Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Harry T. Burleigh

  • Antonin Dvořák: Two Degrees of Separation

    Antonin Dvořák: Two Degrees of Separation

    I once shook the hand of Antonin Dvořák’s grandson. No, really! It was in 2014, at a reception for an exhibit of the manuscript of his grandfather’s “New World” Symphony – the first time the document had been back in the United States since the composer took it with him to Europe when he returned home in 1895.

    Dvořák, arguably the most famous Bohemian (now Czech) composer, arrived in New York in 1892 to take up the directorship of the National Conservatory of Music. As an outsider, he was amazed at the unique musical impulses he detected all around him that seemed to go unnoticed by aspiring American composers, who were busy emulating European models.

    In particular, Dvořák was fascinated by the Negro spiritual (as it was then identified), thanks in no small part to Harry T. Burleigh, a Black student at the conservatory, who he overheard singing in a corridor adjacent to his office. The exposure to this music struck Dvorak with the force of an epiphany.

    Thereafter, Burleigh was a regular guest at the Dvořák home. He frequently sang for the composer and worked as his copyist beginning in 1893.

    Reflecting on his own debt to the folk idioms of his native land in the development of a Czech national sound, Dvořák was eager to share his impressions with American composers, and to encourage them to embrace this unique and neglected resource.

    “I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called Negro melodies,” he wrote. “This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. When I first came here last year I was impressed with this idea and it has developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American.”

    This was quite the pronouncement for 1893.

    Spirituals, of course, became an important part of the “New World” Symphony’s DNA. Since Dvořák’s masterwork was intended, in part, as instructional, leading American composers by example to a distinctly national sound, the significance of Burleigh’s influence is inescapable.

    Burleigh also served as a double-bassist and timpanist in the school’s orchestra, which Dvořák conducted.

    Another one of Dvořák’s students, William Arms Fisher, put words to the melody of the famous slow movement of the “New World” to create a kind of ersatz spiritual, “Goin’ Home.”

    The “New World” manuscript was displayed at the Czech Center New York, where guests gathered following a performance of the symphony at Carnegie Hall – where the work was introduced in 1893 – on this occasion, by the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Jiři Bělohlávek. I had a chance to meet Bělohlávek briefly, although I got the impression that his conversational English was not very good. I had the privilege to hear him conduct a few times, though, including Dvořák’s “Rusalka” with Renée Fleming at the Met. I think it was in 2009.

    On the occasion of the “New World” display, I wandered into another room, a quieter, more intimate space, where suddenly I was introduced to Dvořák’s grandson, who, if he spoke any English at all, he didn’t let on. But he shook hands firmly and with great mirth. And I’ll be darned if he wasn’t the spitting image of his grandfather and namesake. That was some uncanny valley experience!

    Sadly, both Bělohlávek and Antonin Dvořák III died, within days of one another, in 2017.

    On Dvořák’s birthday I remember them both, and of course the music of Antonin himself, which I have enjoyed so very much over the years, with great appreciation.

    Happy birthday, sir!

    ———-

    Bělohlávek conducts a selection from the “New World” in Prague


    The famous Largo (second movement)


    “Goin’ Home”


    Harry T. Burleigh’s arrangement


    More about Burleigh

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbbB4suz2co


    Interview with Antonin Dvořák III (you may have to translate from Czech)

    https://www.casopisharmonie.cz/rozhovory/antonin-dvorak-iii-buh-laska-vlast-rodina/

    Classic, if brisk, recording of the “New World” (complete), conducted by Paul Paray



  • Dvořák, Black Music & a Night at the Garden

    Dvořák, Black Music & a Night at the Garden

    On this date in 1894, Antonin Dvořák, then serving as director of the newly-established National Conservatory of Music in New York, presented a concert of African-American choral music at Madison Square Garden.

    The event, which also featured at least some of Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” was given to benefit the New York Herald Tribune’s Free Clothing Fund. The program was performed by members of St. Philip’s Colored Choir, with the participation of vocal soloists Sissieretta Jones and Harry T. Burleigh.

    Jones was a graduate of the New England Conservatory, a soprano equally at home in the singing of grand opera, light opera, and popular music. She wound up touring internationally and sang for four consecutive U.S. presidents. One critic dubbed her “The Black Patti” – a reference to Italian singer Adelina Patti – an epithet that Jones, a modest woman, disliked.

    However, given the limited opportunities for black singers at the time, ultimately she decided to capitalize on the association, founding the Black Patti Troubadours, a successful revue that ran for 20 years. By 1895, she had become the best-known and highest-paid African-American performer.

