Monthly Archives: November 2024

The Sculpting of an American Genre: Florence Price’s Legacy

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Florence B. Price, a black female American composer, was a successful composer in her lifetime, winning the Wanamaker Foundation Award in 1932 for her Symphony No. 1 in E minor and her Piano Sonata in E minor. The following year, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her symphony. In 1939, her arrangement on “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” was performed at the Lincoln Memorial Concert in Washington, D.C. Amongst all of these achievements and thus recognition of her talent, her success was still limited by the discrimination and lack of legitimacy that she received based on her race and gender.

In 1941, Florence Price wrote a letter to Russian american composer Serge Koussevitzky, in efforts to request a performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, of which Koussevitzky was the music director. In her letter, she expresses her credentials as an American composer, stating: 

“After graduating from the New England Conservatory I returned to my native South to teach. I have an accumulation of scores and manuscripts which during the past few years here in Chicago I have been bringing to light with the result– several performances. Having Colored blood in my veins, and having been born in the South, I believe I can say that I understand real Negro music as well if not better than the kind I studied in the East… Having read that you are particularly interested in American music I am hoping you will give something of mine a trial.” 

This was the first of several correspondences to Koussevitzky, of which he never responded. In 1941, the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed strictly white male compositions, such as Tchaikovsky, Pierné, Sibelius, and interestingly, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. This presents an interesting conversation, considering the topic of an American genre, and what those ideals entailed during Koussevitzky’s time as a conductor and music director. In Price’s correspondence, she explicitly states that her positionality as a black woman allows her to distinguish “real Negro music,” and offers him an opportunity to present “a fusion of [antebellum music and rag-time and jazz that proceeded], colored by present cultural influences.” Yet, the same year, Rhapsody in Blue was composed by white male composer George Gershwin was programmed at the BSO, demonstrating jazz and blues influences in a classical context but representing the prioritization of white male artistry. This seems to be reflective of the deliberate actions that were being taken during this time to sculpt an image of American classical music. While black music styles like jazz and blues were infiltrating the classical music scene, it was only being attributed an “American music” that excluded talents like Florence Price based on gender and race. 

Florence Price’s Quartet for Strings premiered at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2016-2017 season, and her works have been performed there nearly every year since. One can hope that we are carving a new sculpture of who is encompassed in the American genre. 

 

Martin, Roland. 2023. “Florence Price | Composer, Pianist, Symphony, & Biography | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com. October 25, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Florence-Price.

“Performance History Search.” 2014. Bso.org. 2014. https://archives.bso.org/Detail.aspx?UniqueKey=79913.

“Image 3 of Letter from Florence B. Price to Serge Koussevitzky; 1941 September 18.” 2015. The Library of Congress. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/resource/musska.musska-100182/?sp=3&st=image&r=-1.305.

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“Way Down Home” and Barbershop

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The Library of Congress’ “National Jukebox” collection holds an abundance of songs from the 1920s that did not seem to surpass the test of time as there is a lack of evidence for many of these songs in the corners of the internet. The recording I looked at here is “Way Down Home” from 1925. The following is what I could understand of the lyrics. The dashes represent words I couldn’t quite make out.  1

I never felt so happy
I never so gay
I never felt so much like smiling at the —– this very day
I’m gonna roam back yonder
Among the fields of green(of green)
I’ll soon be on my way to heaven
Don’t you know where I mean?
I mean way down home

I’d rather be there(I’d rather be there)
In a rocking chair(In a rocking chair)
Where someone all alone
Will kiss and caress me
To a hearty —–
We’ll smile for money
I declare
I’d be a —- millionaire
With all the — waiting there

Waiting there(waiting there)
On my knees I’m ready to swear
Way down home
I’ll wait from way down home

I ain’t forgotten about the corn and the cotton in the fields —-
Way down yonder
That’s where I wonder wonder
That’s the end of perfect day

I want to listen to the tune I’ve been missing
With a sail of of —- bay
I want to buckle to my sweet honey suckle
When the preacher comes our way

I mean home
Way down home
I’d rather be there(I’d rather be there)
In a rocking chair(In a rocking chair)
Where someone all alone
Will kiss and caress me
To a hearty —-

We’ll smile for money
I declare
I’d be a —- millionaire
With all the — waiting there

Waiting there(waiting there)
On my knees I’m ready to swear
I’ll never walk away from my home, my home
My sweet home, my home
My sweet home, my home
Way from way down home
Way from way down home
Down home

The song was written by Walter Donaldson and performed by a quartet called the Shannon Four: Franklyn Baur, Wilfred Glenn, Lewis James, and Elliott Shaw. Later the group changed their name to “The Revelers”. 2The first thing that stood out to me was the exceptionally positive lyric choices. This contrasts the fact that the speakers are not in the place they are longing to be(home). It is possible that the exceptional positivity comes from the chord structure as well. Much of the piece is in a major key with predictably major chord progressions. Maybe it is the thought of home that maintains the speaker’s joy. This makes the last line especially stand out as a switch to minor. The song also doesn’t offer a solution to the sad ending, possibly as a point to the lack of homelessness.

Considering the time period and the fact that the performers and composer are all white, it can easily be assumed that the intended audience was also white. However, the tradition of barbershop quartets stem from a combination of Black American musical styles and white American musical styles.

 

1 Donaldson, Walter, Walter Donaldson, Franklyn Baur, Shannon Four, Elliott Shaw, Wilfred Glenn, and Lewis James. Way Down Home. 1925. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-711535/.

2 Hoffmann, Frank, ed. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Oxford: Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. Accessed November 15, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Turner’s turn in the spotlight

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Turner Layton was an American composer and pianist that was a part of Layton and Johnstone, a duo that had immense popularity in Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Before his transition to a performer overseas, he was a composer for several years in New York, often working with Henry Creamer for lyrics. One of their more notable compositions was “After you’ve gone”, with several recordings by big names, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Bing Crosby. One of the original 1918 recordings with Marion Harris is below.

Even with the most popular performers recording his compositions and tens of millions of records sold of his own performances, Layton is a fairly unknown name in that era of music (I had not heard of him until this post). Part of that may be his location; after Layton and Johnstone ended their professional relationship in 1935, Layton stayed in Europe the rest of his life, where he continued to find solo success until his retirement in 1946.

My biggest question is why he has continued to stay out of the figurative spotlight. There are still notable recordings of his songs being made today, such as “After you’ve gone” appearing on Hugh Laurie’s 2011 album “Let Them Talk”. Even while overseas, Layton obviously still had an effect on the American music scene, but seems to have lost the notoriety that some of his peers have maintained or even gained. A question lost to time is how different American music would have been if he had found greater success here than across the pond, and stayed in the front of American musical tastes.

Bourdon, R., Harris, M., Creamer, H. & Layton, T. (1918) After You’ve Gone
. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-313413/.

Still’s Innovations and Contradictions

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William Grant Still is widely recognized as the first African American composer to conduct a professional symphony orchestra in the United States, and for his work Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American” (1930)1. As we’ve discussed in this course, understanding musicians’ journeys often involves tracing back through their experiences and influences to see what shaped them musically. I was first introduced to Still’s work in high school through Danzas de Panama, which sparked an interest that led me into the archives. There, I discovered the correspondence between Still and music critic/pianist Irving Schwerke, offering a glimpse into his planning and creative process2.

