Trinity Le, CFK Intern
Many of us are familiar with Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” No. 9 with its sweeping melodies inspired by the rolling, vast landscape of America. He wrote this piece while acting as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, and at this time, American classical music was having a bit of an identity crisis! How could American music set itself apart from the European sound from which it originated from? Dvorak, despite being a Czech composer who had only spent a small amount of time in America, was able to provide an answer with the help of a conservatory student, Harry T. Burleigh.
Harry Burleigh (1866-1949) was a talented Baritone and Bass player who attended the National Conservatory of Music on a scholarship. This school was founded by a woman named Jeannette Thurber, who opened the doors to both women and black performers, a standout decision for the times.
To support himself financially, Burleigh worked as a handyman for the mother of famed American composer Edward McDowell. He would frequently sing while he worked, and eventually his singing caught the ear of the conservatory director, Anton Dvorak. Following this encounter, Dvorak would listen to him sing frequently, and he would always perform traditional African American Spirituals. Dvorak would later go on to use the style and character of these melodies in his own compositions, declaring that, “In the [Black American] melodies of America, I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music.” Burleigh would later act as Dvorak’s assistant, and they remained close throughout their time in conservatory.
Dvorak would later write many articles encouraging American composers to realize the value of Afro-American and Indigenous music traditions. “The future of this country must be founded upon what are called the [Black American] melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States,” he wrote. These musical ideas would later go on to inspire many other great American composers such as Gershwin and Copeland.
After graduating, Burleigh was hired on as a soloist for St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York, which caused a controversy due to it being an all-white church. Despite these protests early on in his appointment, he became close with many members of the church, and retired after 52 years of service. He performed with all the best local vocalists and at multiple civic and church events, and he would also be invited to sing before King Eward VII in England in 1908.
Burleigh also because a household name as a composer and arranger of art songs. He published several versions of traditional Black American Spirituals, and his advocacy for the art form made spirituals a popular genre for concert singers. He became so popular during the 1910’s and 1920’s that it was rare to hear a vocal recital without a Burleigh spiritual arrangement!
