We'll Understand It Better by and by: Pioneering African American Composers

Notes ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 567
Author(s):  
Eileen Southern ◽  
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American Composers ◽  
African American Composers

scholarly journals  African Past, American Future: Uplift Ideology in Early 20th Century Opera

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Hujsa
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
American Music ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Black Music ◽  
Musical Form ◽  
American Composers ◽  
African American Music ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
African American Composers

         This paper explores how two African American composers, Scott Joplin (c. 1868-1917) and Harry Lawrence Freeman (1869-1954), advocated for Black Advancement and uplift ideology through their syncretic operas in the early 1900s. What is presented here however is the introductory content of a larger work.         Joplin and Freeman were intimately conscious and supportive of national debates for Black Advancement, propelled especially by W.E.B. DuBois, and both employed rhetorical strategies paradigmatic of the movement. They were both interested in showing White and Black Americans alike that African American music, such as gospel, spiritual, and ragtime, could be held to the same high esteem as music of the Western canon, just as Black academics often endeavored to prove their intellectual prowess to their White counterparts. To this end, Joplin and Freeman combined “Black” music and classical styles in their operas to declare the equality and richness of an integrated sound.          The thematic content of these operas, Treemonisha and Voodoo, respectively, interact with the Black Advancement movement’s drive for progress and education as well. They present Black Americans’ struggle for modernity as a conflict between the “superstitious” West African religious customs still ingrained in emancipated communities and Christianity. However, Joplin and Freeman’s works diverge aesthetically and ideologically from this point forward. Joplin’s aesthetic considerations derived chiefly from ragtime, a modern African American musical form genre, while Freeman took inspiration not only from African ethnic music but Africa itself. Joplin’s form of uplift was found in the education of small Black communities, while Freeman framed his work in a nationalistic and pan-Africanist context. These distinct choices, though crafted with the same aim, help reveal subtle divergences in argumentation within the Black Advancement movement.    

Implication, Quotation, and Coltrane in Selected Works By David N. Baker

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-164
Author(s):  
HORACE J. MAXILE
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Musical Structure ◽  
Concert Music ◽  
American Composers ◽  
John Coltrane ◽  
Black Vernacular ◽  
Vernacular Music ◽  
Compositional Structures ◽  
Concert Works ◽  
African American Composers

AbstractThis article explores composer David N. Baker's use of elements of jazz and vernacular music to articulate formal structures and suggest extramusical commentaries in his concert works, with particular focus on the Sonata for Cello and Piano and the Sonata I for Piano. Themes of homage to and respect for jazz saxophonist John Coltrane resonate through these works. Various features bring the jazz legend to mind, but Baker's compelling play with implication and quotation provides fertile ground for studying musical signification and the use of vernacular emblems within Western compositional structures and the concert music of African American composers. Conventional analytical methods are combined with readings of referential symbols to work toward interpretations that address both structural and expressive domains. This approach allows discussions of compositional techniques to intersect with cultural and philosophical considerations. By addressing issues of musical structure and expressivity, this article seeks to move beyond commonplace surface-level descriptions of black vernacular emblems in the concert music of African American composers.

The Chamber Music of African-American Composers

1995 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Ronald A. Crutcher ◽  
Margery Hwang
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Chamber Music ◽  
American Composers ◽  
African American Composers

The Brewing Storm

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Shadle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
American Composers ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Black Vernacular ◽  
Vernacular Music ◽  
Instrumental Works ◽  
Open Question

A small number of US-based composers began experimenting with the use of African American vernacular music as the basis for instrumental works around 1880, arguing that this music formed a truly American folk repertoire. Their works found public favor in the United States and, more importantly, in several European cities in the months leading up to Dvořák’s arrival as director of the National Conservatory. Dvořák’s own position in the debate about American national style was an open question until May 1893, when he revealed his belief in the authentic American identity of Black vernacular music, thus affirming the approach of earlier American composers.

Bringing Spirituals to the Concert Stage

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean E. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Art Song ◽  
Art Songs ◽  
American Music ◽  
American Composers ◽  
Black Composers ◽  
White American ◽  
African American Music

This chapter focuses on the popularity of Harry T. Burleigh's spirituals in recitals and other concerts. Burleigh published his first solo arrangement of spirituals from 1911 to 1916, at a time when the tide of interest in African American folk music, especially spirituals, was gathering momentum. At least nineteen white American composers joined the stream. Black composers also produced compositions reflecting their folk heritage during these years. From the 1916–1917 concert season, when his solo arrangement of “Deep River” became the hit of the recital season, Burleigh's role as pioneer arranger and interpreter of spirituals began to eclipse his role as recital singer and art song composer. This chapter explores how the recurring controversy over the origins of African American music made Burleigh a spokesman for the uniquely expressive gifts of African Americans who, he argued, had created America's first genuine folk music. In particular, it considers Burleigh's view that the spirituals were the primary artistic contribution of African Americans. It also discusses the influence of Edward MacDowell on Burleigh's movement toward arranging spirituals as art songs.

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