*Includes pictures
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
By the mid-20th century, a musical revolution was stirring, and a generation that had not fought in the wars was ready to put the sorrows of the previous 50 years away. Requiring a commentary on modern life all its own, the first post-war generation went for self-expressed rock & roll, with Elvis Presley leading the movement. Jazz, incubated within America, grew into an increasingly sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic language, even though older generations were not able or willing to so easily follow. Not only did the elders' personal brand of music soothe the wounds of war, but the music reflected the dynamism of a scattered people's personality, ideals, and customs. From the trains of Woodie Guthrie to the fields of the Russian peasants, each story of suffering, distance, and celebration was played and sung in its own way.
For Scandinavians, central Europeans and Russians, the music of the homeland was a language as powerful as that which was spoken in the household. Such emblematic music and social dance functions held the family's national identity together and accompanied acts of faith in every spiritual tradition from the old world. By the time each immigrant group bonded to its distant history, virtually hundreds of distinct musical art forms found their geographical voice in North America, with few possessing much understanding of the other. Each brought the dances and songs from their home region, including the displaced African Americans. Some were overtly passionate, others decorous and refined, but all suited a perfectly crafted remembrance of familiar folk from one's birthplace. The Carter family sang of the poor life in the eastern mountains of America, while the Andrews Sisters elicited the war experience for returning American servicemen.
One immigrant son above all others took the step of defying the family farming tradition to participate in his people's musical remembrance. Lawrence Welk, born in 1903 in Strasburg, North Dakota, dedicated his life's work to fostering the sounds and steps of a family with its origins in Odessa, Ukraine, and the Alsace-Lorraine region. He began with the unwavering idea that providing uncomplicated and powerfully nostalgic music to members of his heritage would attract a devoted national audience in sympathy with Upper Midwestern ideals. He went on to craft a media culture based on Old World manners and decorum that endured for several decades. Known and loved by the parents and grandparents of the post-war generation, Welk remained impervious to the eye-rolling and mockery from young people and devotees of "sassier" musical fare. Shouldering his accordion, the national instrument of the Russian German presence in the United States, he never attempted to amass a universal audience, but instead held firm to a sliver of like-minded listeners and viewers.
Welk brought forms of European operetta, waltzes, polkas, and schottisches from the German and Austrian stage as well. Many Americans failed to realize that such forms had already saturated America, from the sentimental Irish arias of Victor Herbert in the early 20th century to the transplanted Viennese waltzes of Oklahoma and Carousel, courtesy of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The elements of German band music followed immigrants to the American Midwest and held a special social significance. Public band performances, hints of which are to be found in the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony's commentary on class equality, represented a rare opportunity for non-aristocrats. In the public parks of the old country, they could stand next to their wealthy, titled counterparts to listen on equal footing. Along the way, Welk became far more than a musician. He all but reinvented himself in later years as the host of The Lawrence Welk Show, which helped showcase up-and-coming musicians of different stripes.