Event Title
Harry Burleigh’s Southland Sketches
Performer / Ensemble
Amanda Wilton (Viola), Emily Trapp Jenkins (Piano)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Concert
Abstract / Program Notes
The story of Harry Burleigh’s Southland Sketches is forever intertwined with Antonin Dvorak’s three-year stay in the United States. In 1892 Dvorak was invited to the United States with the mission to create a new style of “American” music. Being successful in capturing Czech folk music in his own style of nationalism, Dvorak was very enthusiastic about this new challenge. Dvorak sought melodic material by looking to African-American spirituals and Native American melodies, and used these to create a model in his own “American” works including the “New World” Symphony and the Violin Sonatina. Harry Burleigh, a voice student and assistant to Dvorak at the National Conservatory in New York, played an important role in introducing Dvorak to African-American spirituals. Dvorak asked Burleigh to sing for him and teach him spirituals which Burleigh learned from his maternal grandfather. Dvorak encouraged Burleigh to preserve these melodies in his own compositions. With Burleigh’s help, Dvorak believed he found America’s national musical identity. Burleigh went on to become one of the leading baritones and contributed hundreds of arrangements of spirituals and original compositions. He is credited with bringing the African-American spiritual into the concert hall as a new genre of American art song. Among this trove of vocal music lies a handful of instrumental works which are imbued with the musical heritage Dvorak so strongly encouraged. This mutual influence for a new “American” style can be heard throughout Burleigh’s Southland Sketches.
Biography
Amanda Wilton performs frequently as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Recent performances include lecture-recitals for the American Viola Society Festival of Tigran Mansurian’s “Ode to the Lotus,” Rebecca Clarke’s music at CMS Regional and National Conferences, and the Music by Women Festival. Dr. Wilton holds degrees from University of Houston, University of Maryland, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and was a Fulbright Researcher at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona. She has taught at University of Idaho, Creighton University, and LoneStar College-Tomball, and is currently on the faculty of Louisiana Tech University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Emily Trapp Jenkins is currently serving as one of the Collaborative Pianists at Arkansas State University, where she works closely with the vocal/theatre departments. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Bachelors degree from Goshen College (Goshen, IN), both focused in Piano Performance. Recent major collaborations include a regional performance tour of Franz Schubert's Winterreise, performed with baritone Matthew Carey, serving as rehearsal/pit pianist for A-State's production of Steven Sondheim's Into The Woods, and working as an adjudicator for the International Piano Performance Examination Committee in Taiwan from June 27-August 7, 2019.
Keywords
Czech folk music, American music
Description
10-minute showcase performance
Harry Burleigh’s Southland Sketches
The story of Harry Burleigh’s Southland Sketches is forever intertwined with Antonin Dvorak’s three-year stay in the United States. In 1892 Dvorak was invited to the United States with the mission to create a new style of “American” music. Being successful in capturing Czech folk music in his own style of nationalism, Dvorak was very enthusiastic about this new challenge. Dvorak sought melodic material by looking to African-American spirituals and Native American melodies, and used these to create a model in his own “American” works including the “New World” Symphony and the Violin Sonatina. Harry Burleigh, a voice student and assistant to Dvorak at the National Conservatory in New York, played an important role in introducing Dvorak to African-American spirituals. Dvorak asked Burleigh to sing for him and teach him spirituals which Burleigh learned from his maternal grandfather. Dvorak encouraged Burleigh to preserve these melodies in his own compositions. With Burleigh’s help, Dvorak believed he found America’s national musical identity. Burleigh went on to become one of the leading baritones and contributed hundreds of arrangements of spirituals and original compositions. He is credited with bringing the African-American spiritual into the concert hall as a new genre of American art song. Among this trove of vocal music lies a handful of instrumental works which are imbued with the musical heritage Dvorak so strongly encouraged. This mutual influence for a new “American” style can be heard throughout Burleigh’s Southland Sketches.