Crazy Quilt of American Song
What better metaphor to describe America than a crazy quilt. To make a crazy quilt, you stitch together a number of small pieces of fabric, random in shape, color and pattern, many of them rejects or otherwise useless remnants from earlier projects, into a object that can be beautiful, creatively wrought, and very useful. It was from a crazy quilt of the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free that the beautiful and versatile fabric of this nation was stitched. Americans come from all over this blue planet, and with them they've brought their former traditions, including their music. Before the Europeans came, there were drumbeats and chants from the original Americans. Then came the sounds of the British Isles, including haunting Celtic melodies. Later, the rhythms, laments, and celebration songs of enslaved Africans, followed by southern and eastern Europeans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and other migrating peoples from everywhere, each adding a special accent and set of instruments, all blending into a soaring symphony never heard before. Today we will enjoy a sampler of music from this American crazy quilt, beginning when America was a British colony, coming forward to our recent years when our country stands tall within the family nations, our Statue of Liberty still lifting her lamp beside the Golden Door.
The program features our own Oak Ridge Chorus and the Celebration Singers from Roane State Community College. It begins with America's first important composer, William Billings (1746-1800). He supported himself as a tanner, was blind in one eye, had a withered arm and was known for “an uncommon negligence of person.” But his music is loved and remembered, especially by choral singers, and Billings' The New England Psalm Singer was the first published book of American music. Some say his tune Chester should in fact have become our national anthem. Today we hear his exquisite canon, When Jesus Wept. Next we hear the famous Old Hundred, a hymn tune from 16th century Switzerland, taken from the New Harp of Columbia, first published in Knoxville in 1867. The book was a revision of The Harp of Columbia from 1848. These were shape-note tune books used in churches and singing schools. Each note in the scale had a corresponding shape. When Appalachian people do “Harp singing,” these a capella hymn-singing occasions use these old shape-note collections, thence the name. Then follows an arrangement of Humble Heart, a traditional Shaker tune. The Shakers are a nearly vanished Christian sect devoted to celibacy, hard work, and a strong sense of community. Their music and craftsmanship have endured as an important part of our American heritage.
The music moves next into the traditional music of our own area, beginning with a choral arrangement of an Appalachian folk song, Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair, a haunting expression of a man deeply smitten by the beauty of a woman. So touched is he that he sings “If she on earth no more I'd see, my life would quickly fade away.” Then follows a very different song about a woman, Nelly Bly, a Stephen Foster (1826-1864) romanticized vision of slaves busy at their tasks but determined to celebrate life. Of this hard working, charming woman they sing, “Nelly Bly hab a heart as warm as a cup ob tea, and bigger dan de sweet potato down in Tennessee.” This happy romp leads into At the River, a hymn adapted by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) and arranged for chorus. The original hymn was written in 1864 by Robert Lowry (1826-1899), a Baptist minister and prolific writer of about 500 gospel songs. His original was entitled Shall We Gather At the River. We are called to “gather by the river, where bright angel's feet have trod, with its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God.”
The next part of the program features Spirituals, those uniquely American expressions of the sorrow, grief, determination, joy, and hope of slaves. These wonderful folk masterpieces speak to all who hear them all around the world of the depth of human spirit in the midst of hardship and cruelty. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child is a beautiful example. The plaintive melody line is never to be forgotten, nor are the words, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from home.” Following on the program, Soon Ah Will Be Done is among more than one hundred songs arranged by William L. Dawson (1899-1990) as part of the Tuskegee Choir Series. Dawson's arrangement is among his most well-known accomplishments, and one of the most widely-sung spirituals by church and university choirs. The next piece, a profound expression of anguish in the present life, calls out “Deep River, my home is over Jordan. I want to cross over in the campground.” The last number before intermission is a choral spiritual arrangement by Francis Hall Johnson (1888-1970), a gifted Georgia native who later studied at the Juilliard school. He dedicated his musical life, as he put it, “to show how the American Negro slaves – in 250 years of constant practice, self-developed under pressure but equipped with their inborn sense of rhythm and drama (plus their new religion) – created, propagated and illuminated an art form which was, and still is, unique in the world of music.” Ain't Got Time to Die captures much of that expressed dedication, and leaves us with the thrilling closing line, “If I don't praise Him, de rocks gonter cry out. Glory an' honor, glory an' honor! Ain't got time to die!”
