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The Crescendo

(Boston, MA, 1909-1927)

RIPM Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals (2021)

Publisher: Crescendo Publishing Co. (1909-1918), H. F. Odell (1918-1927)

Editors: H. F. Odell

Periodicity: Monthly

Subtitle varied: Devoted to the interests of the Mandolin, Guitar, and Banjo; official Organ of the American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists and Guitarists. 

"The last of the great BMG [Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar] magazines."

"...because Crescendo persisted through the early 1930s, it documented two significant developments for the guitar in America at that time. First, columns, articles, and advertisements outlined the development and growing popularity of the steel-strung arch-top guitar in jazz and popular music. ... Second, Crescendo documented the increased international activity and influence of European guitarists, especially the Spaniards Miguel Llobet and Andres Sevogia. Crescendo's enthusiastic response to these virtuoso soloists helped create an atmosphere that contributed to Segovia’s later domination of this country’s classical guitar culture and community, and the universal acceptance of his technique and repertoire."

Jeffrey Noonan, "The Guitar in America as Reflected in Topical Periodicals, 1882-1933." Ph. D. Dissertation, Washington University (2004): 8, 587.

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