provides the modern scholar and audience with a troubled authenticity, forcing a reevaluation of the historical narrative of American Indian culture and reopening a discourse vital to the empowerment of American Indian peoples. 47 Redefining Indian Identity: 1887-1934 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Indian culture became popularized and stood at the center of a national effort to understand and reframe American Indian identity. It captured the public imagination and became the inspiration for many works of art, literature, and music. Framed by the Dawes Act of 1887 and the Indian New Deal of 1934, this nearly fifty-year period encapsulated a vigorous debate about the nature of American Indian identity and the future of native tribal cultures. Indians themselves actively participated in this discussion alongside White scholars, artists, activists, and politicians. That anthropology emerged in America as a formal discipline during this era of popularization is no coincidence. Many Americans viewed Indians as a symbol of the untamed West and believed that native culture was destined to disappear with the closing of the frontier. For a time, mainstream America was overcome with nostalgia, and sought to immortalize the sentiment of the frontier in art, literature, and song. Scholars took up a similar task in the form of ethnographical research. A primary goal of early ethnology was to preserve cultures that many expected to disappear completely within a few decades. (A similar concern underpinned parallel ethnographic efforts in Europe, such as those undertaken by Bartók and Kodály.) The reasons for this expectation belie some of the most powerful assumptions about American Indian cultural and racial identity, namely that it is incompatible with modernization. Many Indians assisted scholars with 48 collecting and recording data, but simultaneously believed that their heritage could be adapted to a postindustrial world.4 Philip J. Deloria laments the tendency of historiography to frame the narrative of Indian identity using the perspective of the U.S. government rather than the stories of individual Indians themselves.5 While government policy at the turn of the twentieth century emphasized reservation life and forced assimilation, many Indian people navigated the divide between tribal and mainstream cultures in unique ways, and in so doing, helped to shape the direction of American modernism. He argues that "a significant cohort of Native people engaged the same forces of modernization that were making non-Indians reevaluate their own expectations of themselves and their society."6 In an effort to concentrate political power, groups like the Society of American Indians (SAI) sought to unify members of diverse tribal heritages in the formation of a Pan- Indian identity. Some rejected assimilation altogether, and advocated for the maximum possible separation from Anglo-American society. There were as many opinions regarding the future of American Indians as there were participants in the discussion, and this diverse intellectual landscape produced a body of cultural artifacts only possible in a society as heterogeneous and democratic as America. 4 Charles Eastman, Gertrude Bonin, Francis La Flesche, and Tsianina Redfeather are only a few of the many Indian individuals who fell under this description. See Sherry L. Smith, "Francis La Flesche and the World of Letters," American Indian Quarterly 25, no. 4 (Autumn 2001); Michelle Wick Patterson, "‘Real' Indian Songs: The Society of American Indians and the Use of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform," American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1 (Winter 2002); and Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004). 5 Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 11. 6 Ibid., 6. 49 However, the mosaic of ideas that characterized this era has been largely forgotten, suppressed by an anthropological doctrine that acquired authority by the mid-century. This preeminent ideology gained prominence through its near exclusive claim to cultural authenticity. The field of anthropology was able to secure this claim by defining authenticity as a marker of absolute truth and creating a theoretical framework in which ethnographical accounts of Indian culture were the sole sources of that truth. In the adoption of anthropological representations of Indians as the only authentic ones, many of the cultural artifacts from the assimilation and allotment era have been informally censored, forced into obscurity by the assertion that they portray Indian culture inauthentically and are therefore unacceptable. The opera Shanewis is one such work.7 The problem with privileging only one perspective in this manner is that it necessarily prioritizes the ideology of that source. As a social-scientific discipline, anthropology provides essential insights into culture and tradition; its contribution to the preservation and exploration of Indian societies and customs is invaluable. However, the assumption that it should be the sole source-or even the principal source-of authentic information on American Indian culture is untenable. Regna Darnell argues "that ‘history' goes beyond the primary data of annals and chronicles only when at least two potential interpretations can be weighed against one another. Any one interpretation, 7 Aaron Ziegel has asserted that many previously dismissed early twentieth-century operas are culturally and compositionally sound, and explores the reasons for their recent unpopularity. His tendency is to label Indianist works as exoticisms, but he actively engages with the music without condescension, and explores the implications of musical borrowing and cultural appropriation by tracing contemporary responses to Indianist operas, including Shanewis. "Making America Operatic: Six Composers' Attempts at an American Opera, 1910-1918" (PhD diss., University of Illinois, 2011), 225-248. 