After intermission we hear an old favorite that has had something of a revival since the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, God Bless America. It is an especially appropriate song to include in an American Crazy Quilt. This prayer for blessing on our nation, words and music alike, are by Irving Berlin (1888-1989), born Israel Isidore Baline in Belarus (other sources say Russia). Like so many in that era he immigrated to this country as a child and lived the American dream. Often called the Dean of American Songwriters, Berlin composed over 3000 songs, 17 film scores and 21 Broadway scores. God Bless America was written first in 1918, then revised in 1938 and sung on Armistice Day that year by Kate Smith (1907-1986). Then follows Sure on this Shining Night, by Samuel Barber (1910-1981), one of America's greatest twentieth century composers. The words to this beautiful choral setting are by one of East Tennessee's most famous men of letters, James Agee (1909-1955), from his only published volume of poetry, Permit Me Voyage (1934). Agee, a native of Knoxville, received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for A Death in the Family and wrote well-known movie screenplays, such as for The African Queen. Samuel Barber is famous for a number of works, in particular his Adagio for Strings (1938) and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947), also with words by James Agee. The next work is Alleluia by Randall Thomson (1899-1984). Written in 1940, it is well-known to choruses and a beautiful example of this gifted American composer's work. Thompson wrote three symphonies, two string quartets, an opera, and numerous choral pieces, including Frostiana: Seven Country Songs (1959), a collaboration with the famous poet, Robert Frost (1874-1963).
The final portion of the program is devoted to opera and theater. Americans adopted opera from European tradition and have added significantly to the repertory. And in musical theater, we have reached a pinnacle of creativity. We hear Summertime, from Porgy and Bess, by George Gershwin (1898-1937), an opera often considered America's greatest. This arrangement, which includes chorus, was done by Dr. Russell Robinson (b. 1953), on the music faculty at the University of Florida. He is a highly respected composer and arranger, with over 250 publications to his credit. Then following is Ain't it a Pretty Night from the opera Susannah (1955), by Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926). The opera is Floyd's most famous work, written while he was on the faculty of Florida State University. It is set in rural Tennessee and based on the story from the book in the Old Testament Apocrypha, called Susannah and the Elders. Then comes Nothing More Than This, from Candide (1956) by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). Candide is a comic operetta based on the most famous work of Voltaire (1694-1778). Voltaire's real name was François-Marie Arouet. He was a writer and philosopher, famed for his cutting wit and liberal values, including freedom of religion, and became one of the most influential men of his age. Bernstein was an outstanding conductor and composer, most famous perhaps for his overture to Candide and the musical West Side Story (1957), based on the famous play Romeo and Juliet by the legendary William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
To begin the selections from musical theater we hear Blue Skies, written by Irving Berlin in 1926 as a last minute addition to a musical named Betsy. The musical itself was quickly forgotten, but on opening night Blue Skies was given (amazingly) 28 encores! Today we hear a choral arrangement by Steve Zegree, a professor of jazz and piano at Western Michigan University, where his Gold Company singers showcase jazz influence within choral singing. This is followed by a version of Night and Day, written in 1932 for the musical The Gay Divorcee by Cole Porter (1891-1964). Again the musical is nearly forgotten but the song remains as one of the greatest in our great American songbook. Cole Porter was especially noted for his sophisticated, often ribald, lyrics, complex vocal forms, and clever, sometimes internal, rhymes. The arrangement here is the work of another active professor of music, Pete Schmutte, from the University of Indiana. Schmutte has over 75 compositions to his name and directs the Crimson Express, his university's jazz vocal ensemble. The program ends with Robert Page's arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's Make Our Garden Grow, also from Candide. Page is the long-time director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. Also a professor of music, at Carnegie Mellon University, he has worked with the Cleveland Symphony Chorus and other well-regarded choral organizations. Make Our Garden Grow is a fitting climax to this American crazy quilt of music. It builds in intensity and rises in pitch, evoking a wish we all share: “Let us try before we die to make some sense of life. For we know we're neither pure nor wise nor good; we'll do the best we know. We'll build our house and chop our wood, and make our garden grow!”
After hugging this crazy quilt of American music about you, warmed by the rich variety, beauty and inspiration, it's time to move back out into the wider world. But the inner glow will go with you, as indeed it will with those friends and acquaintances who have made it come to pass for you. These are the times that bring us together as fellow travelers in an age of mystery and wonder, and times that make life worth living!