In our third installment for Black History Month, we turn to William Levi Dawson (1899-1990), a renowned African-American composer, choir director, and professor. Dawson wrote chamber music, orchestral music, and choral music, and is best known for his arrangements of African American spirituals. Through all the forms he worked with, Dawson consistently incorporated African American themes and melodies into his music. In both his work and teaching, Dawson stressed that while African American musical heritage was key to many developments in jazz and jazz-derived music, it didn\u2019t need to be limited to just these popular forms.<\/p>\n
Dawson\u2019s life took a multifaceted and variegated path, but education always remained his primary dedication.\u00a0Born in Anniston, Alabama, Dawson ran away from home at the age of 13 to attend the Tuskegee Institute. There, he sang in the choir, played trombone in the college band, and started composing at age 16. After graduating in 1921, Dawson went on to study composition at the Horner Institute of Fine Arts in Kansas City, where he convinced the then all-white school to allow him to earn his BA through one-on-one tutoring sessions. Dawson later earned his master\u2019s degree in composition from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Dawson began teaching in the Kansas City public school system, and in 1930 was invited back as a professor at the Tuskegee Institute, where he played an integral role in founding the music\u00a0school. There, Dawson also developed the Tuskegee Institute Choir, which became an internationally acclaimed ensemble, performing tours around the U.S. after their initial invitation to sing at New York City\u2019s Radio Music Hall in 1932.<\/p>\n
I talked to Dr. Gwynne K. Brown, Associate Professor of Music History at the University of Puget Sound, who is\u00a0carrying out\u00a0research on Dawson.\u00a0Dr. Brown, currently writing\u00a0a book on Dawson\u2019s life and works for the American Composers Series published by University of Illinois Press, commented that a major theme for thinking about Dawson is the centrality of education in his life. As Dr. Brown describes:\u00a0\u201cHe ran away from home as a young teenager to attend Tuskegee Institute, and he left a promising career as a trombonist in Chicago to return to Tuskegee in 1930 and create a school of music there. He was a devoted teacher and mentor to many young black musicians. He knew that the rigorous training he could provide, along with helping them to develop their self-discipline and resilience and ambition, he could help make sure that their talents and potential wouldn’t go to waste in a society that was ready to undervalue and discourage them. After he resigned from Tuskegee in 1955 he spent more than three decades sharing his knowledge and musicianship with young musicians of all races all over the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, after Dawson retired from teaching at Tuskegee in 1956, he spent much of his time conducting choral festivals and leading workshops around the world. Dawson was deeply committed to his art and had high standards for the students he worked with. In Dawson’s rehearsal notes for members of the All-Eastern Division Chorus in the 1961 Music Educators National Convention, he writes: “There will be no time to teach notes, rhythms, or pronunciations. All rehearsal time will be needed for fine points of performance such as interpretation, style and polish. Start learning now!\u201d As a conductor Dawson asked for precision and attention to detail from his choirs. What set Dawson apart from other teachers, however, was his dedication to educating his choirs on the historical legacy and the proper singing techniques of the genre of spirituals. We’ll explore Dawson’s spirituals here, but first, let’s explore one of Dawson’s most well-known pieces for orchestra: his Negro Folk Symphony<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Listening to Dawson: The Negro Folk Symphony<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of Dawson\u2019s keystone works is his Negro Folk Symphony<\/em>, a significant yet largely unacknowledged contribution to the development of the American symphony. The Negro Folk Symphony was premiered in 1934\u202fby the Philadelphia Orchestra with Leopold Stokowski conducting. It was Dawson\u2019s aim to \u201cto write a symphony in the Negro folk idiom, based on authentic folk music but in the same symphonic form used by the composers of the [European] romantic-nationalist school.\u201d Inspired by Anton\u00edn\u202fDvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s\u202fviews towards nationalism in music, Dawson wanted his symphony to shed light on the African American voice, highlighting the music of his neighbors and ancestors alike in rural Alabama and the segregated South. Later in 1952, after a recent trip to West Africa, Dawson revised the piece to include more African rhythms, stating a desire to convey \u201cthe missing elements that were lost when Africans came into bondage outside their homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0Negro Folk Symphony<\/em>\u00a0sounds akin to late-Romantic orchestral music\u00a0in terms of overall shape and\u00a0instrumentation.\u00a0However, as musicologist\u00a0John Andrew Johnson describes, \u201cEach of its three movements, while cast in a traditional form, is ultimately not controlled by these predetermined structures; rather, a continuous process of variation and development shapes its course.\u201d\u00a0Each movement has\u00a0its own subtitle:\u00a0\u201cThe Bond of Africa,\u201d\u202f\u201cHope\u202fin the Night\u201d\u202fand\u202f\u201dO, le’ me shine, shine like a Morning Star!\u201d\u00a0Dawson weaves\u00a0characteristic\u00a0melodies\u00a0from African American folk songs and spirituals throughout\u00a0each movement.\u00a0While the piece can be appreciated without previous familiarity with the melodies or underlying background, there are strong programmatic elements in the piece\u202fthat tie in with the titles of the\u00a0movements.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n