Score Club Special Edition

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was an English composer and conductor. While not from the United States, he was inspired by African and African American music, Native American culture, and American writers like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Upon his first tour to the United States in 1904, he was dubbed the “African Mahler” by White audiences. More importantly, he offered representation to the African American community and was greatly admired. For some Black composers and musicians, this was one of the first times they were able to see a successful person of color in the world of classical music.

He took these folk melodies and arranged them further into a piano trio, adding even more color and depth to these meaningful spirituals. Here is the Coleridge Ensemble playing My Lord Delivered Daniel.

Perhaps his best known work is his Song of Hiawatha based on an 1855 Epic Poem by Longfellow of the same name. This three-part cantata depicts the tale of Hiawatha, a Native American warrior. Here is the overture.

1931-William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony

His first symphony titled “Afro-American Symphony” (1931) was a success and a large stepping stone towards the general public accepting and respecting the music of Black musicians. In his journal, we wrote the following about the symphony: "I seek in the Afro-American Symphony to portray not the higher type of colored American, but the sons of the soil, who still retain so many of the traits peculiar to their African forebears…”

Still frequently used Spirituals, African American folk music and traditional African sounds in his music in his efforts to elevate this music and to raise the voices of African Americans in the mainstream public. His Symphonic Poem “Africa” is a perfect example of how he was able to seamlessly blend a traditional European technique with the sounds of his ancestors.

1933 - Florence Price writes her Symphony in E minor.

Price’s big break came in 1932 when she entered the Wanamaker Foundation Awards, winning first prize for her Symphony in E minor, shown here as performed by the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. Premiered just two years after Still’s Symphony, this made her the first African American Woman to have a piece played by a major symphony.

Like Coleridge-Taylor and Still, Price Made use of Spirituals and other African American folk musics, sometimes just arranging them into various ensemble settings. Here is Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit arranged for two pianos.

1935 - Eva Jessye and Porgy and Bess

Her talent and excellent choir gained the attention of George Gershwin and he selected her to be the Music Director of his Porgy and Bess in 1935 at Carnegie Hall. Here is one of the most iconic numbers from the Opera, “Summertime.”

Jessye was a composer as well, and like the composers before her, frequently used Slave Spirituals in her music in pieces like The Life of Christ in Negro Spirituals (1931) and Paradise Lost and Regained (1934), a folk oratorio. Here is a smaller arrangement of the Spiritual Bles’ My Soul An’ Gon.

1939 - WWII begins - 1940 - Duke Ellington makes Victor Recordings

See OrchestraOne’s Composer Spotlight on Duke here!

Duke Ellington and his band performed more than 1,000 tunes throughout his career, but one year in particular stands out in the number of hits that are still played today as standards. In 1940, Duke was recording with Victor Records and recorded all of the following hits: Cotton Tail, Main Stem, Harlem Air Shaft, Jack the Bear, and Strayhorn's Take the "A" Train as well as dozens more.

While working in the Jazz idiom, Ellington’s composition skills and instrumentation were revolutionary, and he was not unaware of the more traditionally classical forms. One example of this is his first “Jazz Symphony” entitled Black, Beige and Brown.” It’s an extended Jazz Orchestra piece that tells the story of African Americans in the United States. The first Movement, “Black” is subtitled: the Work Song; the spiritual Come Sunday;

1950 - Howard Swanson writes Negro Speaks of Rivers.

His first significant piece was The Negro Speaks of Rivers, based on the poem by Langston Hughes (text below). It was performed in 1950 in Carnegie Hall by the famous African American Mezzo-Soprano, Marian Anderson (see below). Swanson wrote orchestral pieces too such as Music for Strings" (1952), "Concerto for Orchestra" (1957), and "Symphony No. 3" (1969), which were performed by major symphony Orchestras.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers, by Langston Hughes

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
      flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
     went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
     bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

1954 - Start of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Margaret Bonds writes The Ballad of the Brown King.

Bonds set the same text that Swanson did from Langston Hughes for voice and piano. It’s a wonderful treat to be able to compare Swanson’s and Bond’s version of The Negro Speaks of Rivers. Bonds showed this piece to Nadia Boulanger in the hopes of studying with her, but upon seeing it, Boulanger refused her, saying that there was nothing more she could teach her.

Langston Hughes wrote the text for what is perhaps Bonds’ best known work, The Ballad of the Brown King. It is an oratorio that was eventually expanded to include soloists, choir and full orchestra that was written in honor of the African King, Balthazar. The influence of Slave Spirituals is evident throughout, and the text itself recalls how the slaves would often incorporate text from the gospels into their songs.

1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat and Marian Anderson becomes the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.

One of the many barriers she tore down was being the first Black person (American or otherwise) to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955. She sang the role of Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.  

While she was capable of performing large operatic roles, Anderson felt most at home in the recital setting, performing art songs and spirituals alike. She worked with almost all of the composers here and premiered many of their works at Carnegie Hall. These two clips show just how spectacular her artistry was.

1965 - Voting Rights Act. 1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. 1976 - Ulysses Kay writes Jubilee.

Jubilee exemplified the Slave Narrative.. The opera is based on Margaret Walker’s 1966 novel Jubilee which describes her grandmother's experiences first as a slave and then as a freewoman. His music is some of the first from an African American that began pushing the boundaries of tonality, as can be heard in this recording of his Symphony.

1973 - American troops pull out of Vietnam. 1981 - Undine Smith Moore writes Scenes From the Life of a Martyr.

