Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The Chicago World Columbian Exposition of 1893 (“The Fair”) celebrated America, its industry, and its people. It was among the first events of its kind to honor the achievements of women. Almost ...
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The Chicago World Columbian Exposition of 1893 (“The Fair”) celebrated America, its industry, and its people. It was among the first events of its kind to honor the achievements of women. Almost overnight, the Fair and Chicago became a gathering place for the nation's gifted and talented from every scientific and artistic discipline. There was a significant Negro presence at the Fair; Dahomey Village from Africa's Gold Coast, the Haitian Pavillion was a gathering place for black intelligentsia — hootchie cootchies doing the belly dance, piano professors exchanging licks and forms — these were soon were to emerge as the new national musical rage, ragtime. On Colored Person's Honor Day, Will Marion Cook, the future mentor of Duke Ellington, meets Dvorák. He is invited to attend the National Conservatory that fall; after that the Dvorák family returns to New York.Less
The Chicago World Columbian Exposition of 1893 (“The Fair”) celebrated America, its industry, and its people. It was among the first events of its kind to honor the achievements of women. Almost overnight, the Fair and Chicago became a gathering place for the nation's gifted and talented from every scientific and artistic discipline. There was a significant Negro presence at the Fair; Dahomey Village from Africa's Gold Coast, the Haitian Pavillion was a gathering place for black intelligentsia — hootchie cootchies doing the belly dance, piano professors exchanging licks and forms — these were soon were to emerge as the new national musical rage, ragtime. On Colored Person's Honor Day, Will Marion Cook, the future mentor of Duke Ellington, meets Dvorák. He is invited to attend the National Conservatory that fall; after that the Dvorák family returns to New York.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter presents the detailed story of another historic recreation, this time on the stage of Carnegie Hall where in 1912 the Clef Club concert took place. New challenges were met: an unusual ...
More
This chapter presents the detailed story of another historic recreation, this time on the stage of Carnegie Hall where in 1912 the Clef Club concert took place. New challenges were met: an unusual mix, the forming of a new Clef Club orchestra that included thirty strummers — ten each of mandolins, guitars and a rare harp guitar, and banjos — all of whom read complicated music very well; a boys' and men's choir; and a concert orchestra including eight pianists and various soloists. Will Marion Cook's dialect song, “Swing Along” for chorus and orchestra stopped the show as it did sixty seven years earlier.Less
This chapter presents the detailed story of another historic recreation, this time on the stage of Carnegie Hall where in 1912 the Clef Club concert took place. New challenges were met: an unusual mix, the forming of a new Clef Club orchestra that included thirty strummers — ten each of mandolins, guitars and a rare harp guitar, and banjos — all of whom read complicated music very well; a boys' and men's choir; and a concert orchestra including eight pianists and various soloists. Will Marion Cook's dialect song, “Swing Along” for chorus and orchestra stopped the show as it did sixty seven years earlier.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0019
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This final chapter takes a walk through what once was Dvorák's New York neighborhood. It discusses the unsuccessful battle to save the Dvorák House where Dvorák lived from 1892-5. The heightened ...
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This final chapter takes a walk through what once was Dvorák's New York neighborhood. It discusses the unsuccessful battle to save the Dvorák House where Dvorák lived from 1892-5. The heightened awareness he brought to the bountiful riches of African American music that helped inspire the Composer-Collector generation — James Weldon Johnson, James Rosamond Johnson, W. C. Handy, Ernest Hogan, and Will Marion Cook — are detailed. It discusses the search for and emergence of a “New African-American Orchestra”, Ford Dabney's theater “roof-top” bands, Hogan and Cook's “Memphis Students Band”, Europe's “Clef Club”, and Cook's “Southern Synchopaters” orchestra, preparing the way for Duke Ellington, “a world-class composer, who stands alone as the foremost American genius who remained loyal to the improvisational, tonal, and rhythmic endowments of African American music”. His universe was an “orchestra” of brilliant jazz artists, one he never found wanting. With a light but firm tether, he drew and followed them along a trail of discovery, leaving glorious artifacts in his path.Less
This final chapter takes a walk through what once was Dvorák's New York neighborhood. It discusses the unsuccessful battle to save the Dvorák House where Dvorák lived from 1892-5. The heightened awareness he brought to the bountiful riches of African American music that helped inspire the Composer-Collector generation — James Weldon Johnson, James Rosamond Johnson, W. C. Handy, Ernest Hogan, and Will Marion Cook — are detailed. It discusses the search for and emergence of a “New African-American Orchestra”, Ford Dabney's theater “roof-top” bands, Hogan and Cook's “Memphis Students Band”, Europe's “Clef Club”, and Cook's “Southern Synchopaters” orchestra, preparing the way for Duke Ellington, “a world-class composer, who stands alone as the foremost American genius who remained loyal to the improvisational, tonal, and rhythmic endowments of African American music”. His universe was an “orchestra” of brilliant jazz artists, one he never found wanting. With a light but firm tether, he drew and followed them along a trail of discovery, leaving glorious artifacts in his path.
David Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469622699
- eISBN:
- 9781469622712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469622699.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter examines the American cultural revolution brought about by the ragtime operetta, Clorindy; or, The Origin of the Cakewalk, and how it initiated a reevaluation of Negro music and its ...
More
This chapter examines the American cultural revolution brought about by the ragtime operetta, Clorindy; or, The Origin of the Cakewalk, and how it initiated a reevaluation of Negro music and its place within a cultural market dominated by white ideologies and sensibilities. In their performance, Will Marion Cook and Ernest Hogan inaugurated new considerations of Negro music, by disrupting many of the rigid distinctions African American intellectuals held between folk/formal and high/low (and many others). Most significantly, the duo called attention to a historical process that turned the folk music of the American slave into the sound of modern America. In the first and second decades of the twentieth century, Negro music resounded as a rhythmic dance music representing not only African American modernity, but U.S. modernity more broadly.Less
This chapter examines the American cultural revolution brought about by the ragtime operetta, Clorindy; or, The Origin of the Cakewalk, and how it initiated a reevaluation of Negro music and its place within a cultural market dominated by white ideologies and sensibilities. In their performance, Will Marion Cook and Ernest Hogan inaugurated new considerations of Negro music, by disrupting many of the rigid distinctions African American intellectuals held between folk/formal and high/low (and many others). Most significantly, the duo called attention to a historical process that turned the folk music of the American slave into the sound of modern America. In the first and second decades of the twentieth century, Negro music resounded as a rhythmic dance music representing not only African American modernity, but U.S. modernity more broadly.
Reid Badger
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195337969
- eISBN:
- 9780199851553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337969.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Jim Europe changed the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra to “National Negro Symphony Orchestra” as a way of avoiding identification with either of the clubs while pointing in a positive way toward a ...
More
Jim Europe changed the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra to “National Negro Symphony Orchestra” as a way of avoiding identification with either of the clubs while pointing in a positive way toward a mutually happy future. Europe and the National Negro Symphony Orchestra, augmented by a larger number of strings, woodwinds, and brass than he had used in 1912 or 1913, was joined by a chorus from the Music School Settlement, a new group called the Afro-American Folk Song Singers, under the direction of Will Marion Cook, and by vocal soloists Abbie Mitchell, Harry T. Burleigh, and J. Rosamond Johnson. Black musicians have been hampered in the development of the symphonic dimension of the African-American musical continuum. The success of the Castles' appearance with Jim Europe and his orchestra at the Tempo Club entertainment helped to spur arrangements for the much talked about national tour, and by the middle of the month a schedule had been set.Less
Jim Europe changed the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra to “National Negro Symphony Orchestra” as a way of avoiding identification with either of the clubs while pointing in a positive way toward a mutually happy future. Europe and the National Negro Symphony Orchestra, augmented by a larger number of strings, woodwinds, and brass than he had used in 1912 or 1913, was joined by a chorus from the Music School Settlement, a new group called the Afro-American Folk Song Singers, under the direction of Will Marion Cook, and by vocal soloists Abbie Mitchell, Harry T. Burleigh, and J. Rosamond Johnson. Black musicians have been hampered in the development of the symphonic dimension of the African-American musical continuum. The success of the Castles' appearance with Jim Europe and his orchestra at the Tempo Club entertainment helped to spur arrangements for the much talked about national tour, and by the middle of the month a schedule had been set.
