Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance: A Collection of Essays

by Samuel A. Floyd

Overview

By the mid-1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was underway. As an effort to secure economic, social, and cultural equality with white citizens, the Renaissance years were a proving period for black composers and performers. Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance explores black music in the United States and England during the 1920s and its relationship to other arts of the time.

The first collection on the subject, Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance seeks to revise previous assumptions about music during this era. The book features essays on various subjects including musical theatre, Duke Ellington, black music and musicians in England, concert singers and the interrelationships between black painters and music. In addition, the book includes a music bibliography of works composed during the period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313265464
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/11/1990
Series:	Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies: Contemporary Black Poets , #12
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1390L (what's this?)

About the Author

SAMUEL A. FLOYD, JR., is Director of the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois. He has written Black Music in the United States, Black Music Biography, and numerous articles published in The Black Perspective in Music, 19th Century Music, Music Jourbanal, and Black Music Research Jourbanal.

Table of Contents

Preface
Music in the Harlem Renaissance: An Overview
Vindication as a Thematic Principle in the Writings of Alain Locke on the Music of Black Americans
Vocal Concert Music in the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance Ideals in the Music of Robert Nathaniel Dett
William Grant Still, Florence Price, and William Dawson: Echoes of the Harlem Renaissance
Black Musical Theatre and the Harlem Renaissance Movement
The Renaissance Education of Duke Ellington
Interactions between Writers and Music during the Harlem Renaissance
Interactions between Art and Music during the Harlem Renaissance
The Negro Renaissance and England
Bibliography of the Music: The Concert Music of the Harlem Renaissance Composers, 1919-1935
Index

Editorial Reviews

Paper edition of the 1990 Greenwood Press work which was initiated as a special issue of Black Music Research Journal but grew too big for that format. Ten essays address a variety of subjects connected with African-American music of the 1920s, e.g. vocal concert music, musical theater, Duke Ellington, and the relationship of the music to literature and art. Includes an extensive bibliography of works composed during the period. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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