Music of the African Diaspora
Afro-Canadian, African-American and Afro-British composers
Dett Price Burleigh Joplin Coleridge Taylor
February 27th, 2022, 5:30 pm
Asbury United Methodist Church
Prairie Village, KS
a crowd funded project presented by the following independent musicians
Franklin Coleman, organ
Douglas McConnell, piano
Victoria Olson, soprano
Roslinde Rivera, mezzo soprano
Matthew Harris, baritone
Paul Davidson, bass
I. Nathaniel Dett
Cinnamon Grove Suite, movements 1 & 4 – 1928
Douglas McConnell
‘Ave Maria’ – 1930 – Latin text from the Roman Rite
Victoria Olson, Roslinde Rivera, Paul Davidson, Matthew Harris
‘Follow Me’ – 1919 – traditional spiritual text
Paul Davidson & Franklin Coleman
II. Florence Price
‘Adoration’ – 1951
Franklin Coleman
III. Harry Burleigh
‘ ‘Til I Wake’ – 1915 – lyrics by Laurence Hope (Violet Nicolson)
Victoria Olson & Douglas McConnell
IV. Scott Joplin
‘We will trust you as our leader’ from Treemonisha – 1911 – libretto by Scott Joplin
Victoria Olson & Douglas McConnell
V. Samuel Coleridge Taylor
Six Sorrow Songs: ‘Oh, what comes over the Sea,’ ‘When I am dead, my dearest,’ ‘Oh, Roses for the flush of youth,’ ‘She sat and sang always,’ ‘Unmindful of the Roses,’ ‘Too late for love.’ – 1904 – lyrics by Christina G. Rossetti
Roslinde Rivera (1-2), Paul Davidson (3-4), Matthew Harris (5-6) & Douglas McConnell
‘Oh,The Summer’ – 1911 – lyrics by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
Victoria Olson & Douglas McConnell
‘Melody’ – 1898
Franklin Coleman
‘O Ye that Love the Lord’ – 1892 – from Psalm 97, v 10
Victoria Olson, Roslinde Rivera, Paul Davidson, Matthew Harris & Franklin Coleman
If you would like to support these musicians and future projects, please do so via one of the following:
Venmo
@PaulDavidsonBass
Paypal
paypal.me/PaulDavidsonBass
Mail a check to:
Paul Davidson
4400 Booth St
KC KS 66103
Lyrics
‘Ave Maria’
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
‘Follow Me’
When I was a seeker, Good Lord!
When I was a seeker, King Jesus tooka me in.
He said, “Follow Me, follow Me, Follow Me to the Caanan’s land,”
said, “Follow Me, Going to dwell at God’s right hand!”
Peter was a-fishing, good Lord.
Peter was a-fishing, When King Jesus tooka him in.
He said, “Follow Me, follow Me, Follow Me to the Caanan’s land,”
said, “Follow Me, Going to dwell at God’s right hand!”
And I laid down sorrow’s burden;
Laid down sorrow’s burden, good Lord;
Laid down sorrow’s burden, When King Jesus tooka me in!
He said, “Follow Me, follow Me, Follow Me to the Caanan’s land,”
said, “Follow Me, Going to dwell at God’s right hand!”
‘Til I Wake’
When I am dying, lean over me tenderly, softly,
Stoop as the yellow roses droop in the wind from the South.
So I may when I wake, If there be an awak’ning
So I may when I wake, Keep what lull’d me to sleep;
the touch of your lips on mouth.
‘We will trust you as our leader’
We ought to have a leader, In our neighborhood,
An energetic leader, To follow for our good.
The ignorant too long have ruled, I don’t see why they should,
And all the people they have fooled, Because they found they could.
‘Oh, what comes over the Sea’
Oh, what comes over the sea, Shoals and quicksands past;
And what comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast?
A wind comes over the sea With a moan in its blast;
But nothing comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast.
Let me be, let me be, For my lot is cast,
Land or Sea, all’s one to me, And sail it slow or fast.
Let me be.
‘When I am dead, my dearest’
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant tho no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me With show’rs and dewdrops wet:
And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale Sing, sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.
