William L. Dawson (composer)
William Levi Dawson (September 26, 1899 – May 2, 1990) was an American composer, choir director, professor, and musicologist.
William Levi Dawson
September 26, 1899
May 2, 1990 (aged 90)
- Composer
- Conductor
- Musicologist
Negro Folk Symphony
Life[edit]
Of African American heritage, William Dawson was born in Anniston, Alabama. In 1912, Dawson ran away from home to study music full-time as a pre-college student at the Tuskegee Institute (now University) under the tutelage of school president Booker T. Washington. Dawson paid his tuition by being a music librarian and manual laborer working in the school’s Agricultural Division. He also participated as a member of Tuskegee’s choir, band and orchestra, composing and traveling extensively with the Tuskegee Singers for five years; he had learned to play most of the instruments by the time he completed his studies in 1921.
A graduate of the Horner Institute of Fine Arts with a Bachelor of Music, Dawson later studied at the Chicago Musical College with professor Felix Borowski, and then at the American Conservatory of Music where he received his master's degree. Early in his career, he served as a trombonist both with the Redpath Chautauqua and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (1927–1930). Dawson married pianist Cornelia Lampton in 1927; she died in 1928.[1][2]
His teaching career began in the Kansas City public school system, followed by a tenure with the Tuskegee Institute from 1931–1956. During this period, he appointed a large number of faculty members who later became well known for their work in the field. Additionally, Dawson also developed the Tuskegee Institute Choir into an internationally renowned ensemble; they were invited to sing at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in 1932 for a week of six daily performances.
Dawson began composing at a young age, and early in his compositional career, his Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano was performed by the Kansas City Symphony. Besides chamber music, he is also known for his contributions to both orchestral and choral literature. His best-known works are arrangements of and variations on spirituals.
His most popular spirituals include "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel," "Jesus Walked the Lonesome Valley," "Talk about a Child That Do Love Jesus," and "King Jesus Is a-Listening."
His Negro Folk Symphony of 1934 garnered a great deal of attention at its world premiere by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The symphony was revised in 1952 with added African rhythms inspired by the composer's trip to West Africa. Dawson said that the composition was an attempt to convey the missing elements that had been lost when Africans came into bondage outside their homeland. The piece would go on to be his only symphony. Following its premiere, it was performed a few times in the span of 18 months before it was forgotten for decades.
Dawson was elected to the Alpha Alpha chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the music fraternity, in 1977. He died at age 90 in Montgomery, Alabama, and is buried in the Tuskegee University cemetery.
Music[edit]
Choral arrangements[edit]
Dawson's arrangements of traditional African-American spirituals are widely published in the United States and are regularly performed by school, college and community choral programs. According to Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University, in notes to "The Spirituals of William L. Dawson" produced by The St Olaf Choir in 1997, "What is even more striking than the richness of Dawson's textures is the lushness of his sonorities, exhibiting his remarkable insight into vocal potentials."
Negro Folk Symphony[edit]
In November of 1934, Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the leadership of Leopold Stokowski. Dawson's goal was to write a symphony in the Negro Folk Idiom, and in the symphonic form used by European composers of the Romantic-Nationalist School(Dawson). He was greatly inspired by Dvorak and his views on nationalism in music. The entire work mirrors the Negro Spiritual. The symphony was a huge success and it garnered a great deal of attention from many critics. The success was however short lived. After 4 back-to-back performances in November, Dawson receded from the headlines, and the symphony was put to rest for 18 years. In 1952, Dawson revised the symphony adding in rhythms he heard while on his trip to West Africa. This new version was recorded by Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra in 1963.
The piece was did not receive a public performance for decades. In June 2020, the piece was recorded by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was revived and performed by both the Seattle Symphony (conducted by Roderick Cox, a champion of the work) and Oregon Symphony in 2022, then again in early 2023 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic (with Cox conducting) and the Oakland Symphony. A live recording of the Seattle Symphony's performance was released in 2023 alongside works by George Walker. Then, on February 2, 2023, the symphony was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra making it 5th live performance since its premiere, under director Yannick Nezet Seguin. On February 24, 2024, it was again performed by the Las Vegas Philharmonic, under music director Donato Cabrera at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.[3]
I. The Bond of Africa
In this first movement, Dawson uses original melodies in the style of spirituals for the first theme, and for the second theme, he quotes melodies from actual spirituals. According to the composer "a link was taken out of a human chain when the first African was taken from the shores of his native land and sent into slavery. This missing link is represented by a French Horn motif that opens the first movement. This motif can be heard in all three movements of the symphony.
II. Hope in the Night
This second movement is the heart of the symphony. It is a heavy movement that gives listeners the space to feel all of the turmoil and pain that African slaves had to endure. It opens with 3 soft strokes of a gong, followed by a melody played by the English Horn. According to the composer, this is meant to represent an "atmosphere of the humdrum life of a people whose bodies were baked by the sun and lashed with the whip for two hundred and fifty years; whose lives were prescribed before they were born"[1]. He uses original melodies for all of the themes of the second movement. After a big swell to its full climax, the music fades into the distance and the drumbeat continues. The slow fade out meant to represent a struggle that never came to a resolution.
III. O Let Me Shine!
(“O Le’ Me Shine, Shine Like a Mornin’ Star!”)
For all themes within this movement, Dawson quotes actual spirituals. This movement moves quickly from one idea to the next. In the 2023 performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra, a bell was struck repeatedly towards the end to represent church bells tolling, a prominent motif within African American history. The symphony ends on an ominous note, providing the listener with a sense of incompletion, again meant to represent an unresolved struggle.