Program Notes

“Don’t Be Weary Traveler” by R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was a Black nationalistic composer, educator, conductor, pianist, essayist, and poet who helped to change the impressions people had Black music during the early twentieth century. His most notable work is the anthem Listen to the Lambs based on the spiritual of the same name. His magnum opus is the oratorio The Ordering of Moses with its use of the spiritual Go Down, Moses as a fugal theme. Known mostly for the use of Black folk music in his choral music, his stunning piano works and vocal rival some of the best classical works of his time.

Dett intentionally used Black folk music as the source material for anthems and motets. His intention was not to improve the music. He simply wanted to find other ways to preserve the music and create songs for use in worship services. These songs remain true to the character of the folk songs wither through repeated use of folk song melodies, motivic development based on the rhythms and melodic contour, added polyphony, or the use of characteristic idioms such as call and response, syncopation, and pentatonic scales.

“America Will Be!” by Joel Thompson

When I was a young child, I imagined that America was like living on Sesame Street in Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood - a utopic land of opportunity and freedom. When I finally arrived at age ten, my dreams had mostly come true, but I also learned a somber lesson that not all principles are easy to put into practice. It was that friction between professed ideals and painful realist that Langston Hughes captured in his poem, “Let America Be America Again.” That friction is also the foundation of the piece commissioned by Shannon Lyles and the FHS Patriot Singers in Orlando, Florida. Freedom High School serves such a diverse community of immigrants that eleven languages were represented in Ms. Lyles’ top choir. As hateful and xenophobic rhetoric became prominent in national discourse, we worked together to capture the essence of the choir’s ethnic diversity and artistic unity. Emma Lazarus’ words, which are engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, are a perfect foil to Hughes’ dark (but ultimately hopeful) sentiments. To add a personal touch to the piece, I also asked the members of the choir to complete three prompts - I hope … /I dream…/I sing… - which they would then translate and record so that I could get a sense of the rhythm of their respective languages. In the end , the piece aims to make plain how far we are we are from the ideals we’ve set for ourselves, but it also clings to the hope that we will once day achieve them. I can’t think of anything more American than that. - Joel Thompson