ABSTRACT
Marc Blitzstein's settings jarred with dominant views or the poet. These repressive notions were largely shaped by literary critics, who regarded Walt Whitman's sexuality as a threat to his legacy. The strategies of obfuscation and denial were employed in Emory Holloway's writings on Whitman. Contemporary with Blitzstein's settings, his studies reveal the deep prejudices that the composer confronted. The interpretations of Holloway and like-minded literary scholars contaminated discussions of Whitman in other aesthetic fields, including music. The musical press propagated such diluted, Universalist views. In Blitzstein's songs, the cultural forces of Whitman and jazz collide, an impact producing racial, cultural, and sexual sparks. His comments notwithstanding, the two forces could not be more incompatible within the contemporary attitudes of the dominant white culture. Whitman was viewed as an icon of American culture, whereas jazz was considered primitive, exotic music.