Much like Margaret Bonds, Moore’s music is very heavily influenced by Slave Spirituals and other stylistic tendencies from African Americans pre-emanicpation. This is what she said about the first piece here, Before I’d be a slave:

In frustration and chaos of slaves who wish to be free 

In the depths – a slow and ponderous struggle marked by attempts to escape-anyway-being bound-almost successful attempt at flight

Tug of war with the oppressors 

A measure of freedom won – some upward movement less lacerating 

Continued aspiration-determination-affirmation.”

In 1981, Moore wrote the piece Scenes From the Life of a Martyr. It is a behemoth, 19 part work with full orchestra, chorus and narrator that was written in Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The libretto, which was written by Moore, includes biblical passages, poems, and quotations from Dr. King. This in an excerpt from the whole piece.

1981 - Julius Eastman writes The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc.

One piece that is typical of his style is The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc. Originally, this piece for ten cellos had a prelude for solo voice that Eastman improvised in his apartment. The piece was premiered at The Kitchen in NYC in 1987.

1991 - Dissolution of the Soviet Union. 1996 - George Walker wins the Pulitzer Prize.

Walker did not conform to any particular stylistic standard in his compositions. He drew from classical composers like Chopin and Brahms, but also from folk music, popular music, and spirituals. His music ranged from pieces like Spatials for Piano which is written in the modern 12-tone technique, to pieces like Leaving which draws on Jazz and popular styles.

Perhaps Walker’s biggest accomplishment was becoming the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for his piece Lilacs. Based on Walt Whitman’s "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", an elegy to Abraham Lincoln shortly after his assassination, it is for solo soprano and Orchestra. The decision from the jury was unanimous.

He frequently used African-inspired and Slave Song music in his works, including his “24 Negro Folk Melodies.” This one here is an arrangement of Wade in the Water, a traditional Slave Spiritual.

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is often referred to as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers.” With over 200 pieces to his name, he was the first African American to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra, the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra, and the first to have an opera performed at a major opera company. He was living in Harlem, NY, during the Harlem Renaisaance and worked closely with other artists who contributed to arts in the area including Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps.

Florence Price (1987-1953) was one of the most influential African American composers of the 20th century. OrchestraOne did a special Composer Spotlight for her that can be seen here. She has over 300 works in her catalogue, and like Still, she made considerable use of jazz, spirituals, African-American church music and European art music in her compositions.

Eva Jessye (1895 – 1992) was the first Black woman to gain an international reputation in conducting. Also a contributing member of the Harlem Renaissance, she formed her own choir to great acclaim and collaborated with artists like Virgil Thomas and Gertrude Stein. She became an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement and participated in the March on Washington.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899 – 1974) remains one of the most influential musicians and composers both in the Jazz and Classical world. A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, his sixty-plus year career gave us some of the greatest Jazz pieces ever written, and a brand new style of music. Many of the members of his band are known as being some of the best in the idiom, and his influence in every area of American music today is incalculable.

OrchestraOne is thrilled to present an earlier piece of Ellington’s, performed by OrchestraOne musicians Sasha Ono, Tiffany Weiss, Brianne Lugo, Emily Frederick and Dom Frigo. Together, they make up a part of the incredible ensemble, the Lotus Chamber Collective. This is a very special performance of Echoes of Harlem.

Howard Swanson (1907-1978), was a composer best known for his art songs based on works by Langston Hughes and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. After working odd jobs, eventually he began studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music and studied with famed composition teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris (who taught musicians like Aaron Copland, Daniel Barenboim and many more). While his style is mostly European, he incorporated music from African American styles as well.

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) was one of the first African American Composers to gain recognition in the U.S. She was close friends with Florence Price and Langston Hughes, and is most well known for her settings of Hughes’ text. Even more so than many of her colleagues, she was determined to raise the voices of the African American community and incorporate these traditional styles into her music.

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was an Operatic and Art Song Mezzo-Soprano. She became a central figure in overcoming racial prejudice after being denied permission to perform for an integrated audience in Washington D.C. She served on the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee, was a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, sang at the March on Washington, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award among many others.

Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) was the son of the famous Jazz musician, King Oliver. He studied with William Grant Still (see above) and Paul Hindemith, eventually winning the coveted Rome Prize in composition in 1951. While he is best known for his symphonic works and choral works, he also wrote five large-scale operas. The last two of these Operas, Jubilee and Frederick Douglas explored the Slave Narrative that we talked about last week.

Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) is known as the “Dean of Black Women Composers.” This is partially because of her compositions, but also because of her contributions to the field of music education. She fostered, encouraged and shaped many African American musicians throughout her career. She was dubbed an “outstanding educator” by the National Association of Negro Musicians and was invited to deliver the keynote address at the first National Congress on Women in Music at New York University.

Julius Eastman (1940-1990) was a pioneer in the genre of Minimalism. He was one of the first composers to begin incorporating pop music tendencies into his music and to bring drama and suspense into minimalism. He lived the life of an avant-garde artist, and would write provocative pieces like Gay Guerrilla that depicted Martin Luther’s (not to be confused with Dr. King) "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," as a gay manifesto.

George Walker (1922-2018) broke ground for African Americans in many ways. He was the first Black instrumentalist to perform in Manhattan’s Town Hall, the first to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a soloist, the first to be signed by a major management company, the first to earn a Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, and the first to win a Pulitzer Prize.