William L. Dawson (American Composers)

By: Gwynne Kuhner Brown

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Synopsis: William L. Dawson is recognized for his genre-defining choral spirituals and for his Negro Folk Symphony, a masterpiece enjoying a twenty-first-century renaissance. Gwynne Kuhner Brown’s engaging and tirelessly researched biography reintroduces a musical leader whose legacy is more important today than ever. Born in 1899, Dawson studied at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He worked as a church, jazz, and orchestral musician in Kansas City and Chicago in the 1920s while continuing his education as a composer. He then joined the Tuskegee faculty, where for 25 years he led the Tuskegee Institute Choir to national prominence through performances of spirituals at the opening of Radio City Music Hall, on radio and television, and at the White House. The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski premiered Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony in 1934. Engaging and long overdue, William L. Dawson celebrates a pioneering Black composer whose contributions to African American music, history, and education inspire performers and audiences to this day.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
Book Size:: 168 Pages
ISBN-13:: 9780252088063
Related ISBNs:: 9780252045967
Publisher:: University of Illinois Press
Date of Addition:: 08/20/24
Copyrighted By:: the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Religion and Spirituality, Music
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.