    As for Burleigh, American art music might have developed very differently without him. Born in Erie, PA, in 1866, he was accepted into the National Conservatory, a progressive institution for the time. On Dvořák’s insistence, students were not to be discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity.

    There, he studied with, among others, Rubin Goldmark, the hidebound pedagogue who would later give lessons to Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. He also played double-bass and timpani in the school’s orchestra, which Dvořák conducted.

    One day, the story goes, while seated at his desk, Dvořák was transfixed by the most soulful, plaintive air, being sung by Burleigh in an adjacent corridor. This was his first exposure to the African-American spiritual, and it had the force of an epiphany. Thereafter, Burleigh was a regular guest at the Dvořák home.

    Reflecting on his own debt to the folk idioms of his native land for his part in the development of a Czech national sound, Dvořák was eager to share his impressions with American composers, and to encourage them to embrace this unique and neglected resource.

    “I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies,” he wrote. “This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. When I first came here last year I was impressed with this idea and it has developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American.”

    This was quite the pronouncement for 1893.

    African-American spirituals, of course, would profoundly influence Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Interestingly, another Dvorak pupil, William Arms Fisher, was responsible for transforming the work’s famous Largo into the neo-spiritual “Goin’ Home.” Since the symphony was intended, in part, as instructional, an attempt to lead American composers by example, Burleigh’s significance becomes inescapable.

    Burleigh himself went on to a distinguished career as a composer and arranger. Not only did he popularize a great many spirituals, he also wrote hundreds of original songs. Isn’t it ironic that one of the great, unsung figures in American music wound up changing the course of our music through singing?

    Here’s one of the works that received its premiere on that 1894 Madison Square Garden concert – Dvořák’s arrangement of Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home.”

    Burleigh’s setting of “Goin’ Home”

    Sissieretta Jones:

    CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Dvořák (doing his best Sean Connery impression), Burleigh, and Jones

  • Harry T. Burleigh: The Voice That Shaped Dvořák

    Harry T. Burleigh: The Voice That Shaped Dvořák

    Harry T. Burleigh is one of the great unsung figures in American music – which is ironic, since it was his singing that changed the course of history.

    Burleigh was a student at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where he studied with, among others, Rubin Goldmark, the conservative pedagogue who later gave lessons to Aaron Copland and George Gershwin.

    It just so happens that Burleigh’s attendance there coincided with the tenure of Antonin Dvořák as the conservatory’s director. Dvořák overheard the young man singing African American spirituals in a corridor adjacent to his office and was transfixed. This was his first exposure to the spiritual, and it had the force of an epiphany. Thereafter, Burleigh was a regular guest at the Dvořák home. He frequently sang for Dvořák and worked as his copyist beginning in 1893.

    Reflecting on his own debt to the folk idioms of his native land in the development of a Czech national sound, Dvořák was eager to share his impressions with American composers, and to encourage them to embrace this unique and neglected resource.

    “I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called Negro melodies,” he wrote. “This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. When I first came here last year I was impressed with this idea and it has developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American.”

    This was quite the pronouncement for 1893.

    Spirituals, of course, became an important part of the “New World” Symphony’s DNA. Since Dvořák’s masterwork was intended, in part, as instructional, leading American composers by example to a distinctly national sound, the significance of Burleigh’s influence becomes inescapable.

    Burleigh also served as a double-bassist and timpanist in the school’s orchestra, which Dvořák conducted. He was born in Stamford, CT, on this date in 1866.

    Happy birthday, Harry T. Burleigh, and thank you!

    More about Burleigh:

    “Goin’ Home”

    “Wade in de Water”

    Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT8dqLoRIVU

  • Dvořák, Black Music, & America

    Dvořák, Black Music, & America

    On this date in 1894, Antonin Dvořák, then serving as director of the newly-established National Conservatory of Music in New York, presented a concert of African-American choral music at Madison Square Garden.

    The event, which also featured at least some of Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” was given to benefit the New York Herald Tribune’s Free Clothing Fund. The program was performed by members of St. Philip’s Colored Choir, with the participation of vocal soloists Sissieretta Jones and Harry T. Burleigh.

    Jones was a graduate of the New England Conservatory, a soprano equally at home in the singing of grand opera, light opera, and popular music. She wound up touring internationally and sang for four consecutive U.S. presidents. One critic dubbed her “The Black Patti” – a reference to Italian singer Adelina Patti – an epithet that Jones, a modest woman, disliked.

    However, given the limited opportunities for black singers at the time, ultimately she decided to capitalize on the association, founding the Black Patti Troubadours, a successful revue that ran for 20 years. By 1895, she had become the best-known and highest-paid African-American performer.

