“Spirituals, arranged…”

The folk music now known as ‘Spirituals’ were the expression of the enslaved African workforce of the American Colonies and States in the 18th and 19th centuries – brought about, curiously, by the efforts of their oppressors to de-Africanize them and simultaneously instill them with what we might now call a ‘Liberation Theology’ of Christianity. The stoic, sturdy, long-suffering and noble sentiments of the words, coupled with the equally hardy and forthright tunes that developed around them have been fodder for the immense hunger of 20th and now 21st century American audiences for some connection to an ‘authentic’ American music. Arrangements of these songs abound, in all styles, all genres.

An ‘arrangement’ is, quite simply, the musical ‘dressing up’ of a tune to suit the performing forces at hand or the emotional tenor desired. This morning, we offer a small feast of contrasting ‘Spiritual Arrangements…’

William Bolcom (b. 1938), the robust musical polyglot from Ann Arbor, MI, set several old ‘Gospel’ tunes to such great effect that many are now standard concert literature amongst gifted organists… While clearly having a bit of fun, he is, nevertheless, utterly respectful of the structure of the original tunes. Bolcom and his wife, Joan Morris, are definitive interpreters of American popular song of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; their many recordings are legendary and still widely available.

John Ferguson (b. 1941), the eminent and celebrated Lutheran organist and composer sets ‘Jesus Walked’ with a perfect balance of warmth and simplicity – the choir laying a background of slow regular chords while flute and soloist explore the lilt in the arcs of melody. John is on the faculty of St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.

Nicholas White (b. 1967), a man at home in both Choir Loft and Musical Theater orchestra pit, gives ‘Steal Away’ the lush treatment, a capella. Somehow the heart of many of these songs is revealed when sung in eight or more parts, with slow, searching colorful harmonies.

Henry ‘Harry’ Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949), baritone and composer, the only African-American composer represented today, set dozens of Spirituals for solo voice and piano, all of them with clarity and grace. Burleigh served as a music editor for Ricordi, the famed Italian music-publishing house that had offices in New York. When Harry applied for a Staff Singer position at St. George’s Episcopal Church in 1894, it was J. P. Morgan himself who cast the deciding vote for his hiring, over the strenuous objections of the then-typically biased congregation. It was from this position that he came to be known as both singer and composer.

After enjoying these arrangements, remember that your whistling of them on the way home, or the singing of them, unaccompanied and with casual abandon in the shower, in the yard, or anywhere, for that matter – is closer to the original form of these songs than any arrangement…!

-Keith Weber