“An American poem had been germinating in my mind for a longtime, but the final circumstance that thrust it into being was the fact that I had spent a few days in the company of some persons who were sympathetic with the Fascists, whose talk showed me vividly the gap between totalitarianism and the American democracy in which I believed. The emotion of the poem began there; it found completion when we stood beside President Roosevelt, in the sunshine at Key West, Fla., while he made a fine radio broadcast opening the San Francisco Fair.”  – Katherine Garrison Chapin (Mrs. Francis Biddle)

This is a quote from the 1941 announcement that appeared in The New York Times prior to the premiere of the collaboration between the spouse of the U.S. Attorney General under Franklin Roosevelt and the “Dean” of Black American composers, William Grant Still.  A few months later Japan would attack Pearl Harbor and begin the U.S. entry into WWII.

Katherine Garrison Chapin’s creation of the stylized noun “Plain-Chant” in the title of her poem articulates the connection of text and feeling to music. Music is, after all, language.

This variation on the musical term also represents a resolution to speak plainly and directly to the forces that divide us at times of political upheaval (Plain-Chant means plainspoken). As in 1941, we are at a time of upheaval. We artists claim the truths expressed in Ms. Chapin's words and music.

This concert is a declaration of the elemental values that we artists believe our nation must rally around.  The values of Freedom and Justice are not owned by one political party or another, but rather as Katherine Chapin articulates in her poem “ . . .  is salt in our blood and its bone shape.”

Editors Note: The following sections provide information about the specific works with attribution to internet sources

Margaret Bonds arranged over fifty African-American spirituals for various instruments, one of which is the five-minute piano work Troubled Water, based on the spiritual Wade in the Water. The context of the spiritual is associated with Songs of the Underground Railroad, work songs used by slaves in the nineteenth century to share coded information for escape. The work was originally written as an audience-participation work titled “Group Dance Based on the Spiritual ‘Wade in the Water,” and Bonds’s friend John Work II and the Fisk Jubilee Singers performed it in this guise in 157 concerts in Europe. Bonds performed the version for piano solo as the last movement of her Spiritual Suite on numerous occasions, and she finally published it independently in 1967.

https://www.colorado.edu/project/hidden-voices/2024/05/01/troubled-water-spiritual-suite-margaret-bonds


Florence Price, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, was a pioneer black American composer who distinguished herself early on. Most notably, she is remembered as the first black American woman to garner success as a composer of symphonic music. Her first symphony is perhaps her best-known work. Winner of a national prize, it was given its première in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—a social and cultural milestone in this country at that time.

Price composed two traditional string quartets (1929 and 1935) as well as three different compositions for string quartet based on folksongs (the first in 1946 and the latter two ca. 1951). Our concert features the quartet originally entitled Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint (1946).

https://www.earsense.org/chamber-music/Florence-Price-Five-Folksongs-in-Counterpoint-for-String-Quartet/

Mvmt 1. Somebody's Knocking at Your Do’ and Mvmt 4. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho are spirituals. Like those of many other spirituals, the song's words allude to eventual escape from slavery (freedom) and/or appeals for the grace and protection of the Almighty (justice).


The Hymn!, arranged by currently active composer Stacey Gibbs, combines the melody and lyrics of three long-standing American patriotic songs.

My Country, 'Tis of Thee, also known as simply America, is an American patriotic song. the lyrics of which were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. The melody used is adopted from the national anthem of the United Kingdom, God Save the King.

The use of the same melody as the British royal anthem is a contrafactum (a song that uses a different set of lyrics for a common melody) which reworks this symbol of British monarchy to make a statement about American democracy.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee

The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", is an American patriotic song that was written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War.  Howe adapted her song from the soldiers' song "John Brown's Body" in November 1861, and first published it in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. Her version links the Union cause with God's vengeance at the Day of Judgment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a prayer of thanksgiving to God as well as a prayer for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery that evokes the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the "promised land."  Premiered in 1900, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was communally sung within Black American communities, while the NAACP began to promote the hymn as a "Negro national anthem" in 1917 (with the term "Black national anthem" similarly used in the present day). In 2021, then House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn sponsored a bill proposing that "Lift Every Voice and Sing" be designated as the "national hymn" of the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_Every_Voice_and_Sing


The text for Credo lays out Du Bois’ beliefs about the nature of humanity and the role of the individual in society. Through the lens of race, Du Bois argues that all humans have an innate dignity and worth and that this dignity should be celebrated by society. His writing is eloquent and passionate, conveying a sense of urgency and conviction that inspires and challenges readers.

 

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


Robert Ray & Gospel Mass