50 then, is necessarily partial and contingent."8 Darnell criticizes fellow anthropologists and historians for the tendency to dismiss any and all data points that do not align with the ethnographical record. She states "that insistence on convergent evidence in this limited sense entails an ethnocentric dismissal of the very position it purports to respect."9 Darnell's work focuses on reintroducing oral histories into the discourse, even when they present a version of culture or history that diverges from previously recorded scholarship; my work uses an equivalent approach to advocate for musical works that have suffered the same fate of dismissal for similar reasons. Shanewis, like other artistic artifacts from the period spanning 1887-1934, is an important complement to our understanding of the formation of American Indian identity and the transmission of Indian culture in the twentieth century. As a cultural artifact, Shanewis illuminates realities of an almost fifty-year history in which the nature of Indian identity was vigorously debated. Most of all, it encourages a view of cultural authenticity as constructed and open to revision. In doing so, it revitalizes the discourse surrounding American Indian identity and traditions, and encourages grass-roots participation in the debate and discussion. It is only through empowering native communities and tribal organizations in this deliberation that the hegemonic imposition of Anglo-American worldviews can be stymied. In order to determine accurately the authenticity of Cadman's opera, a schema for defining cultural authenticity must be established. In addition to providing a more 8 Regna Darnell, "What is ‘History'? An Anthropologist's Eye View," Ethnohistory 58, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 214. 9 Ibid., 215. 51 accurate account of authenticity in Shanewis, this new schema also introduces an additional method for discussing the role of music in American culture and society of the early twentieth century. The following observations serve as the rubric through which this chapter approaches the question of cultural authenticity in Cadman's Shanewis. Defining Authenticity Cultural authenticity is specific to a given time and place. In other words, authentic artifacts from one era might not be identical to authentic artifacts from another era. Similarly, location can function as a variable factor. Folk songs collected from the Appalachian region of America can be authentic and still vary drastically from versions of the same songs collected in the British Isles. There can be no one standard of authenticity for cultural artifacts that supposes universal authority. Rather, authenticity must be judged relative to the cultural artifact's alignment with the time and place from which it was collected, and its acceptance by people from that time and place of whom the artifact is representative. The measure of an artifact's authenticity often determines the potency of its underlying message or agenda. Charles Taylor has identified authenticity as a core value of the late twentieth century (and presumably the early twenty-first, as well).10 As a moral ideal, authenticity functions as a determining consideration for right action, as well as an end in itself. When something is deemed authentic, it has the power to affect both thought and action. Inauthenticity, on the other hand, is grounds for dismissal. Because of this relationship between authenticity and moral evaluation, standards for establishing 10 Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 15-16. 52 authenticity become powerful commodities. This naturally leads to a fight for the control of those standards. Dominant power groups have little to gain by allowing for multiplicities of authenticity. Instead, they often erect a binary standard for defining something as either authentic or inauthentic. The resulting valuation reinforces the ideology of those in power and supports their position at the top of economic and political hierarchies. Laiana Wong explains: Authenticity, however, is not a reliable determinant of superiority because it is not inherent to one version and absent from another. Instead, it is a negotiated concept that is ultimately related to the amount of leverage a promoter of one ideology has over another in the negotiation process. The promoter who enjoys the greatest political and economic leverage is in the perfect position to define what is authentic and what is not . . . And because the version that is promoted always happens to coincide with the promoter's own version, the dominance of the promoter is perpetuated along with the authority to define his or her own superiority. This would appear to be a blatant case of ‘might makes right,' one that would be difficult to defend on moral grounds. However, the promoter who has the authority to prescribe his or her version as the correct version is able to rationalize such action by claiming what might at first glance appear to be altruistic motives.11 Defining authenticity in the study of indigenous peoples and cultures, then, is particularly problematic. The study of anthropology usually involves the description of "traditional" life and customs by an outsider of the studied community. When defining standards for "authentic" and "traditional" culture, guidelines generated by a member of the hegemony will often prioritize the values of the dominant group, even if that transmission is unintentional and encased in altruistic motivations like preservation. It follows that authenticity can be used to dismiss non-normative views. The hegemonic co-opting of authenticity can become a tool for promoting the dominant value 11 Laiana Wong, "Authenticity and the Revitalization of Hawaiian," Anthropology and Education Quarterly 30, no. 1 (1999): 94. 