    As for Burleigh, American art music might have developed very differently without him. Born in Erie, PA, in 1866, he was accepted into the National Conservatory, a progressive institution for the time. On Dvořák’s insistence, students were not to be discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity.

    There, he studied with, among others, Rubin Goldmark, the hidebound pedagogue who would later give lessons to Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. He also played double-bass and timpani in the school’s orchestra, which Dvořák conducted.

    One day, the story goes, while seated at his desk, Dvořák overheard the most soulful, plaintive air being sung in an adjacent corridor. He was transfixed. This was his first exposure to the African-American spiritual, and it had the force of an epiphany. Thereafter, Burleigh was a regular guest at the Dvořák home.

    Reflecting on his own debt to the folk idioms of his native land, for his part in the development of a Czech national sound, Dvořák was eager to share his impressions with American composers, and to encourage them to embrace this unique and neglected resource.

    “I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies,” he wrote. “This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. When I first came here last year I was impressed with this idea and it has developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American.”

    This was quite the pronouncement for 1893.

    African-American spirituals, of course, would profoundly influence Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Interestingly, another Dvorak pupil, William Arms Fisher, was responsible for transforming the work’s famous Largo into the neo-spiritual “Goin’ Home.” Since the symphony was intended, in part, as instructional, an attempt to lead American composers by example, Burleigh’s significance becomes inescapable.

    Burleigh himself went on to a distinguished career as a composer and arranger. Not only did he popularize a great many spirituals, he also wrote hundreds of original songs. Isn’t it ironic that one of the great, unsung figures in American music wound up changing the course of our music through singing?

    Here’s one of the works that received its premiere on that 1894 Madison Square Garden concert – Dvořák’s arrangement of Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home.”

    Burleigh’s setting of “Goin’ Home”

    Sissieretta Jones:

    CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Dvořák (doing his best Sean Connery impression), Burleigh, and Jones

  • Classical Music Marble Cake on WWFM

    Classical Music Marble Cake on WWFM

    As the days grow short and the weather more miserable, revive your spirits with a kind of musical marble cake, this afternoon (if there is an afternoon) on The Classical Network.

    One vein will consist of historic recordings of pianist Harriet Cohen, composer and conductor Robert Kajanus, and baritone Harry T. Burleigh. Another will celebrate conductors Kajanus, Sir John Barbirolli, and Mariss Jansons. (Jansons died on Saturday at the age of 76.) Yet another will explore music from the north, including works by composers Kajanus, Jean Sibelius, and Johan Svendsen.

    The magnetic Cohen captivated seemingly every British composer of her day. In particular, her love affair with Sir Arnold Bax lasted for over 40 years. Bax wrote most of his piano music for her. His most famous work, the symphonic poem “Tintagel,” ostensibly inspired by the ruins of the Arthurian castle overlooking a tempestuous Cornish seascape, is said to enshrine all the passion the two musicians felt for one another during an especially ardent six weeks over which they vacationed there. We’ll hear a classic performance, with Barbirolli presiding.

    In 1936, Bax and Cohen traveled together to Helsinki to meet Sibelius, who also greatly influenced Bax’s music. Jansons will be remembered, in part, through his conducting of Sibelius, over whose idiom he demonstrated particular mastery.

    Sibelius’ earliest champion was Robert Kajanus. Kajanus conducted the first performances of many of the composer’s major works. He also wrote over 200 pieces himself. Of those, we’ll hear “Aino,” after an episode in the Kalevala. In addition, Kajanus will conduct music by his good friend and drinking buddy.

    Harry T. Burleigh’s influence on American music is incalculable. While a student at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, he happened to be overheard by the institute’s director, the newly-installed Antonin Dvořák, while singing African-American spirituals. Dvořák was captivated.

    Burleigh’s significance looms large in Dvořák’s music of his American years. More to the point, it informs the Czech master’s exhortation to composers of the United States to embrace spirituals and music of Native Americans as building blocks for a vibrant new art music, one with a distinctive national character. If Dvořák was the godfather of American music, then surely Burleigh was the great uncle. We’ll hear some of Burleigh’s own works, as well as his own documented performance of “Go Down, Moses.” Of course, we’ll have to include a little Dvořák, too.

    Happy birthday, Sir John Barbirolli, Harry T. Burleigh, Harriet Cohen, and Robert Kajanus, and rest in peace, Mariss Jansons.

    With ingredients like those, no matter how you slice it, you’ll wind up with all the marbles, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

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