‘Oh, Roses for the flush of youth’
Oh, roses for the flush of youth, And laurel for the perfect prime;
But pluck an ivy branch for me, Grown old before my time.
Oh Violets for the grave of youth, And bay for those dead in their prime;
Give me the wither’d leaves I chose Before in the old time.
‘She sat and sang alway’
She sat and sang always By the green margin of a stream,
Watching the fishes leap and play Beneath the glad sunbeam
I sat and wept always ‘Neath the moon’s most shad’wy beam,
Watching the blossoms of the May Weep leaves into the stream
I wept for memory She sang for hope that is for fair;
My tears were swallow’d by the sea, Her songs died on the air.
‘Unmindful of the Roses’
Unmindful of the roses, Unmindful of the thorn,
A reaper tired reposes Among his gather’d corn:
So might I, so might I, till the morn!
Cold as the cold Decembers, Past as the days that set,
While only one remembers And all the rest forget,
But one remembers yet.
‘Too late for love’
Too late for love, too late for joy, Too late, too late!
You loiter’d on the way too long, You trifled at the gate:
Th’enchanted dove upon her branch Died without a mate;
Th’enchanted princess in her tower Slept, died, behind the grate;
Her heart was starving all this while You made it wait.
Ten years ago, five years ago, One year ago
E’en then you had arriv’d in time, Though somewhat slow
Then you had known her living face Which now you cannot know.
The frozen fountains would have leap’d, The buds gone on to blow,
The warm south wind would have awak’d, To melt the snow.
You should have wept her yesterday, Wasting upon her bed;
But, wherefore, should you weep today That she is dead?
Lo, we who love, weep not today, But crown her royal head.
Let be these poppies that we strew, Your roses are too red:
Let be these poppies, not for you Cut down and spread.
You should have wept her yesterday.
‘Oh, the Summer.’
Oh the summer, glowing, blowing, Flowers in the sun;
Oh the warmth and sweetness, knowing That the winter’s done;
Spring is just behind us, dying, Autumn just before and flying,
Flying are the days – no sighing can call us one.
Oh the summer, ths swift breaking Of the early dawn,
Comes the sudden sun, awaking All it breathes upon.
Sweet the blackbird’s clear calling, Sweet, oh sweet the lark’s note falling,
Thro’ the blue the day installing With the rites of song.
Oh the summer, the long fading Of the laggard light,
Crimson gold, and purple shading Slowly into night.
Where the earth and sky are meeting, Day and dark exchange soft greeting,
Perfect moments, fleeting, fleeting, Sweetest in their flight.
‘O Ye that Love the Lord’
O ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate the thing which is evil:
the Lord preserveth the souls of His saints,
He shall deliver them from the hand of the ungodly.
The Composers
Robert Nathaniel Dett (October 11, 1882 – October 2, 1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Canadian-American Black composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. Born and raised in Canada until the age of 11, he moved to the United States with his family and had most of his professional education and career there. During his lifetime he was a leading Black composer, known for his use of African-American folk songs and spirituals as the basis for choral and piano compositions in the 19th century Romantic style of Classical music.[1]
He was among the first Black composers during the early years after the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was organized. His works often appeared among the programs of Will Marion Cook’s New York Syncopated Orchestra. Dett performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Boston Symphony Hall as a pianist and choir director. (excerpt from bio at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nathaniel_Dett )
Florence Beatrice Price (née Smith; April 9, 1887 – June 3, 1953) was an African-American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, who was active in Chicago from 1927 until her death in 1953. Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.[2] Price composed over 300 works: four symphonies, four concertos, as well as choral works, plus art songs, and music for chamber and solo instruments. In 2009, a substantial collection of her works and papers was found in her abandoned summer home. (excerpt from bio at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Price )
Henry Thacker (“Harry”) Burleigh (December 2, 1866 – September 12, 1949) was an American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer known for his baritone voice. The first black composer who was instrumental in developing characteristically American music, Burleigh made black music available to classically trained artists both by introducing them to spirituals and by arranging spirituals in a more classical form.[1] Burleigh also introduced Antonín Dvořák to Black American music, which influenced some of Dvořák’s most famous compositions and led him to say that Black music would be the basis of an American classical music. (excerpt from bio at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Burleigh )
Scott Joplin (c. November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist.[1] Joplin is also known as the “King of Ragtime” because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, music that was born out of the African-American community.[2] During his brief career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces,[3] one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the “Maple Leaf Rag”, became ragtime’s first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.[4] Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music and largely disdained the practice of ragtime such as that in honky tonk. (excerpt from bio at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin )
Samuel Coleridge Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was the first major Afro-English composer and conductor.
