Follow me : the life and music of R. Nathaniel Dett / by Anne Key Simpson.

Author/creator Simpson, Anne Key author.
Format Book
Publication InfoMetuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1993.
Descriptionxxi, 678 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Subjects
Dett, R. Nathaniel, 1882-1943.
Composers--United States. --Biography.
African American composers--Biography.

SeriesComposers of North America ; no. 10
Composers of North America ; no. 10. ^A191193
Contents Part I. Life ; I'll never turn back (1992-1913). The Dett family ; Early musical training ; The turn of the century ; The Oberlin years (1903-1908) ; Dett at Lane College (1908-1911) ; Lincoln institute (1911-1913) -- Hampton, my home by the sea (1913-1919). Hampton institute ; The legacy ; Beginnings ; 1914 ; 1915 ; 1916 - Dett as professional and family man ; 1917-1918 ; The musical art society and NANM, 1919 -- Go on, brother (1919-1925). 1919-1920 ; 1921 ; 1922 ; 1923 ; 1924 ; 1925 -- Oh Lord, the hard won miles (1926-1930). 1926 ; 1927 ; 1928 ; 1929 ; 1930 - Dett and the Hampton choir tour Europe -- Trouble don't last alway (1931-1943). Events of 1931 ; Dett's dismissal from Hampton ; 1932-1934 ; 1935-1936 ; 1937-1943 -- Dett's professors, students and other associates. The Oberlin professors (1903-1908) ; Mme Azalia Hackley ; Oberlin revisited, summer of 1913 ; Columbia University, Chicago, and Evanston, Summer of 1915 ; The incomparable Percy Grainger ; Natalie Curtis-Burlin ; Arthur Foote and Archibald Davison ; Dorothy Maynor ; Eastman professors Landow, Royce, Rogers, and Hanson (1931-1933) ; Boatner, Von Charlton, Pankey, Flax, and Ryder -- Dett in retrospect. Continued interest ; The 1940s ; The 1950s ; The 1960s and 1970s ; The 1980s ; The 1990s -- Part II. Musical works. Dett's piano and other instrumental music. 1900-1909 ; About the piano suites ; 1912 (magnolia) ; 1913 (in the bottoms) ; 1914-1919 ; 1920-1925 (enchantment) ; 1926-1930 (cinnamon grove) ; 1931-1943 (American sampler, tropic winter, bible vignettes) -- Dett's compositions and arrangements for solo voice. Early vocal compositions ; 1918 ; 1919 ; The 1920s ; The 1930s ; Arrangements for Dorothy Maynor, 1940-1943 ; Other vocal compositions from 1942 ; Assessment -- Dett's choral music. Compositions in 1914 ; Compositions 1916-1919 ; The chariot jubilee (1919) ; Compositions from 1920-1926 ; Religious folk-songs of the negro (1927) ; Compositions from 1930-1936 ; The Dett collection of Negro spirituals (1936) ; The ordering of Moses (1937) ; Compositions in 1938 ; Compositions in the 1940s ; Negro Spirituals (1959) ; Unpublished and undated choral compositions -- Part III. Catalog of music and discography -- Appendix. Hampton, the album in Dett's heart.
Abstract Best known for his spectacular direction of the Hampton Institute Choir (1913-31), Robert Nathaniel Dett (1822-1943) was also a fine pianist, composer, and arranger of Negro folk songs and spirituals. In 1908 he was the first African American to receive a music degree for a five-year course from Oberlin Conservatory. The Hampton Choir, under Dett's direction, was the first mixed group to sing in Salzburg Cathedral in 1930. Simpson's full account of Dett as a successful professional musician, compiled primarily as a reference work, will also interest the general reader. Includes photos, analyses, and musical examples.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 630-649), discography (pages 552-556), and index.
LCCN 92036916
ISBN0810826275 (acid-free paper)