Below is a letter from Still to Schwerke, written in 19313. 

July 29, 1931.
William Grant Still to Irving Schwerké

Just a few months before this letter, Still had written to Schwerké with specific requests for an upcoming performance of Africa, detailing instructions like executing fingernail pizzicato on the piano and using certain mutes for the brass instruments. Their correspondence went back and forth, especially concerning the availability of these particular mutes. While these details may seem minor, they are crucial in recognizing how rare it was at that time for composers of color to receive such performance opportunities. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZByrG1dE0

In exploring more about Still’s exchanges with Schwerké, I came across a class blog post from 2019 by Siri Mellem, which highlights how composers’ statements and experiences, particularly looking at those of Still, are often complex and layered4. As the first African American composer to have works performed, an opera produced by a major American company, and even televised, Still’s achievements as a person of color were highly significant. I could see what Mellem meant by complex when reading the letter above, and reading: “I agree with you as to the origin of American Music. As I see it, the music of the American Negro has resulted from the union of the religious songs you mentioned and the primitive songs of Africa.”  The idea of the melting pot is present here, though it makes me wonder how much thought Still must have put to the idea of American music and how his identity as one of the first prominent conductors of color may have influenced this view.

I was also reminded of the challenges Still faced as an artist of color while working with large networks and companies. For instance, when Deep River moved to NBC, he was not allowed to conduct because network policy prohibited Black conductors from leading predominantly white orchestras. However, when the program eventually moved to CBS, Still was given the opportunity to conduct. He later recalled, “There were many surprised faces as I mounted the podium, but at the end of the rehearsal, we were friends5.” This experience illustrates both the barriers he encountered and his skillful navigation of them.

This aspect of Still’s approach to his career, his careful wording and strategic positioning, seems similar to the approach of Eileen Southern, who also balanced careful self-presentation to fit within the established system. Both exemplify how artists of color have historically had to make thoughtful choices in how they communicate and operate within predominantly white institutions to have their voices heard and their contributions recognized.

1 Thomas, Mike. “Decades after his death, William Grant Still receives his moment in the sun,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jan 4, 2019, https://cso.org/experience/article/2899/decades-after-his-death-william-grant-still-r#:~:text=Still%2C%20the%20first%20African%20American,in%20late%2018th%2Dcentury%20Haiti.

2 Mellem, Siri. “The Complex Contradictions of William Grant Still.” Music 345: Race, Identity, and Representation in American Music (blog). WordPress. Oct 24, 2019. https://pages.stolaf.edu/americanmusic/2019/10/24/the-complex-contradictions-of-william-grant-still/

3 Still, William Grant. Letter to Irving Schwerké. “The Bad Homburg Festival of American Music ,” July 29, 1931. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1h4nb0g0&chunk.id=d0e8217&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7410&brand=ucpress.

4 William Grant Still and Judith Anne Still, My Life, My Words: The Autobiography of William Grant Still, American Master Composer (Flagstaff, AZ: The Master-Player Library, 2011).

5 William Grant Still and Judith Anne Still, My Life, My Words: The Autobiography of William Grant Still, American Master Composer (Flagstaff, AZ: The Master-Player Library, 2011), 213.

The new look of the 30s

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The 1930s were a much different time than today. There was progress being made in lots of different areas in America. Especially when it came to automobile developments The 1920s had ended and a new decade began.  The 1930s were known for a few things but the ones that most people remember are jazz, the dust bowl, and the great depression. Things in America were becoming more developed but there also were still uses of older technology to get work done and in this image that is shown. We see that on the left they are talking about the difference of automobile design from the 1920s vehicles and the 1930s vehicles. How the 1920 vehicles had characteristics of more square shapes. Along with flat windshields, a more square body and overall looked more squared. The vehicle from the 1920s shows that of a tour bus that was in this style. We then see the new look of the 30s. This is a president model Studebaker. A name that just resonates new and fancy. It has a more streamlined design and different headlight design, and more round parts to its body style. It gives the atmosphere of flight and speed which contrasts the bus from 1920. To further contrast these two designs we see a group of men working to clear fords. They are using a horse-drawn wagon and according to the details it is in Rock Creek Park.  This was in Washington D.C in 1930. This contrast in this image was also reflected in the classes in America. The rich and wealthy were also mostly white individuals. Got to experience the new and luxurious while the lower classes had to struggle to survive. The great depression started and this further made these imbalances grow. All of this is still seen in modern times with the fact that class imbalances between people are still occurring. The wealthy white upper classes get to enjoy the luxuries and benefits of the higher class society. The lower classes which are made up of the minorities often.  Struggling and having to deal with discrepancies in even basic rights makes it so they have to fight multiple battles to just make ends meet. 

mdp-39015003875757-202-1731707996

 

Shaw, Renata V, and Renata V Shaw. A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946 : Selected from the Collection of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C: The Library, 1980. mdp-39015003875757-202-1731707996

Casey Jones: Better Watch His Speed

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When we discussed the song “Casey Jones” in class, I had only known it as a Grateful Dead song about a railroad accident, one I assumed was fictional. However, I soon came to find that it was a very real event, and that Casey Jones was a real railroader who became a folk legend after his passing.

I found a recording of Casey Jones from the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox. It was recorded by Riley Puckett singing and playing guitar. Riley Puckett was a blind guitarist and singer who operated largely out of Atlanta, and was fairly popular. His rendition of Casey Jones, like most covers, stray from the original lyrics of the song. His cover tells less of the actual rail incident, choosing rather to focus more on the events after the crash than the events preceding the crash and the crash itself. Truthfully, I found it quite hard to actually make out the lyrics, but I could tell they were different than the published song lyrics by T. Lawrence Seibert, who is the accredited lyricist on the Library of Congress website.

The Ballad of Casey Jones became an extremely popular folk tune after the crash itself. Joe Hill, a famous union activist and martyr wrote a parody of Casey Jones, making him out to be a scabber who died scabbing, scabbed in heaven, and got thrown into hell by the angel unions. Funny stuff! However, the real Casey Jones was a member of two unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, according to the Water Valley Casey Jones Museum.

When looking at this song, one has to think about why a song becomes a folk song. In this case, it was at least copyrighted and offered for sale as a “Comedy Railroad Song”, which suggests that the intent of at least Seibert and Newton was to entertain for profit. The published version includes a verse suggesting Mrs. Jones’ lack of faithfulness to her husband, but I’ve rarely heard this verse performed, and it isn’t performed in Puckett’s recording. The original intent of the song was likely to respect and preserve Casey’s memory.

“057.048 – Casey Jones. The Brave Engineer. Greatest Comedy Hit in Years. The Only Comedy Railroad Song. | Levy Music Collection.” Jhu.edu, 2024, levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/057/048. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“Casey Jones.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-673150/.

Lomax, John A. (John Avery), et al. American Ballads and Folk Songs. Dover, 1994.