His father, Dr. Daniel Hughes Peter Taylor, graduated as a surgeon in 1874 from Taunton and King’s College, London. Daniel Taylor returned to West Africa before his son was born; he may not even have been aware of the pregnancy. Dr. Taylor was born around the year 1848 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He was the descendant of freed slaves settled there by the British, starting in the 1787, in much the way that U.S. freed slaves were settled in neighboring Liberia beginning about 25 years later. The earliest settlers in Sierra Leone included former slaves who won their freedom by fighting on the British side in the American Revolutionary War. Dr. Taylor was identified as Krio (from “creole”) rather than with any indigenous people of West Africa. He became the coroner for the colony of Gambia, living in the colonial capital, Bathurst (now Banjul), where he also served as a Justice of the Peace for the colony. He died in Bathurst in 1904.
Coleridge Taylor answered to “Coleridge” as a child. He was raised by his mother, Alice Martin (1856-1953) who may have named him Samuel Coleridge Taylor after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He group up in a multi-generational home in Croyden, then a town in County Surrey, now part of Greater London. Alice married George Evans, a railway worker, in 1887. Alice’s family included many musicians, and her father (whose home she and Coleridge shared), farrier Benjamin Holmans, started teaching his grandson at an early age. Holman saw his grandson’s talent and paid for violin lessons with Joseph Beckwith, a local orchestral musician. Coleridge also sang in two local church choirs from the age of 10.
Samuel Coleridge Taylor won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM) in 1890, originally studying violin, but then studying composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. He became a star student. At one of his concerts there in 1896, fellow students Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams played in the orchestra. He was soon championed by prominent British composers of the day including Edward Elgar, who called him “the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men.”
While we do not know whether Dr. Taylor’s ancestors were freed slaves from the breakaway colonies of the United States, the West Indies, both, or neither, Samuel Coleridge took great interest in American and African-American culture. While still at the RCM, Samuel Coleridge met visiting poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. They collaborated on several projects thereafter, setting Dunbar’s poetry to music.
Coleridge Taylor’s most acclaimed work as written not long after he completed his RCM studies. He completed the cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast in 1898, based on the Henry Longfellow poem; Charles Villiers Stanford conducted the premiere. After its success, he wrote three additional works, the last completed in 1900, to form a cycle, The Song of Hiawatha. Hiawatha (sometimes the Feast, sometimes the full cycle) was performed in Britain with a frequency similar to Elijah and The Messiah for the rest of Coleridge-Taylor’s life, and that tradition continued until roughly the outbreak of World War II, at which time it lost its popularity.
He participated in the first Pan-African conference in London in 1900, seeing Dunbar once again and meeting W. E. B. Dubois. He toured the United States three times, meeting President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House during his first tour in 1904. While in D.C. he conducted a 200 voice black choir named after him (formed in 1901), accompanied by the U.S. Marines Band, for an audience of about 2700, of which two thirds was Black. On his third tour of the U.S. in 1910, he conducted prominent all-white orchestras in addition to working with black musicians during the tour. White orchestra players in New York referred to him as “The African Mahler.”
He married fellow RCM student Jessie Sarah Fleetwood Walmisley (1869-1962) in 1899, and they had two children, Hiawatha (1900-1980) and Gwendolyn (later Avril, 1903-1998). On 28 August 1912, Coleridge Taylor collapsed at West Croydon station while waiting for a train. He died a few days later of acute pneumonia at his home in Croydon, on 1 September 1912, at the age of 37.
