“Little Mother of Mine” spiritual arranged by H. T. Burleigh.¹

H. T. Burleigh (Harry Thacker Burleigh) played a significant role in the development  of American music as he composed over 200 pieces in this genre. He was the first African American acclaimed for his concert pieces and a founding member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).² After passing in 1949, Burleigh is thought to be one of the most significant contributors to American music especially through his arrangements of African American spiritual that are said to have “transported a musical tradition that was born out of the plight of enslaved people, onto the concert stage, where they are revered as masterful examples of uniquely American music.”³

Burleigh was able to arrange the piece “Little Mother of Mine,” to convey the sentimental meaning of the text through compositional techniques. The half-step motif seen in the left hand countermelodies throughout highlights certain expressive words like “twilight,” “evening,” and “west” which are important in the meaning of this text. Burleigh’s compositional choices such as using “sevenths, non chord tones, and chromatic melodic notes” are “frequently expressive devices in his songs, often indicating a bittersweet or sad emotion.”⁴ This is a subtle strategy used by Burleigh but it effectively allows him to convey the mood of the text.

Burleigh demonstrates the emotion of this text through how he differentiates the first verse from the second. The second verse is accompanied “memorable countermelodies and richer chordal textures” in the piano accompaniment.⁵ This further emphasizes the mood of the text. It is subtle, but a very effective strategy of arrangement by H. T. Burleigh.

Bibliography

Burleigh, H. T. “Little Mother of Mine.” CONTENTDM, 1917. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p15037coll1/id/6179.

Footnotes