“Mrs. Casey Jones.” Archive.org, 2024, web.archive.org/web/20131105011815/www.watervalley.net/users/caseyjones/mrs~cj.htm. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

Aloha ‘Oe: A Story of Stolen Sovereignty

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While looking through the Library of Congress’ National Jukebox collection, one song that caught my eye was “Aloha Oe.” Specifically, it caught my eye because the composer listed was Lili’uokalani, who I  know as the last sovereign monarch of Hawaii, and who was removed from power by a coup orchestrated by the US government. Queen Lili’uokalani is a fascinating historical figure; she worked tirelessly for the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people even during her imprisonment after the overthrow. She was also a prolific composer and poet, mainly writing in the style of mele ho’oipoipo, which are love songs that incorporate nature metaphors. Looking through translations of songs she wrote, I think that some undoubtedly would fit into any collection of protest songs. 

“Aloha Oe” is one of Lili’uokalani’s most well known songs… Some people may recognize this tune from “Lilo and Stitch” or Johnny Cash’s recording. The version below (sorry, you have to click to view on YouTube) was recorded by four famous Hawaiian musicians and was used in a TV special about the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. The lyrics of this song convey a lover’s goodbye, but it has been interpreted to represent the farewell of a queen to her country; a lament for the loss of Hawaiian sovereignty. 

Haʻaheo ka ua i nā pali
  Proudly swept the rain by the cliffs
Ke nihi aʻela i ka nahele
  As it glided through the trees
E hahai (uhai) ana paha i ka liko
  Still following ever the bud
Pua ʻāhihi lehua o uka
  The ʻahihi lehua* of the vale

Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
  Farewell to you, farewell to you
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
  The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers
One fond embrace,
A hoʻi aʻe au
  'Ere I depart
Until we meet again

ʻO ka haliʻa aloha i hiki mai
  Sweet memories come back to me
Ke hone aʻe nei i kuʻu manawa
  Bringing fresh remembrances of the past
ʻO ʻoe nō kaʻu ipo aloha
  Dearest one, yes, you are mine own
A loko e hana nei
  From you, true love shall never depart

Maopopo kuʻu ʻike i ka nani
  I have seen and watched your loveliness
Nā pua rose o Maunawili
  The sweet rose of Maunawili
I laila hiaʻai nā manu
  And 'tis there the birds of love dwell
Mikiʻala i ka nani o ka lipo
  And sip the honey from your lips

*A flowering plant, I highly recommend reading more about the cultural context in this handout from the Hawai‘i Forest Institute & Hawai‘i Forest Industry Association. 

The recording I found in the National Jukebox is performed by the Toots Paka Hawaiian Company. The Toots Paka Hawaiian Company was a popular group of the “hula craze” around the 1920’s. Toots Paka was a vaudeville hula dancer, who claimed Hawaiian heritage. Listen to the recording here:

While it is impossible to definitively confirm Toots’s training in hula/ Hawaiian heritage, census records show that she was born Hannah Jones in Port Huron, Michigan, and that she began dancing under the stage name Tootsie Jones. She seemingly got into performing hula when she married one of the performers of the Hawaiian Glee Club, “a group of Kānaka Maoli musicians who were touring the mainland as a novelty band performing both innovative and traditional Hawaiian music and steel guitar shows” (Gentry). The act evolved into “Toots Paka Hawaiian Company,” with their advertising centering around Toots and her physical beauty. In interviews, Toots perpetuates colonial ideas of the unending youthfulness of Hawaiian women and an Edenic image of Hawaii, and she undoubtedly used a caricature of Hawaiian culture to her advantage in building an entertainment career. However, Gentry writes that one of things that makes Toots Paka interesting among vaudeville hula performers is her true proximity to Kānaka Maoli musicians; they performed in the Hawaiian language, and as I mentioned before, Aloha ‘Oe is certainly a meaningful song. In contrast, some performers at this time used a “Hawaiian Ragtime” style and blatantly nonsense lyrics.

The National Jukebox recording has some similarities to the version performed by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole and company. They are slow in tempo, use stringed instruments, and harmonies that sound somewhat similar. However, the message and purpose of the songs in context are very different: one recording continues a long tradition of commodification, while the other offers a more reflective view on the injustice that Native Hawaiians have endured. 

Bibliography

“Aloha Oe.” Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.huapala.org/Aloha/Aloha_Oe.html.

Gentry, Briand. ““More Hawaiian than Hawaii itself”: The Hula Craze and US Empire in the Progressive Era.” Feminist Media Histories 9, no. 4 (Fall, 2023): 81-107. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2023.9.4.81. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/more-hawaiian-than-hawaii-itself/docview/3112827257/se-2.

Liliʻuokalani Trust. “Her Story.” Accessed November 13, 2024. https://onipaa.org/her-story.

Toots Paka Hawaiian Company. Aloha Oe. New York, New York, 1914. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-650171/.

 

 

Show Boat Was a REAL Boat

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Over the century since Hammerstein and Kern wrote the musical Show Boat, discussions of its importance, influence, and problematic aspects have been studied and discussed by scholars everywhere. It is undeniable that the show has made a huge impact on the musical theater industry, with it being the first integrated show, as well as being one of the first shows to speak on more controversial topics instead of just being a spectacle. At first glance, any audience member may expect a love story between the two main characters, or a story about a family owning a show boat.3 However, it also tells the story of the racial and class tensions at that time, highlighting the life and struggles of a black ensemble alongside a white one. The musical aspect helped with this. Hammerstein took care to write lyrics that were deeply seeped in the perspectives of individual characters, with their hopes, dreams, regrets, and longings illustrated.3 One of the most famous songs from the show, “Ol’ Man River,” is a particularly great example of this, with it having had profound reactions from white audiences of the time. Paul Robeson, who played the role of Joe in the original show, recognized what it could do, even as he revised the lyric to give the lie to any notion of Black passivity in the face of suffering. For his own concerts, Robeson was known to adjust a few key words, shifting the focus from singing about resigned weariness to voice a commitment to fighting for justice for racialized and working-class people.3

While the way the racial plot points were portrayed in Show Boat were insensitive, there is still much to be said about how it commented on something very real. Show Boat was written just over one year, and was based off of a best selling novel by Edna Ferber. Ferber herself was inspired by a real show boat, pictured below.

The boat which inspired Ferber’s novel, Show Boat

The original name of the Show Boat is the James Adams Floating Theatre, and was originally located in North Carolina, as opposed to Mississippi where the book is set.4 It was staffed with a 25 person crew, who were African Americans.5 Shown below is a photo of the crew on board the boat, quite similarly mirroring what is portrayed in the musical adaptation.

African American workers on the James Adams Floating Theatre

A still from the 1957 movie adaptation of Show Boat that depicts Joe singing “Ol’ Man River” from the show boat.

This shows that the portrayals in the show, while complicated and insensitive, are ultimately an illustration of a real situation that people were in. Hammerstein defends the show as well, stating, “We believe that the Negro in Show Boat emerges with honor and respect and affection and that this play has always been good for the Negro.2”

In the height of blackface minstrelsy, a show where black people could exist and perform as themselves was revolutionary. Pairing it with an onstage spectacle, the show was able to speak on deep, controversial themes of interracial marriage, treatment of black people, and the relationships therewithin, and bring those themes to a larger, more affluent audience through Broadway. That being said, there are still racially insensitive and downright racist elements of “Show Boat” that should be acknowledged and addressed in today’s society.