Source links:
The Musicians
Franklin Coleman’s early music training was in Chicago. He holds the B.M. and M.M. degrees in organ performance from Boston University, and earned the Fellow’s Diploma from Trinity College, London. He has given organ recitals in the U.S.A., Romania and Lithuania, and has served churches in Litchfield, CT, Bloomfield Hills, MI , Philadelphia, PA and Brooklyn, NY.
Douglas McConnell is a lifelong resident of Johnson County, Kansas. He attended Baker University obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and Piano Performance. Douglas went on to teach music at Kansas City, Kansas public schools and The Pembroke Hill school. Douglas then obtained a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting, studying with Dr. Eph Ehly at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. A high tenor, Douglas has sung with the choral groups Kansas City Chorale, Musical Vocale, Te Deum and Songflower Chorale. Douglas has a 28 year old daughter Elisabeth, who is an accountant in California.
Matthew Harris maintains an active performance schedule as a cross-over professional operatic and contemporary musical theatre performer. He performed the roles of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Inspector Kildare in Elizabeth Cree as a member of the inaugural class of the Graduate Artist Diploma in Voice at William Jewell College, and the role of Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief as a member of the inaugural cohort of the Apprentice Artist partnership with Landlocked Opera. He made his professional musical theatre debut in Hair at Musical Theatre Heritage this previous summer. Harris is preparing his role debut of Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro in performance this Spring at William Jewell, and leading roles in professional musicals this summer, which are to be later announced.
As a classically-trained pianist, organist, arranger, and conductor (and a casual guitarist), Harris is a cantor at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and a staff musician and soloist at St. Paul Presbyterian Church. Harris holds a Bachelor of Music (BMp) in Voice Performance from Stetson University, and he will receive his Graduate Artist Diploma (AD) from William Jewell College in Voice in May 2022. He was a recipient of the William E. Duckwitz Talent Scholarship at Stetson University School of Music, he won the Male Upper-Division of the Grady-Rayam prize in Vocal Performance from the Negro Spiritual Scholarship Fund, and he received an Encouragement Award from the Nebraska District of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.
Roslinde Rivera is a Mezzo-Soprano from Kansas City who graduated from William Jewell College with a Bachelors in Vocal Performance. She remains immersed in the Kansas City music scene, working with Village Presbyterian Church, Cardinalis, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Kantorei KC, and Sacred Arts Chorale. Ms. Rivera is currently the Assistant to the Choral Program at William Jewell College.
Victoria Olson (Soprano) completed her Master’s in Music and Artist Certificate with an emphasis in Baroque studies at the University of Missouri Kansas City’s Conservatory. Her most recent leading roles include Nella in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Varna (Bulgaria) International Music Academy & Königin der Nacht in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Landlocked Opera of Kansas City and Heartland Opera Theatre. Chamber ensembles she has performed with include Te Deum, Kantorei KC, Missouri Choral Artists, Songflower, Cardinalis and Red Shift (Baton Rouge, LA).
Paul Davidson, a voting member of the Recording Academy, has performed as a professional musician in South Korea, England, Canada, the District of Columbia and fourteen US States. He is a soloist on two Grammy-winning albums. He performs locally with the Kansas City Chorale, Kantorei KC, Cardinalis (William Jewell), Festival Choral Society (Spring Hill, KS), Schola Cantorum (Immaculate Conception) and Trinity Choir (Trinity Lutheran – Mission, KS); he sings with the Cecilia Ensemble in Augusta, GA. Since the start of the Pandemic, he runs the patron-sponsored concert series which this program is part of.
Acknowledgments
John Schaefer publicized and promoted this concert, at no cost to the musicians.
Asbury United Methodist Lindsey Lang, Director of Music, hosted the concert.
Patrons
The following individuals provided funding between Dec 15 and February 25 to underwrite this concert.
Gretchen DeWitte
Gayle Hathorne
Ann Nelson
Jerry Hall
Mary Marnett
Carol Whitehead
Douglas McConnell
The concert is a productions of https://PaulDavidsonBass.com
Remaining concerts this year will be in mid-July and the weekend before Thanksgiving.