53 system and belief structure. Those who define what is culturally authentic for a social or ethnic group have some measure of control over that group. If the standards of authenticity are dictated from within a collective, then its members retain some amount of agency in the expression of their culture and can use that agency as political capital; they are capable of controlling the ways in which they present themselves to a more mainstream society. On the other hand, if cultural authenticity for a group is being determined by an outside authority, then that extraneous hegemony has the ability to impose its own agenda and world-view onto the cultural identity of the marginalized group. The question, then, is whether so-called authentic representations of minorities adhere to a standard erected by the majority and if so, which values are privileged in the process. Culture is primarily transmitted through traditions. Maintaining authentic traditions is then crucial to ensuring the survival of a culture. This can become problematic, particularly in times of rapid modernization or technological advancement. Traditions are dynamic; they are generally passed down from generation to generation and necessarily undergo changes in that process. As a result, culture is mutable and multidimensional. When the process of cultural evolution converges with periods of accelerated industrial development, conflicts inevitably arise between the push to adapt to the new circumstances and the desire to maintain a way of life that predates the modernization. This discord is enhanced when authenticity and modernization are conceived of as mutually exclusive. This dichotomous construct results in divergent standards of authenticity. Diversity in the expression of culture only becomes problematic, however, when authenticity is posited as an all-or-nothing absolute-as a 54 pair of mutual exclusives that pits one set of cultural practices against another, with the possibility of only one of them emerging as "authentic." The problems of cultural authenticity and evolution are further complicated by the emergence of a capitalistic marketplace. Authenticity is often seen as incompatible with commercialism, for fear that cultural artifacts might be exploited for financial gain and their integrity to tradition compromised in the process. Scholarship is often accepted as being removed from commercial interests. For this reason, the versions of a culture and its traditions presented by the academic community are frequently assumed to possess de facto authenticity. To understand and evaluate the authenticity of a cultural representation or artifact, these assumptions must be examined in greater depth. It is essential to understand how standards of authenticity are formulated for cultural "others" because such frameworks influence power structures at social and political levels. Authenticity is rarely an issue for the normative hegemony. When a group has political, economic, and social dominance, no one questions whether or not the expression of its culture is "authentic." This is because culture can be a way to distinguish oneself from the dominant group, and therefore can be used as a means of subverting normative standards. Because culture has this power, it is even more important to marginalized groups than to the majority. The quest to define the "authenticity" of certain cultural expressions is therefore a power struggle to define who has control of this potent medium for resistance and subversion. When White scholars define authenticity for the American Indian community, they strip that community of the ability to use its culture as a weapon of subversion. 55 Coding for Authenticity in Shanewis Determining whether or not Cadman's representation of American Indians in Shanewis can be considered authentic is important for several reasons. The work is situated at the apex of an important historical period in the transformation of White and Indian relationships in America, when several approaches to defining Indian identity were vying for dominance. Cadman's work is representative of a large body of art, music, and literature in which Indian culture was explored by White Americans in an attempt to better understand the process of redefinition that surrounded native tribes and their members during this time. Invalidating these works as inauthentic (which is often accomplished by informally censoring or ignoring them) silences the perspectives they illuminate. Furthermore, it diminishes the significance of this era in the history of American cultural development. The individuals who participated in the process of redefining native cultural identity simultaneously engaged in a revolt against the dominant stereotypes and misinformation that had engendered racist policies and government-sanctioned violence for centuries. By reclaiming their