Sources:

1 – https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hec.36106/

2 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jKyq44hPE2M6mezSsnPbOPAvG3a_y3Wc/view

3 – https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/the-enduring-relevance-of-show-boat/

4 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Boat_(novel)

5 – https://www.chesapeakebaymagazine.com/the-chesapeakes-floating-theatre/

Hammerstein’s Hand in Vaudeville – Koster & Bial’s Music Hall

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In our discussions of early Broadway musical theater shows, we get easily caught up in the contents of the plot, characters, or even the actors that are featured in them. However, not a lot has been said about the places where these performances take place. Enter Koster & Bial’s Music Hall in New York City, New York – the performance hall once endorsed by Oscar Hammerstein that eventually sizzled and burned. 

Previously located at 135 W. 34th Street, the music hall, which opened on November 14th, 1892, was once named The Manhattan Opera House. The opera house was operated by American lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein, known for and regarded highly as an iconic figure and contributor to the American musical theater scene. In less than a year, Hammerstein acknowledged the failure of his scheme to house high-class opera at the site and ceded management of the facility to John Koster and Albert Bial. Koster and Bial, seasoned operators of a successful music hall and beer garden at W. 23rd Street and 6th Avenue, brought their proven formula of variety shows and alcoholic beverages to the newly renamed Koster and Bial’s Music Hall. The transition took place on August 28, 1893, just two days after the closure of their previous establishment. 

Koster & Bial’s Music Hall advertisement, 1896.

The poster above is an advertisement that was published in 1896, a few years after the music hall transitioned to Koster & Bial’s management. It depicts a vaudeville-esque “showgirl” with black hair, roses, and an exotic-patterned dress. Vaudeville’s acts incorporated musical comedy, dance, burlesque, satire, and circus elements. Ensembles in vaudeville depict “everyday man” characters, who frolicked onstage to cater to mass audiences from the 1800s to the 1930s. This art form ties back to the early origins of musical theater in America, with shows like Show Boat (which we previously discussed in class). The shift from opera to vaudeville marked a turning point, reflecting the broader evolution of American theater from elitist art forms to more accessible, populist entertainment. The advertisement above serves as a visual reminder of this transformation—highlighting the theatrical energy and mass appeal that defined the era. Ultimately, Koster & Bial’s Music Hall not only helped popularize vaudeville but also laid the groundwork for the diverse and dynamic musical theater that would follow, influencing future Broadway productions like Show Boat and beyond.

WORKS CITED

“Coster and Bial’s Music Hall.” Cinema Treasures, www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/14770.

“Vaudeville Advertisement for Koster & Bial’s Music Hall, New York, 1896.” The Library of Congress, loc.gov/pictures/item/2014637286/. 

 

Historical Music Documentation

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National Jukebox is a website that has on it thousands of recordings of music and spoken words. This website was created by both the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment. There are many different genres of music on this website such as classical, opera, spoken word, blues, musical theater, jazz, country, whistling and yodeling. This website has music from all around the world. There are many recordings from Native American musicians, Irish musicians, and even some that highlight some of the issues and stereotyping in minstrelsy. The creators of the website are still working on adding recordings from before 1925 from record companies such as Columbia Records and Okeh Records. However, these recordings are kept under Sony records, which presently allows users to listen to these recordings. Although users are allowed to listen to the recordings, they are not allowed to download them. Sony has the rights to these recordings, and doesn’t let them out in the public domain possibly because of the historical value they hold.

The New York Philharmonic also planned on creating a an archive of the recordings that would be able to be streamed by the public. The New York Philharmonic was created in 1842. For the website, they started with materials from 1942-1970. During that time period, this orchestra became one of the biggest and most renowned orchestras in the entire world. Leonard Bernstein was the conductor for most of this time period. (1942-1969) The orchestra has more than 24,000 recordings, and 4,000 of them have to do with Bernstein. There are in total 3,235 scores, 1,380 images, and 16,342 business documents. In the future, the orchestra is planning to add audio and video documentation.

Performances today unfortunately cannot be kept and viewed again to preserve history, however there are other things that people can use from the past to show the importance of the history of music. The history of music continues to inform and create the popular music of the present. Every genre has a background to it, and has genres that came before it. Music is all inspired by one another.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44308748?seq=1

Troutman, J. W. “National Jukebox: Historical Recordings from the Library of Congress Lift Every Voice: Music in American Life.” The Journal of American History (Bloomington, Ind.) 100, no. 1 (2013): 323–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jat188.

His Soul Goes Marching On?

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In January I applied only slightly more than a whim for a CURI proect researching John Brown. I did not know who he was at all before reading the description, apparently he was a militant abolitionist who perhaps most notably tried to incite a slave revolt in Harper’s Ferry Virginia in 1859. Previously, he had been involved in Bleeding Kansas, leading the Pottawatomie Massacre. He was disastrously unsuccessful at Harper’s Ferry, but became a martyr for the abolitionist cause, and many scholars argue that Brown’s actions and subsequent execution sparked the Civil War. 

When I told people my summer plans, most of them either asked me “who is that?” or, they started singing “John Brown’s Body,” at me.

The song, which later became the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” when Julia Ward Howe used the melody to set a text that tied the Union’s fight in the Civil War to God’s Judgment. The song retains the martial themes of the original marching song, but also, I think, retains the image of John Brown, especially in the lines “as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who most explicitly made the comparison between Brown and Christ, saying in a speech on November 8th that Brown’s execution would “make the gallows as glorious as the cross.” (“Emerson on Courage” The Liberator. November 18th, 1859). 

John Brown’s Body, or the Battle Hymn is a catchy piece, (and often people sing verses from both together). It has been the accompaniment for many of my walks around campus since starting my research this summer. I often sing it without really thinking about its edgier theological (at least for our time) and political content. The melody is invigorating, an ascending line, an answering descending line, an ascending line, and a shorter fourth line that brings each statement to a certain conclusion. There are also some lines that are extremely satisfying to sing. “He has loosed the fateful lighting of his terrible swift sword,” is my particular favorite. The refrain of “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” demands to be sung with gusto, and perhaps with righteous anger. 

But Lucia, why are you invoking John Brown now, and why with a martial hymn about the wrath of God? 

This is a fair question. John Brown is remembered with discomfort. He sought justice with violence. Whether people blanche because of the the violence itself, its extra-judicial nature, or it’s relationship to Brown’s deep Calvinism, the reactions to Brown tell us about our current intuitions about the question “when, and how is violence justified?” The John Brown wrote on a note before his execution saying that he was “quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land; will never be purged away but with Blood,”

Last note written by John Brown before his hanging; Charlestown (Charleston), Virginia; December 2, 1859. Chicago Historical Museum, digital collection.

