“Roots and Branches” - Music - University of California, Irvine

Each of the genres has a different evolution timeline, affected by the lives and accomplishments of the
artists who create them. The Art Song acquires its African foundation in AD Stages 1, 2, and an African
American foundation in Stage 3. Concurrently, during AD Stages 3 and 4, the Art Song acquires its
European foundation.
The African American Composers and Performers of Art Song: Stage 1 Foundation
• African Praise Song – Development of musical traditions from West and Central African areas
now known as Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zaire ... performed by people from
the nations and cultures of the Akan, Ashanti, Bakongo, Babara, Bantu, Baoule, Fanti, Fon,
Fula/Fulani, Igbo, Jolof (Wolof), Malimbo, Malinke and Mandingo. The various African musical
traditions contain many of the components of performance that have been identified as integral to
the Black Aesthetic, including
Call and response structure
Group expression
Improvisation
Rhythmic complexity
Downward flowing melodic lines
Use of percussion
Blending of music and movement
Use of harmonic, pitch and timbre flexibility
The African American Composers and Performers of Art Song: The 18 th and 19 th Century - Stage 3 Foundation
(1619 – 1865) – Musical Traditions develop in the United States and in Europe that lead to the
• 1720 – 1865 - African American Spiritual – The Folk Tradition – The Period of Creation of the
Traditional Spiritual, the Field Holler, and the Work Song – A body of empowering, communal
songs is developed in the United States, affirming the elements of the Black Aesthetic and
forming a musical voice for the African Diaspora’s cultural memory. The songs are first
preserved and then transformed into Art Songs by African American composers.
• 1759 - The Art Song begins to develop in the United States with the compositions of Francis
Hopkinson e.g. “My days have been so wondrous free.”
• 1820 - 1900 – The free black community begins to develop a concert life, developing choral clubs
and presenting programs at the emerging churches (e.g. The First African Presbyterian Church of
Philadelphia, St. Philips Episcopal Church of New York, First Presbyterian Church of New York;
Belknap Baptist Church of Boston; Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, Bethel A.M.E., Olivet Baptist
Church, Grace Presbyterian Church, Institutional Church, and St. Marks M.E. - all of Chicago, St.
James A.M.E. Church of Erie, Pennsylvania). Many performance venues throughout the country
legally prohibit African Americans from performing because of their segregation policies. The
concert presentation role of the African American church eventually becomes essential to the
development of the careers of African American singers, remaining so throughout the twentieth
century.
It is during this 3 rd Stage that the 1 st generation names of African American classical artists begin to appear.
• The Folk Song of New Orleans – A special repertoire emerges that has been adapted to the
contemporary concert stage.
• The European Art Song of the nineteenth century (strophic, da capo and through-composed songs
often identified as Lieder, composed first for singer and piano and subsequently for singer and
orchestra) has its roots in the songs of the Renaissance, and evolves in Germany, Austria, France,
and Spain, most notably with the compositions of Beethoven, Schubert, Robert and Clara
Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Faure, Mahler, Strauss and others. These nineteenth century songs are