[Above: Kerby Louis Roberson as the young Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in the film "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900–1912."]
[Above: First page of the manuscript full score of Coleridge-Taylor's
"Don't Be Weary, Traveller," his orchestration of his original piano
version in "24 Negro Melodies," Opus 59 (1905). Courtesy British
Library.]
The Longfellow Chorus
Portland, Maine March 2, 2013 | |
This synthetic orchestra sound file will give you a
preview of Coleridge-Taylor's unpublished "Don't
Be Weary, Traveller," for orchestra. It is his
orchestration of the African-American melody
from his "24 Negro-Melodies," Opus 59 (1905)
and one of five Coleridge-Taylor works I've
reconstructed from manuscripts to be presented
during the March 13, 16 and 17 Longfellow
Choral Festival in Portland, Maine.—Charles
Kaufmann
One of the many things that has excited me
about preparing for the March 13, 16 and 17
Theater and Merrill Auditorium,
Portland,
Maine, has been experiencing numerous
Coleridge-Taylor
manuscripts come to life
on my computer. I have so many of these, I
have
neither time to edit them all, nor room
on the program.
The latest, yesterday, is SC-T's
orchestration of "Don't Be Weary, Traveller,"
from his piano setting of this African
American spiritual in "24 Negro
Melodies,"
(his piano version originally published in 1905
in Boston).
The melody of "Don't Be Weary Traveller" was
first published by in 1867 in
"Slave Songs of
the United States," edited by William Francis
Allen, an
abolitionist Unitarian from
Massachusetts and an educator of freed
slaves
during Reconstruction. It's interesting to note
that many of the
songs we know as
spirituals and jubilee songs were collected and
published by white scholars in the years
immediately following the Civil
War. Another
tune Coleridge-Taylor used, "Keep Me From
Sinkin' Down" —
also on our Longfellow Choral
Festival program — was first collected by
Robbins Battell, the father of Ellen Battell,
who, along with her
husband, Carl Stoeckel,
was SC-T's Norfolk patron.
It is safe to say that it was Coleridge-Taylor
who first introduced the wider world in
1905 to
"Don't Be Weary Traveller" through his
concert piano version.
The importance of
SC-T's "24 Negro Melodies" in influencing
other
composers has gone unnoticed. Harry
T. Burleigh — who knew
Coleridge-Taylor —
published his concert choral version of "Don't
Be
Weary" in 1917. Robert Nathaniel Dett,
another African-American
composer, published
his concert choral version in 1921. Both
composers
would have studied SC-T's 24 Negro
Melodies. Coleridge-Taylor was an
innovator in
those terms.
Editing "Don't Be Weary" was a bit tricky.
I have SC-T's original manuscript, which is full
of cross-outs
and whites-outs. Then I have
a copyist's manuscript signifying an
attempt to
clarify what SC-T wrote on the original. During
the editing
process, when I found an error
in the copyist's version, I turned to the
original SC-T score. When I couldn't read that,
I looked at the
original piano version in 24
Negro Melodies. This usually solved the
problem
and gave me some insight into SC-T's creative
process. Several
times, he changed the harmony
and added material to his orchestra
version.
It was usually pretty clear what his intention was
in terms of
"What note is that?" or "What
harmony is that?"
What is apparent in Coleridge-Taylor's "Don't
Be Weary Traveller" is his love at that age
(30) of
experimentation with the "blue note," something
that would
become a defining harmonic and
melodic element of classical jazz two and
three
decades later.
SC-T's orchestral version of "Don't Be Weary"
wow, it is really beautiful. But once that settles in,
the listener recognizes that what this really sounds
like is Coleridge-Taylor.
It provides a hint about
the type of orchestral works Coleridge-Taylor
might
have expanded upon if he had lived beyond the age
of 37.
All in all, five works reconstructed from Coleridge-
Taylor manuscripts will be presented during the
Portland, Maine: "Violin Concerto in G-Minor,"
"Keep Me From Sinkin' Down," for violin and
orchestra, "Lament (They Will not Lend Me a
Child)," for violin and cello solo with orchestra
accompaniment, "Don't Be Weary Traveller,"
for orchestra, and "The Arrow and the Song,"
for tenor and piano.
See you there ! Charles Kaufmann, artistic director The Longfellow Chorus PO Box 5133 Portland, Maine 04101 | |
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