However, my research this summer took me beyond these questions, and beyond the apocalyptic vision I have presented so far in Brown’s last note, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I feel that there is another song, and another and another apocalyptic vision, which I feel is more representative of the totality of Brown’s life. Brown’s favorite hymn was “Blow ye the trumpet blow.” The text references Leviticus 25, which describes a Jubilee year in which debts would be forgiven, Israelite slaves at least, would be released, among other things. This ritual of atonement is tied in with Christ’s atonement– the real year of Jubilee is Christ’s return for Judgement. But the focus of the hymn is not on God’s wrath, but on the promise of forgiveness and grace. 

If we remember John Brown at all, I think most forget this John Brown. His prevailing vision of divine justice was atonement, and redemption. Brown lived the whole of his life according to this hope. The things that aren’t as often discussed with Brown are how in every one of the many places he lived, he was a pillar of the community. He taught Sunday school, as well as just regular school out of his home for his and his neighbors’ children. He made sure his workers could eat and took care of their families. When the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in, he organized and armed a black self defense league, The League of Gileadites. He was active in the underground railroad. These are only a few of his actions. Brown lived out continual atonement and compassion through his whole life. Unlike almost all other white abolitionists it seems he saw black people not as worthy of pity and in need of his righteous intervention, but instead as his companions and compatriots in battle. He better than anyone “remembered those in bonds as bound with them.” (citation) It seems like Brown could see a more just world super-imposed on the unjust one of his times. And this kind of clear-eyed hope unflinching obligation to the just and right whenever it is possible I think is the demand of our times as well. 

Brown was, of course, a man with many failings both personal and political (and gramatical, his semicolon usage is truly mystifying). He had a very difficult life. Our society has changed in huge and important ways since his death, but justice still eludes us. Still, spending so much time with John Brown over the past few months has instilled in me an active commitment to hope for atonement and redemption. In a letter he wrote from prison to his family, Brown wrote: 

P. S. I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day: nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return of warm sunshine and a cloudless sky.

Further Reading:

Fire From the Midst of You: a Religious Life of John Brown, Louis A. DeCaro Jr.

DeCaro also has a wonderful and extensive blog about John Brown, his life, and those who have interpreted it. Seriously, this blog is a treasure!

John Brown Abolitionist: the Man who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, David S. Reynolds

Tea and Sympathy: Liberals and Other White Hopes, Lerone Bennett Jr. https://archive.org/details/negromoodotheres0000benn/page/74/mode/2up If you read anything from this list, make it this essay.

The Monument Of The Unelected

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Friday November 1st 2024  we went to the Flaten art museum at St. Olaf College. They are having an exhibit which is named Practicing Democracy. Inside there were many images of students and groups at St. Olaf protested troubling times and examples of the joining together to make a point. This was all very interesting to me and they also had a mock voting room. This election is a unique time. Since it is probably the biggest election in our lives and many. They had a mock election room with voting boxes. All of this brings me to the exhibit that stood out to me the most. The Monument Of The Unelected by Nina Katchadourian. This exhibit was outside in an area that many could see and ponder. It shows all the major party candidates that ran for the president and lost. This includes ones that may not have had or did not actually have a yard sign for their campaign. The thing that stuck out to me was that I knew a few but not many I know or I did not remember. We all as a class looked at this visiting exhibit and we talked about it. How we each felt after seeing it and what we found fascinating about it. What was interesting to me is this next part. A first time voter will place the loser of the Presidential election for this cycle. A result that will surely be on everyone’s minds and affect many in the days after.  This Monument Of The Elected shows us how before this cycle there has always been a loser. Oftentimes we do not remember the loser of this cycle and even sometimes forget the winner. This cycle may change that and we must keep hope no matter what the outcome. 

Photo by Enrico Tamayo, by courtesy of artist, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Pace Gallery(2024)

Museum, F. A. (2024). Nina Katchadourian: Monument to the unelected. Nina Katchadourian: Monument to the Unelected – Flaten Art Museum. https://wp.stolaf.edu/flaten/monument-to-the-unelected/

Birmingham Sunday

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September 15, 1963. It’s a lovely Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama, when an explosion states the streets right outside of the predominantly African American 16th Street Baptist Church. Twenty two parishioners were injured, and four little girls were killed. It was later revealed that the bomb was deliberately placed by local members of the Klu Klux Klan, who were not persecuted until years later in the early 2000’s for their actions.2 This event, known as the 16th Street Church Bombing, is a famous event within the Civil Rights movement. It was a turning point for the Civil Rights movement, with many white citizens being outraged at the innocent people who were killed and harmed. The deaths were followed two months later by the assassination of President JF Kennedy, which caused an outpouring of national grief and ensured the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.3

The event of the 16th Street Church Bombing inspired many people towards the Civil Rights Movement, including the folk singer and songwriter, Richard Fariña, who wrote the song “Birmingham Sunday” about the event.1 Using haunting lyrics that included the full names of each girl who was killed, set to a traditional Scottish ballad, he was able to create a protest ballad that inspired mourners and justice.2 Fariña uses lyrics such as “cowardly” to describe the attackers, symbolizing and targeting the moral failings alongside the racist act.2 He also structures the song to reach both black and white audiences, using themes of mourning and giving humanity to each of the girls killed to persuade the audience that this was a tragedy of lives cut short. At the same time, he uses words such as “freedom” and language to symbolize the black church to draw in an audience of black people and Civil Rights activists.2

The song was popularized by Fariña’s sister in law and contemporary, Joan Beaz. Both artists were heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement, with Baez personally marching hand-in-hand with Martin Luther King Jr. and Bob Dylan singing “We Shall Overcome.”2 Baez added complexity to the song Fariña wrote, with her haunting soprano vocals and popularizing it as the quiet protest song it grew to be.2 Baez’s popularization of the song inspired the persecution of one of the bombers in 1977, even though his fellow Klan members were not persecuted until the early 2000’s.2

The song “Birmingham Sunday” still holds a legacy today. Rhiannon Giddens, a famous bluegrass singer who thrives in reclaiming and exploring historical African American songs, recorded a cover of the song in 2017. She covered and revised the song on her album, Freedom Highway, an album inspired by the decades of protest music and social justice movements.2 Giddens’s recording of the album served a purpose in terms of protest music as well, bringing the events of the song into the public consciousness during the #SayHerName era of protest and black politics. In this more modern interpretation of it, the song serves to draw attention to how black women have often been omitted from narratives of racial narratives, and should have their names memorialized like the girls in this song, who went on to shape something they didn’t even know they did. We are unaware of the names of the girls – Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carol Robertson – even though they shaped the way to the Civil Rights Act posthumously.

These three versions of the same song show how protest song can be widespread and adapted to different causes, and how different artists can interpret it in ways that make sense to their audiences and causes.

1 – https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C73912

2- https://www.jstor.org/stable/26510207?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents

3 – https://www.nps.gov/articles/16thstreetbaptist.htm

Breaking the (Political) Ice with Comedy

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Likely created by a student artist in partnership with the Pause Kitchen at St. Olaf College in 2008, two posters advertise different pizza toppings representing the candidates of the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama and John McCain. By incorporating the candidates in the advertisement in a silly manner, the posters aim to use comedy to lighten the political atmosphere of the time. What can this example of comedic relief tell us about the use of comedy in other forms of art, such as in the history of Black performance in America, and Black-face minstrelsy, and how comedy affects engagement in difficult conversations?

