The Negro Folk Symphony by William L. Dawson (1898 – 1990)

The Negro Folk Symphony by William L. Dawson (1898 – 1990) is considered as an enlightened and significant American Work that develops themes taken from the popularly known Black Spirituals. This work brings the language of post-slavery with the timbres and aesthetics of the European Symphony Orchestra. The premiere was on November 20th, 1934 at Carnegie Hall by the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by its conductor Leopold Stokowski. This event was acclaimed by the audience and critics. An example is by Olin Downes in The New York Times, who noted: 

"This music has dramatic feeling, a racial sensuousness and directness of melodic speech."

                             A drawing of composer William Dawson in 1935 by Aaron Douglas

                       

    To understand the essence of this symphony it is important to know that Black Spirituals are a type of religious folksong with Christian themes that are most closely associated with the enslavement of African people in the American South. They are the songs that were sung by the black slaves in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

    Based on these themes the symphony has three movements: The bond of Africa, Hope in the night, and O Lem-Me Shine. Dawson wrote their program notes for the premiere, reading these notes we can understand the idea he wanted to develop in his work and what is the atmosphere he wanted to create. 

     “This Symphony is based entirely upon Negro folk-music. The themes are taken from what is popularly known as Negro spirituals, and the practiced ear will recognize the recurrence of characteristic themes throughout the composition."

     “This folk-music springs spontaneously from the life of the Negro people as freely today as at any time in the past, though the modes and forms of the present day are sometimes vastly different from the older creations."

     "In this composition, the composer has employed three themes taken from typical melodies over which he has brooded since childhood, having learned them at his mother's knee." 

     This was a work that should have marked the path of the composer due to its success during the premier, however, after some of the performances during the next 18 months, this symphony was inexplicably forgotten in the orchestral environment and it was the last symphony by the composer. Therefore, Dawson did not have more projection as a composer and the important impact that he had some years ago was forgotten quickly. Finally, after decades of neglect, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra made a new recording of the symphony in 2020. 

     The fact that something that had a success to be forgotten quickly is something that has interested some writers. There is an article "Whatever happened to William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony?" published in the Journal of the Society for American Music, Gwynne Kuhner Brown, professor of Music History and Music Theory at the University of Puget Sound, which studies the premiere of this symphony as a groundbreaking event for the audience and the composer, trying to find an explanation for the symphony’s surprising rapid descent to the neglect. Besides, he argues that The Negro Folk Symphony should be involved in the orchestral and the academic environment. 

 Below there is the link of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.  

I.- The bond of Africa

II.- Hope in the night

III. - O Lem-Me Shine

 Citlalmina Hernandez Toro