cultural heritage, Indians were able to challenge their position as social outcasts; popular imagery that depicted them in this new light helped to generate political influence for them. Sherry L. Smith describes how many Anglo-Americans introduced mainstream society to new ideas about Indians and championed the broadening of civil rights. Smith's work addresses popular writers of the early twentieth century, but her description of their impact is equally applicable to Indianist composers of the same era. She states that "in revealing their doubts and misgivings about the superiority of European American cultures, they have provided a more conducive climate for Indian cultural 56 survival in a world dominated by non-Indians. They spread notions of cultural relativism, pluralism, and tolerance beyond the academy."12 Cadman's opera, like many coeval literary works, integrates the perspectives of his American Indian friends and colleagues, who acted as cultural informants. Shanewis gives voice to the many Indians whose experiences and opinions were analogous to those of the opera's characters. It also exposes the debate surrounding acculturation and assimilation and confirms the need for ongoing dialogue about the ramifications of cultural oppression and stigmatization. The title character, modeled after Cadman's friend and colleague Tsianina, straddles two worlds and faces the dilemma of adapting her heritage to the realities of the modern world, dominated by Anglo-American values. Accepting the implicit authenticity of Shanewis leads to an exegesis of this dilemma and a deeper understanding of how cultural norms are established and transformed. Authenticity is specific to a given time and place Cadman's opera was the first to depict American Indians in a contemporary setting. The score specifies that Indian characters are to be clothed in "mongrel or modern dress" except for when they are engaged in a cultural performance (such as a ceremonial dance), at which time they are attired in what most would term "traditional" Indian costumes. 13 This is typical of diegetic numbers in opera, which often showcase cultural novelties or exoticisms through traditional costumes and dance. In the case of 12 Sherry L. Smith, "Francis LaFlesche and the World of Letters," American Indian Quarterly 25, no. 4 (Autumn, 2001): 581. 13 Charles Wakefield Cadman, The Robin Woman (Shanewis): An American Opera (Boston, MA: White- Smith Music Publishing Co., 1918), 75. 57 Shanewis, these moments are more than simple displays of operatic exoticism. They reflected the growing tendency among many Indians of the early twentieth century to display their culture for White consumption. Many Indian groups of Cadman's era attempted to influence mainstream opinions about their culture by creating a performative version of their Indianness that appealed to White audiences. Michelle Wick Patterson explains that the Society for American Indians (SAI) "exploited non-Native interest in Indian culture to advance their goals of citizenship and equality within mainstream American society" and that they often looked to "art rather than politics as a method for gaining equality."14 Many Indians felt comfortable with a certain amount of assimilation into Anglo-American culture, but would act out more "traditional" expressions of their heritage in performances of their culture that aimed at changing negative perceptions of Indians. Cadman and Tsianina had close ties to the SAI, and frequently participated in their conferences and productions.15 During their performances, Tsianina would wear a beaded buckskin dress, which she designed herself.16 Francis La Flesche, the Omaha Indian who acted as Cadman's cultural consultant for many years, was also actively involved in the SAI. La Flesche's wife, Rosa, promoted the first SAI conference in a newspaper article. She told the interviewer that "we all know what our tribal costume is, 14 Michelle Wick Patterson, "‘Real Indian Songs: The Society of American Indians and the Use of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform," American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1 (Winter, 2002): 45. 15 Ibid., 51-54. 16 Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone, Where The Trails Have Led Me, 2nd ed. (Santa Fe, NM: Vergara Printing Company, 1970), 27. 58 although we never wear it except for a show affair."17 Cadman's use of performative presentations of Indian identity in his operatic staging references a common technique among early twentieth-century Indians to control their public image and exploit non- Indian interest in native cultures. By juxtaposing the costumed performances against the contrasting images of Indians in modern clothing, Cadman exposes this practice. Performances of a constructed Indian identity were not limited to external elements of appearance. Patterson examines how "Indian leaders in the SAI stressed those particular cultural elements that would appeal to potential non-Native supporters."18 She lists the qualities of "honesty, loyalty, serenity, a sense of beauty, ties to nature, and a heightened sense of spirituality" as the dominant traits promoted by the SAI.19 Cadman's creation of the title character Shanewis might have been derived directly from the SAI's agenda: she exemplifies each of these characteristics. She is described as a beautiful princess by others in the opera, and her self-characterizations associate her with nature: "I am a bird of the wilderness, I am a thrush of the woodland, captive awhile to art and song, yet true to my traditions. I love the wildlife of the plains, the campfires of my people, the young companions of my childhood, my father and my foster brother."20 In a demonstration of her loyalty and gracious nature, Shanewis spends 17 "Does Not Wear the Dress of Her Race," in SAI Papers, reel 10, quoted in Patterson, "Real Indian Songs," 51. 