In the Flaten Art Museum’s (FAM) Fall 2024 exhibit, “Practicing Democracy,” there were many artifacts related to the civic engagement of Oles at St. Olaf throughout its 150 years as an institution. Displaying colored and black and white photos, videos, buttons, and descriptions of live and recorded performances at sports events, this exhibit covers a breadth of examples of civic engagement from former students. One display especially caught my eye – two posters hanging side by side with bright, bold colors and fonts, featuring giant, blown up faces of each candidate the faces of the 2008 presidential election, Obama and McCain, in the upper left hand corner of the poster. Whether or not the posters helped in boosting the sale of “The Barack” or “The Maverick”, the pizza orders the posters advertised, these posters most definitely caught the attention of students walking by the Pause Kitchen, not only because of the colors and funky font, but due to the sheer size of each poster, both posters likely being the size of a concert poster (about 24 by 36 inches). As one of my classmates stated while our American Music class took a tour around the FAM, the use of comedy likely helped to ease political tension “over a slice of pizza”, opening up discussion around the former presidential candidates and their policies of the time. Additionally, by including pineapple on “The Barack”, the posters also open up discussion on a widely controversial pizza topping. With a little silliness, the unknown artist of the posters probably hoped that students would be more open to approaching political conversations, paralleling political conversation to pizza topping preferences.

And what of comedy used and referenced in our class readings and listenings? There have been many times in which comedy or mockery has been featured in the music we have studied. Blackface minstrelsy is an example we studied, being a problematic art form that utilized mockery and stereotypical comedy to paint Black individuals and communities as an inferior race and group of people. Additionally, because theater performance was often limited to White male performers and actors, minstrelsy explored gender and sexuality, teetering between socially accepted and unaccepted ideas of gender, gender performance, and sexuality. By leveraging comedy and comedic relief, these forms of performance encouraged and perpetuated harmful ideologies of Black people, positing White audiences to rationalize the feeling of superiority.

The performance of minstrelsy was not solely limited to White male performers throughout it’s history — Black performers used blackface minstrelsy as an angle to perform in theater in front of White audiences. As Sullivan states in his article, “‘Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America,” “by mocking themselves, their own race, they were giving it up.” Because White audiences were uncomfortable with Black people showing up as they were on stage, and, in a sense, “claiming power” over White audience members, minstrelsy was a way for Black performers to ease their presence into theater.

In these instances, comedy isn’t used to break down walls to difficult conversation like in FAM’s display of “The Barack” and “The Maverick”, but is instead used to build a disconnect between White audiences and Black people. The comedy of minstrelsy made White audiences’ prejudiced perceptions of Black people more digestible, and later, caused White audiences’ perception of Black performers to be less threatening.

The Utility of Commercial Art: The Story of the Chicano Cultural Sculptor

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Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara took on many personas as he developed his musical career, which reflects the many different ideas about Chicano identity that circulated throughout pop culture during the 60s and 70s, as well as the transformation of Chicano representation in music with the beginning of the Chicano Movement. Rubén in particular brings up an interesting conversation about commercialism, and how in his case used it to spread an image of Chicano presence in American music beginning with “doo-wop”, a variation of blues and rock and roll, especially as he began performing on television shows. Shindig! was a variety show that aired from 1964 to 1966, in which he performed with artists such as Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and other African American blues artists. In order to be on the show, Rubén had to incorporate a stage name, Jay P. Mobey, which you can see in the video below: 

 

 

The changing of his name from Rubén Guevara to Jay P. Mobey suppressed his identity as an Mexican-American on the stage, and when the show ended in 1966 he sought to re-invent himself as Chicano, and began singing with Frank Zappa in Ruben and the Jets. With this group as well, he blended with the sounds of the time, now immersing himself in the R&B and rock of the 70s. In 1974, Ruben and the Jets released an album called “Con Safos.” Con Safos means “with safety,” and was a tag that was written on the graffiti throughout Los Angeles to indicate to others not to cover their work. This album cover positions Guevara in the center of the picture, with depictions of artists outside of a liquor store in L.A. “Viva la Raza” is written on the wall, a phrase used during the Chicano movement to signify their reclamation of Chicano heritage, culture, language and race. Guevara’s music once again blends with similar sounds of the period, this time rock and roll, but uses his avenue as a popular artist to promote Chicano presence in the music scene. 

Finally, it is interesting to see such a radical change in sound and image as he went through his life and musical career. After Ruben and the Jets dispersed, Rubén recorded a song called “C/S” with a group called Con Safos, which explicitly discusses the Vietman War, and prejudice against Chicanos and their reclamation of their heritage. This song was published in 1983 in an LP called “The Eastside Renaissance.”

 

I encourage you to listen to all three of these stages of Ruben’s career and journey with his Chicano identity.  Rubén’s adaptability to popular genre could be perceived as un-original or commercial, but I think it ultimately represents the journey that many Mexican-Americans experienced throughout the Chicano movement in terms of establishing and celebrating their identity and culture in the United States. 

 

It is important to note that it wasn’t until the beginning of the Chicano movement that “chicano” was an appropriate word to describe Americans of Mexican descent. Chicano comes from the Nahuatl word xicano, which represents the reclamation of indigenous heritage of the Mexica peoples, who lived in the southwest region of present day United States. 

 

 

Our Place in History: Lifting as we Climb, Forward into the Light

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Last week in the Flaten Art Museum, I was somewhat surprised to see an exhibit on the concert Lifting as we Climb, Forward into the Light that happened last spring with the Manitou Singers and Dr. Hibbard along with many local Soprano/Alto choirs. The wall features one of the pins that was worn by each performer, and on a flat surface the program is displayed. On the front of the program was recognition that the Høyde Quartet (in which I am the second violinist) had been accompaniment for part of the performance.

One of the buttons worn by performers

Seeing this made me reflect a bit on what it means to be a part of something like it. We got to work with the Manitou singers on Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata, however it was only a part of the whole concert. As a whole, it was a huge undertaking by everyone involved and I had not realized that until the day of the performance. Seeing all of these choirs get together to deliver so much music was very moving, and it was great to see so much community being formed as a result.

Høyde and Dr. Hibbard after the concert


It’s not until you see the aftereffects of something that you realize the significance of it. When we first started working on the Suffrage Cantata with Manitou, it definitely felt like just another gig. Seeing everyone who showed up to perform or watch made me realize how important these things are to people. I find this to be especially poignant with all of the elections happening right now. It’s so important to look into the past history of elections and voting and think about how it has influenced the present, especially since voting is such an important part of our society.

We Insist!

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Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, “We Insist!,” is a great example of a protest album. Max Roach was a jazz percussionist and composer. He wrote “We Insist!” as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was in fact performed for the first time on January 16, 1961, two years earlier than originally planned because of the urgency of sit-ins in the South. This album highlights ongoing racism and injustice towards Black Americans (and South Africans, as referenced in the 5th song of the album), and the fact that despite the Emancipation Proclamation being ratified so long ago, the struggle for Black liberation was no where near over.

