Iowa Stubborn: Meredith Willson's Musical Characterization of his Fellow Iowans

Abstract

The song “Iowa Stubborn” from The Music Man provides a key to understanding the development and musical content of the work. Willson’s “Iowa Stubborn” insistence on the organic development of songs from the narrative led him to use experimental techniques like “speak-song” and “words-without-songs,” some of which were by-products of his long career in radio. By creating a dialogic style of song based on stubborn pitch repetition and a small number of motives, the composer, who by the early 1950s was Iowa’s most famous son, was able to characterize the stubborn natives of the Hawkeye both musically and lyrically, in numerous numbers in the score.