18 Patterson, "‘Real' Indian Songs," 45. 19 Ibid., 49. 20 Cadman, Shanewis, 51-52. 59 twenty-three measures expressing her gratitude to her benefactress, accompanied by dramatic music (Example 3.1). When she finds out that her lover first belonged to another woman-her benefactress's daughter-she refuses him and insists that he return to Amy, appalled at the notion of seeming disloyal to her White friends. After confronting this betrayal, Shanewis expresses a desire for spiritual communion and solitude rather than violence or Example 3.1 "Shanewis expresses gratitude" 60 retribution: "Into the forest, near to God I go to commune with my own soul within the solitude and recover from this wound!"21 Her plaintive declaration is followed by an instrumental passage marked Andante calmo, which is accompanied by these stage directions: "She starts up the trail slowly and with dignity" (Example 3.2).22 While the love triangle provides for great operatic theatrics, the true drama of the opera lies in Shanewis's dual identities. Throughout the work, she grapples with the desire to assimilate into the dominant Anglo-American society and still remain true to her traditions. Cadman expresses this dilemma in the title character's introductory aria, "Spring Song of the Robin Woman." In analyzing the musical content of this aria, the juxtaposition of Indian and Western European-derived elements becomes a signifier of the conflicting cultural identifications within Shanewis herself. Cadman's musical representation of the Indian may not be an accurate picture of untarnished, pure American Indian culture, but it does correctly portray the contradictory and confusing position most Indians would have found themselves in at the time of the work's premiere. At her first entrance, Shanewis sings a lovely aria for her guests entitled "Spring Song of the Robin Woman," introducing it as a traditional song she learned as a child while living on a reservation. Of course, the work-which she sings in English-is actually an aria of Cadman's own creation, but it is based on a Cheyenne melody titled "Wawahi No-otz" found in Natalie Curtis's 1907 ethnography, The Indians' Book. The aria begins with a rhythmic piano accompaniment, which consists of an accented open fifth, followed by an unaccented single tone. This rhythmic pattern continues throughout 21 Cadman, Shanewis, 119-120. 22 Ibid., 120. 61 Example 3.2 "Andante Calmo - Shanewis retreats to the forest" the aria, with its straightforward, percussive nature clearly meant to evoke native drums (Example 3.3). When Shanewis begins to sing, her melodic line consists of, as previously mentioned, a nearly exact replica of an early ethnographical transcription of a Cheyenne swinging song (Example 3.4). The entire Cheyenne melody is eleven measures long, and the first theme of Cadman's aria matches it in length. The pitches and rhythms of the 62 Example 3.3 "Percussive bass line" Example 3.4 "Camparison of ‘Spring Song' and Curtis's Ethnography" 63 original melody are preserved almost exactly for the first six measures. The entire aria is sung in English, but Cadman does employ vocables in several places. Cadman uses these appropriated elements of American Indian music to satisfy his audience's expectations for an indigenous character, but he embeds these elements in the framework of Western European art music. This work is an operatic aria, with all the history and expectation associated with the genre solidly attached. Though a Cheyenne song is the basis of the vocal melody at the outset, it is developed according to the Austro-German tradition, with melodic fragmentation and sequencing. The final notes of the vocal line depart from their traditional inspiration and almost recall the grand finishes Italian divas would have demanded of Puccini, especially if the singer takes the virtuosic alternate ossia one octave higher. This climactic passage also breaks the steady, accented rhythmic pattern, which drives the piece forward and disallows prolonged or overly ornamented vocal indulgences until now. The form of the work is ABA-nearly a da capo aria. It modulates more than once and employs several harmonies and progressions idiomatic to the early twentieth century. It is tonal in nature, but employs a good deal of chromaticism. In summary, "Spring Song of the Robin Woman" has the backbone of a traditional aria in the Western European idiom, while its muscle and substance are undeniably American Indian. This music perfectly encapsulates the identity crisis facing most American Indians in the early twentieth century. While many modern investigations of this opera have written off Cadman's idealized setting of Indian tunes as inauthentic, I argue that there is actually a greater authenticity here than meets the eye. In the story Cadman and Eberhart wrote, there was no place for the "authentic" American Indian as anthropologists would 64 define it. That world had been lost, and the people of it grappled with difficult questions concerning who they were, and what place they had in mainstream American society. Cadman's settings represent the character of Shanewis, and she in turn represents many American Indians in the early twentieth