Reid Badger
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195337969
- eISBN:
- 9780199851553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337969.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The Europe family found a bustling city that was both quite different from, and yet surprisingly similar to, the one they had left “down home”. Washington had grown dramatically since the Civil War ...
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The Europe family found a bustling city that was both quite different from, and yet surprisingly similar to, the one they had left “down home”. Washington had grown dramatically since the Civil War in its public as well as private aspects. James, who was called “Jim”, attended the third grade at Lincoln Grammar School on Capital Hill. It was about this time that he first began to study the instrument that would be his first love—the violin—under Joseph Douglass. In addition to his musical aptitude, Jim Europe demonstrated a strong personality and a natural organizational ability. John Philip Sousa, who had been dubbed the “March King” for such compositions as “The Washington Post March” and “Semper Fidelis”, and the Marine Band itself had a long-standing relationship with the African-American community in Washington. With his outgoing personality and his musical interests, Jim Europe was quickly recruited into the high school cadets. A twenty-year-old violinist named Will Marion Cook undertook to provide Washington and its black community with an orchestra. Although Cook was eleven years older than Europe, the lives of the two Washingtonians would intersect later in significant ways.Less
The Europe family found a bustling city that was both quite different from, and yet surprisingly similar to, the one they had left “down home”. Washington had grown dramatically since the Civil War in its public as well as private aspects. James, who was called “Jim”, attended the third grade at Lincoln Grammar School on Capital Hill. It was about this time that he first began to study the instrument that would be his first love—the violin—under Joseph Douglass. In addition to his musical aptitude, Jim Europe demonstrated a strong personality and a natural organizational ability. John Philip Sousa, who had been dubbed the “March King” for such compositions as “The Washington Post March” and “Semper Fidelis”, and the Marine Band itself had a long-standing relationship with the African-American community in Washington. With his outgoing personality and his musical interests, Jim Europe was quickly recruited into the high school cadets. A twenty-year-old violinist named Will Marion Cook undertook to provide Washington and its black community with an orchestra. Although Cook was eleven years older than Europe, the lives of the two Washingtonians would intersect later in significant ways.
Jean E. Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039942
- eISBN:
- 9780252098109
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039942.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter focuses on Harry T. Burleigh's involvement in the creation of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” After attending the Chicago World's Fair and visiting ...
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This chapter focuses on Harry T. Burleigh's involvement in the creation of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” After attending the Chicago World's Fair and visiting Erie, Burleigh returned to New York City in late September 1893 to continue his studies at the National Conservatory of Music. He was joined this time by his friend Will Marion Cook, who was impressed by Jeannette Thurber's genuinely inclusive approach in recruiting students. The two men relished opportunities to enjoy the abundance of fine music the city had to offer, pondering how African American music should find its place in such settings. Burleigh continued to spend evenings with the Dvořák family through the fall. This chapter also considers the controversy stirred by Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor and his advocacy of an American school of music based on Negro music.Less
This chapter focuses on Harry T. Burleigh's involvement in the creation of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” After attending the Chicago World's Fair and visiting Erie, Burleigh returned to New York City in late September 1893 to continue his studies at the National Conservatory of Music. He was joined this time by his friend Will Marion Cook, who was impressed by Jeannette Thurber's genuinely inclusive approach in recruiting students. The two men relished opportunities to enjoy the abundance of fine music the city had to offer, pondering how African American music should find its place in such settings. Burleigh continued to spend evenings with the Dvořák family through the fall. This chapter also considers the controversy stirred by Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor and his advocacy of an American school of music based on Negro music.
Jean E. Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039942
- eISBN:
- 9780252098109
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039942.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949) played a leading role in American music, and African American music in particular, in the twentieth century. Celebrated for his arrangements of spirituals, Burleigh was ...
