Classical Music of Black Origin

Born a century ago in the impoverished southern states of America, Jazz has come to represent the natural voice of the black african and mixed races of that great nation, but because they had no exposure to it, nor any knowledge of it, there are very few black musicians who were able to reach any sort of maturity in the more ‘refined’ world of the European mainstream musical tradition. Here are four that did.

Born in Holborn and raised in Croydon seems a cruel start to life. Add to this an English mother and a Creole father from Sierra Leone who were unmarried, and the future must have seemed bleak for Samuel Coleridge-Taylor late in the 19th Century. But the cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, first performed in 1899, transformed his life overnight, and brought him fame (though not fortune) around the world. It is still performed from time to time, but the rest of his output (huge for a life that lasted just 37 years) languishes unheard: a tragedy, as most of it is rather wonderful, the chamber music particularly. Here, the wistful conclusion of the Ballade Op 73 for violin and piano offers a taste of the riches available to us from this neglected genius, the Black Mahler.

It has been said that Coleridge-Taylor penned the great spiritual Deep River, but to my ears it doesn’t carry his stamp. Much more likely that it grew, like jazz itself, out of the timeless singing traditions in the deep south of America in the early part of the 20th Century. Purloined variously by Michael Tippett in A Child of Our Time, Jerome Kern for Show Boat, and many others it feels like it has always been there. Here, the great soprano Jessye Norman delivers it to the manner born in a Carnegie Hall concert…


Born in Mississippi in 1895 William Grant Still is often referred to as the Dean of African-American composers. He composed in every serious genre including opera, his style being best described as a fusion of European classical sensibility with his African-American heritage. The Kaintuck Poem for Piano and Orchestra from 1935 was inspired by a railway journey through Kentucky that same year, and typifies the composer’s imagination, and his control of orchestral forces.

The ‘Black Mozart’, Joseph Boulogne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a near contemporary of the Austrian master, but born in Guadeloupe of an illegitimate union between a French plantation owner and his Senegalese slave mistress. When the boy was just three his father killed a man in a duel, and fled to France with his wife and children (he had a legitimate daughter), along with his mistress, naturally. The boy received an aristocratic education, becoming an exceptional athlete and swordsman as well as a musician of extraordinary skill. Though he developed a close friendship with Marie Antoinette, it is not known whether his other nickname, Le Don Juan Noir was a fair reflection of his activities away from the harpsichord. As a composer, his output was modest in size, but highly refined. The only surprise is that he slipped under the radar of Ken Russell when he was casting around for another composer’s life to film. Here, L’amant anonyme, part of a ballet written in 1780.

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About Author Profile: Mahlerman

Mahlerman's life was shaped by his single mother, who never let complete ignorance of a subject get in the way of having strong opinions about it. Facing retirement after a life in what used to be called 'trade', and having a character that consists mainly of defects, he spends his moments of idleness trying to correct them, one by one.

3 thoughts on “Classical Music of Black Origin

  1. info@shopcurious.com'
    July 3, 2011 at 09:04

    Your posts are always an education, Mahlerman. Quite a feast for the eyes as well as the ears – and not just Jessye Norman’s dress.

  2. andrewnixon@blueyonder.co.uk'
    July 3, 2011 at 22:06

    An education is right – extraordinary stuff.

  3. fchantree@yahoo.co.uk'
    Gadjo Dilo
    July 4, 2011 at 06:56

    Lovely introduction to Grant Still and Boulogne, of whom I’d never heard before. I’m so much a fan of Jessye that I have (blasphemously) prefered her rendition of Das Lied Von Der Erde to Kathleen Ferrier’s.

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