century. What we see in both character and song are the traditions of an indigenous culture, fragmented, reformed, and juxtaposed against White society. A romanticized portrait of the Indian emerges, ready for display on the dramatic stage. However, by the year 1918, the stuff of "authentic" native culture-according to anthropological theory-had receded into myth and legend. John W. Troutman has lauded Cadman's efforts for their refusal to portray Indians as one-dimensionally "antimodern peoples," praising his depiction of the complex reality Indians faced in 1918.23 At the beginning of the early twentieth century, American Indians were a disenfranchised and fractured people. In the face of genocide and the suppression of their religions, customs, and traditions, individual tribal allegiances became weakened and a Pan-Indian identity emerged among a people desperate to salvage whatever portion of their native identity they could. The Society of American Indians, in particular, developed this Pan-Indian identity in an effort to reform mainstream misconceptions about native cultures. As Patterson summarizes, "this aspect of their agenda clearly demonstrates the hope that respect for Native cultures could lead to Indian equality and civil rights."24 Cadman's work directly participates in this process, but simultaneously 23 John W. Troutman, Indian Blues: American Indians and the Politics of Music, 1879-1934 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009), 240. 24 Patterson, "Real Indian Songs," 49. 65 challenges it by allowing Shanewis to express her confusion and frustration at being caught between the carefully crafted and filtered version of her Indianness, which she uses to garner favor in White society, and her ties to family and heritage on the reservation. Many have criticized Cadman and other Indianists as exploitative because they appropriated Indian melodies and then set them against a Western European musical background. Tara Browner has suggested that when Indians shared native melodies with White composers, they were simply "a marginalized people trying to make a living by selling their culture to its destroyers."25 While it is true that Cadman's presentation of Indian music is not in keeping with indigenous musical traditions, it does align with the practice-championed by groups like the SAI-of encasing Indian culture in a context that would easily appeal to the White public. Patterson has provided sufficient evidence that Cadman and his Indian collaborators endorsed and adopted SAI tactics in their endeavors to promote Indian welfare by crafting a performative version of Indian identity. Patterson concludes: An understanding of the importance of cultural imagery and its connection to the broader American society reveals, however, an important and overlooked dimension of the development of Indian activism in this period. This strategy of gaining civil rights through the manipulation of racialized images served as a tool for Native Americans in the 1910s as it did for African Americans in the 1920s.26 Patterson's evocation of the Harlem Renaissance serves as a reminder that questions of ethnic identity have plagued American culture since its inception. Cadman's portrayal of 25 Tara Browner, "‘Breathing the Indian Spirit': Thoughts on Musical Borrowing and the ‘Indianist' Movement in American Music," American Music 15, no. 3 (Autumn 1997): 272. 26 Patterson, "Real Indian Songs," 62-63. 66 dichotomous expressions of Indian identity is authentic to the time and place in which Shanewis is set. It is worthwhile to explore how cultural stereotypes might have been encouraged by Indians themselves as a means of manipulating their public image. Because Cadman actively participated with the SAI in generating and promoting performative versions of Indianness, he is a reliable witness to their methods. Authenticity can be used to dismiss non-normative views The tactics implemented by the SAI represent only one branch of a much larger movement among Indians to overcome political and economic marginalization by reclaiming their cultural sovereignty. Sherry L. Smith has termed his process "reimagining" and describes how diverse groups of both Indians and non-Indians sought to redefine the meaning of native identity at the turn of the century. However, modern recountings of this period often fail to acknowledge the multiplicity of ways this process was articulated. Smith informs us that "in the cacophony of voices speaking about Indians at the turn of the century, historians have given most attention to political activists who advocated assimilation and to professional anthropologists."27 By ignoring alternate but coeval expressions, historians have unwittingly privileged an ideology that has contributed to the deferral of Indian cultural agency. Ethnographers generally approached their subjects with respect and admiration; however, their interests were also 27 Sherry L. Smith, Reimagining Indians: Native Americans Through Anglo Eyes, 1880-1940 (Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2000), 6. 67 fueled by assumptions about the nature of Indian culture-namely that it was incompatible with modern society and destined to disappear.28 While many Indian artists, activists, and leaders were passionately arguing for a revitalization of their culture in a way that made it compatible with the postindustrial Anglo-American world, anthropologists continually framed the debate with an emphasis on the ineffability of Indian traditions. In 1890, Herbert Welsh condemned th