Musical Moments #24
“The progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give.”
Mary McLeod Bethune
And They Lynched Him on a Tree
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
The very origin of this work is born from a cry for social justice.
The text was written by poet, Katherine Garrison Chapin, a staunch advocate for civil rights of minorities and counted among her friends Harlem Renaissance Poets Langston Hughes and Alain Locke. Conversations at Chapin’s home must have been fascinating given that her husband was Francis Biddle, Attorney General of the United States during the FDR administration and the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg trials.
Chapin, along with William Grant Still, was “hand-picked” to compose a work intent upon shaking the collective conscience of the American public. The composition, And They Lynched Him on a Tree, written in 1940, is an oratorio for male narrator, mezzo-soprano soloist, two choruses (African American and White), and orchestra.
Still was born in Mississippi in 1895 to college-educated parents who were teachers. He began his own advanced studies in science to become a physician but quickly followed his passion in music. For a short time, he left school to tour as a professional musician but eventually attended Oberlin Conservatory, but never completed his degree. Still lived most of his life in California except for a short time spent in New York City where he was awarded his first Guggenheim Fellowship.
William Grant Still was well respected in the American classical music scene of his time, both for his skill as a conductor and as a composer. Although he established many firsts as an African American musician, he spoke and wrote of the prejudicial world that surrounded him. Still was once introduced as “the dean of black composers,” to which he quickly replied, then “why wasn’t Copland the dean of white composers?” He simply wanted to be known for his talent and contributions rather than the color of his skin. On a personal note, I feel that I came to know the composer, having gleaned a great deal about him from numerous conversations with his daughter. Of this I am certain, Mr. Still was a brilliant, musically gifted, articulate, and elegant man.
The New York Philharmonic premiered Still’s important work for an audience of 13,000 in Lewisohn Stadium as part of their summer series. Many VIPs such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickles, and composers Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson, and Samuel Barber attended the event. A live broadcast performance and recording followed, conducted by Leopold Stokowski with the NBC Symphony.
The libretto tells the story of the lynching of a young African American man and the aftermath of his mother mourning the loss of her son. The final lines of the text release the murdered man’s soul by saying, “Trust your brother and reach out your hand. And clear the shadow, the long dark shadow. And clear the shadow that falls across your land.” The text is graphic and disturbing, and that is the point. The forward found in the musical score conveys that by uniting our voices the message becomes stronger in its protest and “pleads for a new tolerance.”
Alain Leroy Locke, writer, philosopher, educator, and “Dean” of the Harlem Renaissance wrote in August 1940, “Democracy today needs sober criticism, even courageous chastising, … And They Lynched Him on A Tree gives our democracy in crisis just that much-needed heroic challenge and criticism…. When, on occasion, art rises to this level, it fuses truth with beauty, and in addition to being a sword for the times it is likely to remain, as a thing of beauty, a joy forever.” This well-crafted American masterpiece is not only a plea for justice and peace in its own time, but one for ours as well. Locke’s quote is reminiscent of Robert Kennedy’s statement, “Justice delayed is democracy denied.”
The Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra joined forces with the Bethune-Cookman Concert Choir and conductor Terrance Lane to present this powerful work during the same week as the opening of the The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Our performance features Kevin Deas as narrator and Krysty Swann, mezzo-soprano, as the mourning mother.
The sadness and empathy we are currently experiencing underscores that this music and its story are as agonizing and remain as poignant today as 80 years ago. Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said it best: “We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.”
The Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra proudly lock arms with our colleagues and friends from Bethune-Cookman University in bringing this performance to you from April 2018. To make music is a privilege, and to make music with friends is a blessing. We hope that this offering causes you to reflect as much as we did when together we sang this powerful music. Please join us in praying for peace, justice and equality.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
John V. Sinclair
Conductor and Artistic Director
Bach Festival Society
Terrance L. Lane
Professor and Conductor
Bethune-Cookman University
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