More
Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949) played a leading role in American music, and African American music in particular, in the twentieth century. Celebrated for his arrangements of spirituals, Burleigh was also the first African American composer to create a significant body of art song. An international roster of opera and recital singers performed his works and praised them as among the best of their time. This book traces Burleigh's life from his Pennsylvania childhood through his fifty-year tenure as soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. As a composer, Burleigh's pioneering work preserved and transformed the African American spiritual; as a music editor, he facilitated the work of other black composers; as a role model, vocal coach, and mentor, he profoundly influenced American song; and in private life he was friends with Antonín Dvořák, Marian Anderson, Will Marion Cook, and other American luminaries. The book provides rich historical, social, and political contexts that explore Burleigh's professional and personal life within an era complicated by changes in race relations, class expectations, and musical tastes.Less
Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949) played a leading role in American music, and African American music in particular, in the twentieth century. Celebrated for his arrangements of spirituals, Burleigh was also the first African American composer to create a significant body of art song. An international roster of opera and recital singers performed his works and praised them as among the best of their time. This book traces Burleigh's life from his Pennsylvania childhood through his fifty-year tenure as soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. As a composer, Burleigh's pioneering work preserved and transformed the African American spiritual; as a music editor, he facilitated the work of other black composers; as a role model, vocal coach, and mentor, he profoundly influenced American song; and in private life he was friends with Antonín Dvořák, Marian Anderson, Will Marion Cook, and other American luminaries. The book provides rich historical, social, and political contexts that explore Burleigh's professional and personal life within an era complicated by changes in race relations, class expectations, and musical tastes.
Douglas W. Shadle
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- April 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190645625
- eISBN:
- 9780190645663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645625.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
After the US Civil War, African American musicians and intellectuals had increasingly turned to European classical music as a tool of socioeconomic advancement while acknowledging the importance of ...
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After the US Civil War, African American musicians and intellectuals had increasingly turned to European classical music as a tool of socioeconomic advancement while acknowledging the importance of antebellum vernacular music for defining racial identity. Violinist and composer Will Marion Cook (1869–1944) used the platform of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to demonstrate Black achievement in the arts. Meanwhile, Jeannette Thurber and Antonín Dvořák had opened the National Conservatory to Black students free of charge, thus expanding educational opportunities for talented Black musicians. The premiere of the New World Symphony in December 1893 reignited a widespread and vicious public debate about the place of Black music and musicians in American national life.Less
After the US Civil War, African American musicians and intellectuals had increasingly turned to European classical music as a tool of socioeconomic advancement while acknowledging the importance of antebellum vernacular music for defining racial identity. Violinist and composer Will Marion Cook (1869–1944) used the platform of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to demonstrate Black achievement in the arts. Meanwhile, Jeannette Thurber and Antonín Dvořák had opened the National Conservatory to Black students free of charge, thus expanding educational opportunities for talented Black musicians. The premiere of the New World Symphony in December 1893 reignited a widespread and vicious public debate about the place of Black music and musicians in American national life.
Jean E. Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039942
- eISBN:
- 9780252098109
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039942.003.0018
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter examines Harry T. Burleigh's legacy in African American music. Burleigh retired in 1946 from his position as baritone soloist at St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church, marking the end ...
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This chapter examines Harry T. Burleigh's legacy in African American music. Burleigh retired in 1946 from his position as baritone soloist at St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church, marking the end of an exceptional public career. He died of cardiac failure on September 12, 1949. All too soon after the influx of laudatory obituaries, the press got wind of the conflict over Burleigh's estate. This chapter first considers the trial involving Burleigh's two wills, both of which were challenged by Louise Alston Burleigh and their son Alston because they suspected his longtime housekeeper, Thelma Hall—a recipient of the second will together with her son James—of exerting undue influence on Burleigh. It also looks at various tributes made in Burleigh's honor, including one from Will Marion Cook, and concludes with an emphasis on the importance of black music to the Harlem Renaissance, Burleigh's mastery in arranging African American spirituals, and the newfound respect for his art songs.Less
This chapter examines Harry T. Burleigh's legacy in African American music. Burleigh retired in 1946 from his position as baritone soloist at St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church, marking the end of an exceptional public career. He died of cardiac failure on September 12, 1949. All too soon after the influx of laudatory obituaries, the press got wind of the conflict over Burleigh's estate. This chapter first considers the trial involving Burleigh's two wills, both of which were challenged by Louise Alston Burleigh and their son Alston because they suspected his longtime housekeeper, Thelma Hall—a recipient of the second will together with her son James—of exerting undue influence on Burleigh. It also looks at various tributes made in Burleigh's honor, including one from Will Marion Cook, and concludes with an emphasis on the importance of black music to the Harlem Renaissance, Burleigh's mastery in arranging African American spirituals, and the newfound respect for his art songs.