He argues that the pursuit of knowledge and understanding is essential to the human experience and that individuals are responsible for using their gifts and talents to make the world a better place. Despite being written over a century ago, Du Bois’ Credo is still relevant and resonant today.
Returning to Bonds’ setting of this text, her use of harmony and counterpoint throughout is particularly noteworthy. She weaves complex musical themes together, using subtle rhythmic and melodic shifts to create complex, layered, and engaging soundscapes. The effect is mesmerizing, drawing listeners into the music and conveying the spiritual depth of Bonds’ writing.
https://presserfoundation.org/opera-philadelphia-and-margaret-bonds-credo/
One of the featured works in our Nov. 7 concert is Plain-Chant for America, a collaboration of composer William Grant Still Jr. and poet Katherine Garrison Chapin. The work premiered in October 1941 in a concert at Carnegie Hall.
Writing during the Jim Crow era, Still was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and produced nearly 200 symphonies, operas, ballets, choral works, and other pieces. He broke many social barriers to build a career in the predominantly white world of classical music, and his career was filled with many “firsts.” He was the first African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra, have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, have an opera performed by a major opera company, and have an opera performed on national television. Still was often called the “Dean of African-American Composers.”
Chapin was inspired to write the poem “Plain-Chant for America” as a protest against a growing tide of fascism prior to WWII and, in her words, “the gap between totalitarianism and the American democracy in which I believed.” The poem was dedicated to then President Roosevelt. Lyric for Strings is a musical composition written by the American composer George Walker. Originally titled Lament, it was first composed as the second movement of Walker's String Quartet No. 1 in 1946 while he was a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music. The piece was given its world premiere later that year by the student orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music conducted by Seymour Lipkin.
https://concertsingers.org/plain-chant-for-america/
In 1990, Walker expanded the work for string orchestra retitling it Lyric for Strings; this new arrangement subsequently became Walker's most performed composition. It is cast in a single movement and has a duration of approximately six minutes. The work is dedicated to Walker's grandmother, Melvina King, a formerly enslaved person, who died shortly before its completion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_for_Strings
"A Change Is Gonna Come" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. It initially appeared on Cooke's album Ain't That Good News, released mid-February 1964[1] by RCA Victor; a slightly edited version of the recording was released as a single on December 22, 1964. Produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged and conducted by René Hall, the song was the B-side to "Shake".
The song was inspired by various events in Cooke's life, most prominently when he and his entourage were turned away from a whites-only motel in Louisiana. Cooke felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his struggle and of those around him, and that pertained to the Civil Rights Movement and African Americans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Change_Is_Gonna_Come