I would highly recommend listening to this whole album. It tells a story of the horror of slavery (“Driva’man”), the signing of the Emacipation Proclamation on “Freedom Day”, and the continued struggle for justice into the Civil Rights Movement in the US, as well as around the world. but one piece that I found particularly impactful was “Triptych: Prayer/ Protest/ Peace.” The second movement especially caught me off guard, which I suppose is probably the point and symbolically represents the goal of protest, which is to interrupt the status quo. This movement especially serves as a reminder to those of us whose Civil Rights Movement education has largely romanticized the nature of peaceful protests, especially surrounding the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In truth, even peaceful protests were met with brutal violence, and the struggle was anything but passive and easy.

The cover of “We Insist,” showing three Black men sitting at a counter, being served by a white man, in direct response to student sit-ins, and a visualization of the goal of the artists.

One question that we touched on in class is the efficacy of protest albums. Roach’s goal with this album was to reach a wide audience and spread the message of racial equality. He allowed fundraising organizations to use this album for free to raise money for Civil Rights organizations. However, the album did receive critiques for being too “bitter” for “most tastes.” The tension between commerciality (or maybe universality?) and value as an instrument for social change is certainly in play, but the Freedom Now Suite was lauded for its influence, and was performed at the 1961 NAACP conference and the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965. Christa Gammage writes:

Jazz embodied the message of the Civil Rights movement and its emphasis on individual expression that serves a group beyond oneself. In order to produce a functional musical piece, each musician must work with one another and listen to the ideas of others. This same expression of democracy is what African-Americans were fighting for in their everyday lives.

 

Biobliography

African American Registry. “Max Roach, Drummer, and Composer Born.” Accessed November 4, 2024. https://aaregistry.org/story/drummer-max-roach-broke-new-ground-in-jazz/.

Gammage, Christa. “‘We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite’—Max Roach (1960).” Library of Congress, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/We-Insist-Max-Roachs-Freedom-Now-Suite_Gammage.pdf.

Music in Response and Remembrance

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The exhibition piece, Prayer for Peace, describes Kurt Westerberg’s ‘72 De Profundis, and the images reflect a powerful response from St. Olaf students to the tragic events at Kent State and Jackson State Universities in 1970. De Profundis, which translates to “out of the depths,” was composed by Westerberg as a sophomore in the wake of these violent events, where students lost their lives amidst the turmoil of Vietnam War protests1.

St. Olaf students at Capital Hill in Washington D.C., 1972

The images above capture the performance of De Profundis on Capitol Hill in May 1972. This twenty-minute, three-movement composition combines vocals, instrumentals, and dance to express grief, reflection, and a longing for peace. In the program introduction, Westerberg wrote, “De Profundis is not meant to be entertaining listening nor is it a ‘hip’ version of a Biblical Psalm2.” This is important to note, given the importance of the piece’s expression. 

Image of Dell Grant ‘73 – St. Olaf’s First African American art major, who choreographed the sequence and performed alongside 18 others at the Capital Hill performance in 1972

Westerberg based the piece on Psalm 130, a text he encountered during a memorial service honoring the victims of the protests. The Psalm’s lines,

“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you3.”

form an emotional heart of De Profundis. By setting these words to music, it seems Westerberg aimed to transform sorrow and lament into a communal prayer for reconciliation, contrasting the bitterness of violence with a desire for forgiveness and healing. 

 

While looking more into De Profundis, I came across a transcript of an interview with Westerberg in 2013. In response to his recalling of the Washington D.C. experience, he reflected on the growth of the piece and its communal contribution, stating the following: 

“It was a very humbling experience to have my sophomoric work used to express a significant desire for peace and reconciliation. It was really not just my work anymore – I knew that it had grown beyond my creative input, and had impact because of the result of so many other efforts, including the [singers], musicians, and dancers4.”

As I reflect on this composition and the images, I am reminded of Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam, written in response to the bombing that killed four Black girls in Birmingham5. While both Westerberg and Simone address violence, their approaches differ. Simone confronts institutional racism with urgency, her music demanding justice. In contrast, Westerberg seeks solace, inviting spiritual introspection as a response to tragedy.

De Profundis, therefore, stands as a testament to music’s power to respond to violence in varied ways, whether by seeking peace, demanding change, or gathering a community in shared reflection.

1 Sauve, Jeff. “A Musical Prayer for Peace.” St. Olaf Magazine no. Winter, 2013.

2 Sauve, Jeff. “A Musical Prayer for Peace.” St. Olaf Magazine no. Winter, 2013.

4 Sauve, Jeff. “A Musical Prayer for Peace.” St. Olaf Magazine no. Winter, 2013.

5 Fields, Liz. “The Story behind Nina Simone’s Protest Song, ‘Mississippi Goddam.’” PBS, June 30, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/the-story-behind-nina-simones-protest-song-mississippi-goddam/16651/.

“Strange Fruit”

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The song “Strange Fruit” was first written and performed in 1930. It was most famously sung by jazz singer Billie Holiday, but was written by Jewish American Abel Meeropol(under pseudonym Lewis Allan).

“Strange Fruit” Lyrics: 

Verse 1: Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

 

V2: Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

 

V3: Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Recording of Billie Holiday Singing “Strange Fruit”: https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C679895  1

“Strange Fruit” is well known because of its accurately grotesque description of the aftermath of a lynching. Meeropol’s particular comparison to fruit is engaging because fruit usually symbolizes new life, but here he uses it to describe death. The “blood at the root” feeds the tree in the same way that hate feeds a horrifying American tradition. The next two verses become a more literal description compared to the metaphor of the first verse. The song puts even more emphasis on the lyrics by consisting of just voice with a soft piano accompaniment. Many of Holiday’s other songs include saxophones, brass, piano, and sometimes a rhythm section, making the instrumentation of “Strange Fruit” stand out. The instrumentation as well as Holiday’s musical decisions to get louder and more forceful as the song goes on displays a raw emotion to drive home the jarring message. The swing feel creates a lack of specific down beat. This makes the rhythm more conversational as though she is recounting a personal experience making the story all the more horrendous and inhuman. 

Columbia Records and radio stations did not want to promote or play “Strange Fruit” because of its controversy and dark theme. The song was especially controversial because it was released at the same time as the Anti-Lynching movement that called for making lynching a federal offence. The members of the movement sent the lyrics of “Strange Fruit” to every congress member at the time and “Strange Fruit” became the unofficial song of the movement. Even Holiday was reluctant to perform it in fear of backlash and maintaining her career. The song was first performed by Holiday at “Cafe Society” which was one of the first integrated clubs in New York City. The club was also known for combining European cabaret traditions and Afro-American jazz clubs. 

