The study of art songs by American composers has, within
the last twenty years gained substantial popularity. Efforts are consciously
made by many voice teachers in this country to include works by Copland,
Barber, Duke, Carpenter, Beach, Griffes, MacDowell, Argento, Bowles,
Hoiby, Hundley, and Ives, among other distinguished American art song
composers, in the offering for their students' consumption. American
performers like Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson,
and others program this genre of song in their song recitals, which
are popular with their audiences. As a direct result of this interest
shown by voice teachers and professionals, the song compositions of
many American composers have become standard repertoire. Music scores
are readily available. Biographical material concerning the composers
can be found in almost every public library of music in America. Many
of the works have been analyzed and are thoroughly understood as a result,
and thematic catalogs of many American composers can be accessed for
research. Song cycles such as Barber's Hermit Songs, Argento's Elizabethan
Songs, Songs About Spring, Copland's Emily Dickinson Songs, American
Folk Songs, Hoiby's Songs for Leontyne, and various individual songs
of Ned Rorem, Stephen Foster, and others are found in almost every voice
teacher's studio in America. These songs are taught to students for
various reasons, not the least of which is broadening their exposure
to American culture and thereby balancing their study and performance
repertoire which, by necessity, is replete with works by foreign composers
(i.e., non-American). Such practice is to be lauded, as it not only
gives American students of voice a better understanding of the contributions
made by Americans to Western art culture, but it also ensures the future
availability of these works for progeny via publication and analysis.
There is one particular problem with this current system
of study. The works of African-American composers are neglected by all
but a few American voice teachers and artists. Commonly, singers are
acquainted with select spiritual arrangements by Harry T. Burleigh or
Hall Johnson, and a few songs taken from the Anthology of Art Songs
by Black American Composers. This Anthology is the most consistently
available publication of its kind to be found in public and university
libraries. It is an invaluable resource for beginning exposure to African-American
art song.
It is not uncommon for an American singer's student or
professional recital to include a group of American art songs, usually
at the close of the program. If African-American composers are acknowledged
at all in such a recital it is usually via spiritual arrangements. This
manner of programming gives a very distinct impression to audience members,
purchasers of recordings, and particularly to young singers beginning
to form their ideas about art culture: the African-American contribution
to this culture is limited to a style of song some 300 years old. The
omission of African-American composers from the standard repertoire
taught to American voice students only serves to fortify this impression.
The incorrectness of this impression is a foregone conclusion. Much
research has been done to point out the contributions of African-American
composers.
This article focuses on the lack of exposure provided
singers regarding the wealth of art songs composed by African-Americans.
It discusses reasons for studying this repertoire and suggests a minimum
repertoire with which every teacher of voice in America should be acquainted.
