Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
6-29-2021
Year of Publication
2021
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
College
Fine Arts
Department/School/Program
Music
Advisor
Dr. Angelique Clay-Everett
Abstract
African Romances, Op. 17, composed in 1897 by African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), is a collection of seven songs for high voice that is uniquely both African and American. The lyrics of this song cycle were first published in the book Majors and Minors, a collection of poems published in 1895 by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).
An analysis of resources supports that academic discourse in Black vocal music has been underrepresented due to the absence of centralized information, such as published scores, recorded materials, catalogs, and guides for study and performance. While in depth research focusing on the art song repertoire of Black composers has increased over the last 35 years, the narrative of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor as an art song composer still remains in obscurity. Coleridge-Taylor’s vocal canon is relatively unknown compared to his famous instrumental works and the art songs of other composers of the late-Romantic period.
Despite several compositions appearing in anthologies by Black song composers, the vocal works of Coleridge-Taylor are not widely recorded or performed, thus resulting in an absence of critical performance study. Specifically, the seven songs of African Romances – “An African Love Song,” “A Prayer,” “A Starry Night,” “Dawn,” “Ballad,” “Over the Hills,” and “How Shall I Woo Thee?” – have not been the subject of prior significant analysis. African Romances represents the earliest known song cycle by a Black composer and Black poet.
This treatise addresses the under-served Black Art Song from a historical point of view, examines the musical and poetic narratives and aesthetics of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and provides a guide to African Romances, Op. 17 for performers, teachers and scholars of classical vocal repertoire.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.244
Recommended Citation
Hampton, Makeda Danielle, "SONGS FOR HIGH VOICE: AN ANNOTATED GUIDE TO AFRICAN ROMANCES, OP. 17 BY SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--Music. 189.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/music_etds/189
Included in
African American Studies Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, American Literature Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, German Literature Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Performance Commons, Music Practice Commons