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https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C679895

In 1940(ten years after the song’s release) Mooropol was questioned by the New York States “Rapp-Coudert Committee” who were investigating communism in schools. In 1943, Mooropol wrote “House I Live In” which served as a patriotic song discussing racial harmony although this may not have been Mooropol’s intention. “House I Live In” was in a short film starring Frank Sinatra and the producers took out a line that said: “the house I live in, my neighbors white and black”. Mooropol was furious. In both songs by Able Mooropol, the media filtered what they deemed successful and what they thought a majority white audience would want to hear. Another example of this would be in 1950 when Josh White was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee for his recording of “Strange Fruit” where he read the lyrics of the song as a part of his testimony. Unlike Holiday’s, White’s career never recovered. 2

Billie Holiday and “Strange Fruit” became so influential that Hulu produced a film called “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” in 2021. The movie describes Holiday’s life and career as well as the FBI’s involvement in Holiday performing “Strange Fruit”. It also implies that the FBI had influence on the overdose that led to Billie Holiday’s death. Despite Holiday’s, Meeropol’s, White’s and the Anti-lynching movement’s efforts, there still hasn’t been any law passed to outlaw lynching as a hate crime. 

 

1Strange Fruit. Directed by Joel Katz. California Newsreel, 2002. https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/strange-fruit.

2Ultimate Billie Holiday1997.Verve Records. https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity|recorded_cd|679895.

St Olaf Choir Tour: Still Singing After All These Years

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When I was considering St Olaf for school, my father, a proud Concordia Grad, was overjoyed to tell me all about St Olaf’s choral history. Naturally, as a proud choral and history nerd, I was eager to listen.

In 1920, F. Melius Christiansen and the St Olaf Choir set off on tour. This was not the very first tour they had been on, as they’d toured in Norway in 1913. However, it was their first domestic tour across the United States. This tour would set a choral precedent for something that would echo through history all the way to today, when the St Olaf Choir still tours, sometimes multiple times per year, frequently filling the house full of people eager to hear the St Olaf Choir sing. The program of the original 1920 tour lays out a much more sacred quest than selling tickets, however.

The Cover of the St Olaf Lutheran Choir 1920 Eastern United States Tour

When reading through the program of the original 1920 St Olaf Lutheran Choir Tour, it immediately differs from the common program notes that are found in Choral concert programs today. Nowadays, when opening your average program, one will find a brief description of the conductor and maybe some notes about the students, but that is often all. However, in this program, it goes into great detail about the purpose of the choir, which is, to quote the program, to “have a far-reaching effect upon the services of the Lutheran churches of America, proving a powerful factor for unity in the services of these churches.” Farther down, after the introduction, there lie several letters, one from the President of the College, another from the President of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, another from the President of the United Lutheran Church of America, and a final letter from the President of the Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio. The Norwegian Lutheran Church of America and the United Lutheran Church of America synods would eventually be merged into what is now known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, which is the synod that St Olaf College is affiliated with. Upon looking at the actual pieces programmed, it makes sense, as most of the compositions listed are by Lutheran composers, promoting Lutheran ideals. Oh, and don’t worry, Beautiful Savior is still there.

This tour is a direct contrast from another tour I analyzed, which was the Fisk Jubilee Singers Tour, almost 50 years earlier. While their tour came out of necessity, to raise money for their program, the St Olaf Lutheran Choir Tour was for a missionary-like purpose. Both are excellent examples of successful and impactful Choir Tours, especially as the St Olaf Choir program continues to sell out concerts, including their annual ChristmasFest, and the Jubilee Singers having won a Grammy in 2021 for Best Roots Gospel Album.

The Original Fisk University Jubilee Singers Program

Staff. “College Archives.” Stolaf.edu, 2024, digital.stolaf.edu/archives/asset/viewAsset/5f90972829b2667625499ea1. Accessed 3 Nov. 2024.

 

Beyoncé, “Freedom”, and the Pursuit of Kamala Harris

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Kamala Harris and Beyoncé Knowles Carter sharing an embrace ahead of the ‘Harris for Reproductive Rights’ rally in Houston Texas (10/25/24)

If you have any interest in keeping up with the news once the leaves start changing colors, the chances are high of running into political advertisements, reports, and overall name-calling and bashing across the aisle. This is at least true of this year’s race to the presidential office, featuring special guests Kamala Harris/Tim Walz, and Donald Trump/JD Vance. Those who identify as “Generation Z” (ie people between the ages of 12-27), likely encounter political propaganda through unconventional platforms, such as social media, specifically TikTok and Instagram. While scrolling through TikTok, I frequently come across political videos paired with music, drawing attention to the role of sound in political messaging (example here). In light of our discussions on protest music and social change, one song has entered the public consciousness as an “unspoken anthem” for the Harris/Walz campaign: “Freedom” by Beyoncé Knowles Carter. 

In a CBS news article posted in late October, Beyoncé was reported to have endorsed (declaring one’s public approval of) Harris for President of the United States of America at a Harris rally for reproductive rights in Houston, Texas this October, giving Harris a warm welcome to her [Beyoncé’s] home-town crowd: 

Beyoncé speaking at Harris Reproductive Rally, October 2024

“It’s time for America to sing a new song. Our voices sing a chorus of unity. They sing a song of dignity and opportunity. Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song?” she said. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big, loud, Texas welcome to the next president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris” (CBS).

This profound musically-themed statement speaks to the tradition of protest songs within politics, which have historically served as powerful anthems for social change and collective resilience. 

Campaign songs are used when candidates wish to constitute their identity in sound, “to sonically construct themselves in a way that appeals to the public as well as offers insight into their character and their beliefs” (Morrison). In Harris’ current campaign, she includes various black artists – Aretha Franklin, Megan Thee Stallion, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, and more to cultivate a rich soundtrack for her presidential narrative. 

“Lemonade”, recorded in 2016 by Beyoncé, features artists Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, and more.

One standout track is Beyoncé’s “Freedom”, recorded on her 2016 album Lemonade (Spotify). The song “samples two John and Alan Lomax field recordings, which document Jim Crow-era folk spirituals of Southern Black churches and the work songs of Black prisoners from 1959 and 1948, respectively” (Morrison). Compared to her previous campaign song, Mary J. Blige’s “Work That,” “Freedom” adopts a more urgent tone, enhanced by gospel signifiers and its textual reference to the African American spiritual “Wade in the Water” (Burleigh). 

Harris/Walz campaign propaganda poster with the words, “FREEDOM”

By choosing “Freedom,” Harris aligns her campaign message with the empowering narrative embodied in Beyoncé’s music, which symbolizes feminine vitality and perseverance. As we await the election results, it’s important to consider the underlying messages these songs convey and their impact on our collective consciousness.

WORKS CITED

Beyoncé, featuring Kendrick Lamar. “Freedom.” Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/7aBxcRw77817BrkdPChAGY?si=80661cef05c54052.

Burleigh, Harry T. “Wade in de Water.” Digital Library, York University, https://digital.library.yorku.ca/node/1099291.

CBS News. “Beyoncé, Willie Nelson Join Houston Rally with Kamala Harris to Support Reproductive Rights.” CBS News, 26 Oct. 2024, www.cbsnews.com/news/beyonce-willie-nelson-houston-rally-kamala-harris-reproductive-rights/.

Morrison, Lila. “Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ Is the Perfect Campaign Song for Kamala Harris.” Vox, 19 Aug. 2020, www.vox.com/culture/367709/beyonce-freedom-kamala-harris-campaign-songs.