The "discovery" of Black music by Northern whites during the Civil War opened the way for many Black musicians and singers to pursue successful careers as composers and concert and stage artists. This collection of essays and bibliographical materials is an important contribution to our knowledge of their achievements and experiences in the post-Civil War period. Reflecting the combined efforts of leading specialists in the field, it documents and describes the careers of individual artists and performing groups and provides a vivid picture of what it was like to be Black and a musician in late nineteenth-century America. The introduction provides a background for the post-Civil War Developments and shows how the papers included in the anthology are related to the overall topic and to each other. The collection begins with a discussion of the music of Black Americans during the war years, both in military bands and individual performance. Several essays present biographical and bibliographical information on well-known concert performers and other musicians of the postwar period, including Nellie Brown Mitchell, Marie Selika Williams, P. G. Lowery, Sam Lucas, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Musical genres such as revival hymns and plantation melodies are considered together with the nineteenth-century musical and literary sources of modern Gospel. An essay on musical promotion offers some insights on concert management as it affected Black performers in New York and Boston. Another essay on keyboard music includes a bibliography of existing compositions by Black composers. The volume concludes with a bibliography of research sources and a general index particularly useful as a reference and guide for students with an interest in nineteenth-century Afro-American music.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Here are the results of two Harvard University seminars on 19th century African-American music, led by Eileen Southern in 1982 and 1986. This volume consists of 11 major contributions by faculty members of smaller American colleges and universities. Much of this information does not appear in any previously published secondary literature. Each chapter is immediately comprehensible by anyone interested in the subject, even without the terse perspective offered in the introduction. Focus in provided on music during the Civil War (Sherrill Martin) and political implications of sacred texts (Robin Hough). Female singers are discussed by Carolyne Jordan and the male singer by Ronald High, while Louis Silveri explores anew the tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The band scene is the subject of Clifford Watkins's work, and Ann Sears digs very deeply into piano repertoire. Oral Moses looks at the spiritual as the basis for contemporary gospel music; Ellistine Holly reviews the life of Sam Lucas from a bibliographic perspective. George Keck examines concert management in Boston and New York during the period, and he joins with Martin for an excellent bibliographic finale, adding to the careful citation of literature within each chapter. A major contribution to the field. Both public and academic libraries at all levels.”–Choice
About the Author
GEORGE R. KECK is Professor of Music at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
SHERRILL V. MARTIN is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
SHERRILL V. MARTIN is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
