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Overview

A conversation on the subject of Black and brown composers, musicians, and conductors in classical music doesn't usually spark a lively exchange about the latest concerts, published books, or recorded works. More often than not, the reaction is silence or a brief reply, which is not to say that conductors and artists around the world are not performing orchestral commissions and compositions. If the topic of Black and brown musicians comes up, some people will probably think of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, or maybe James Brown or Public Enemy. But few will think of Francis (Frank) Johnson or William Grant Still or a host of other Black American classical composers. However, several semesters would not be enough to cover the wealth of material produced by classical musicians of the African diaspora. So, what happened to these African American composers, musicians, and conductors who contributed to the classical music traditions of America?

Be ready to:

Identify the lives of notable Black classical composers, conductors, and musical performers.

Demonstrate the concept of the linkage between the music of the "old guard"-musicians of yesteryear-and their impact on the contemporary Black classical musicians and compositions.

Describe the importance of Slave Songs of the United States and Music and Some Highly Musical People to the development of the survey of American music history.

List a few important African American classical singers who were strategic to the early development of establishing the bar for singers of the twentieth century.

Identify classical singers who were influential upon concert life in Black America during the first half of the twentieth century.

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Listening Guides

References

Listening Guide: Chestnut Brass and Friends "New Bird Waltz"

"New Bird Waltz" Performed by Chestnut Brass Company and Friends; Diane Monroe, Violin; Tamara Brooks, Conductor
A	In ¾ time signature opens with the main theme in G major, which consists of eight bars broken down into four distinct sections a + a + b + c (each melodica idea two bars each).	00:00-00:10] 00:10
B	The opening section comes back with a syncopated melody in the following manner a' + a' + b' + d.	[00:11-00:20] 00:20
C	The opening section-complete sixteen bars-is now repeated.	[00:21-00:40] 00:40
D	Transition section.	[00:40-00:50] 00:50
E	Canary birdcall section in C major. Listen to the "bird whistling," as stated in the score, followed by four bars of-non-birdcalls-to bring this section to a close.	[00:51-01-00] 01:00
F	Canary birdcall section repeated with an additional four-bar extension at the end leading to the key of G major.	[01:01-01:17] 00:17
G	The main themes of the opening section come back before the end of the piece.	[01:18-01:39] 00:22

Listening to this work only gives one an idea of how the work must have sounded. Southern confirms this but also goes on to state:

In the first place, we have only piano arrangements of band music or melodic skeletons. This was the common practice of the period; composers left few band or orchestra scores but rather made arrangements that could be sold to the ever-increasing numbers of amateur singers and pianists in the nation. Second, even after Johnson's scores have been reconstructed for performance by instrumental groups, the music hardly seems extraordinary-despite the elaborate flute, violin, and trumpet obbligatos and vocal embellishments-with its predominantly diatonic harmonies, straightforward rhythms, and scalar-triadic melodies. Johnson's style was attuned to the musical climate in which he lived, and his scores do not differ substantially from those of his White American contemporaries-for example, John Hill Hewitt (1801-1890).

(Southern 1997)

Frank Johnson piano manuscript, 1820. The Library Company of Philadelphia.

In addition, and very important to what Southern states above is her comment on how Johnson stayed ahead of the competition:

Since Johnson competed successfully with White musical organizations for public patronage against the overwhelming odds of race discrimination, his music must have gained something in performance that is not evident in the scores. Based on the admittedly scanty evidence available, that 'something' must have been his ability to 'distort' commonplace music into stimulating and distinctive music. To translate the word distort into modern parlance, we might surmise that it meant infusing the music with rhythmic complexities such as are found in Black folk music or twentieth-century jazz. Thus, Johnson stands at the head of a long line of Black musicians whose performance practice made the essential difference in the transference of musical scores into actual sound.

(Southern 1997, 112-113)

William C. Banfield

Can you imagine American music without the work of Black composers or without Black music in general? Still, there is a refusal, a denial, of that reality.

William C. Banfield

We got some Black Beethovens living up in here, and what's most sad is, y'all don't even know it!