Nathaniel Dett’s In the Bottoms

This February, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates Black composers and musicians whose music has been suppressed and ignored. All of these musicians should be added to the music history and music theory curriculum.

https://youtu.be/2MRD9XcRTcI

Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943), born in Canada but raised in the United States from the age of 11, was well known for the use of African American folk songs and spirituals in his Romantic-style compositions. He was the first Black student to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin, where he studied piano and composition. He devoted his life to education and furthering knowledge of Black music history. He later received a Master’s of Music from Eastman, and he also studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger.

In 1918, Dett said, “We have this wonderful store of folk music—the melodies of an enslaved people. . . . But this store will be of no value unless we utilize it, unless we treat it in such manner that it can be presented in choral form, in lyric and operatic works, in concertos and suites and salon music—unless our musical architects take the rough timber of Negro themes and fashion from it music which will prove that we, too, have national feelings and characteristics, as have the European peoples whose forms we have zealously followed for so long.”

Dett composed his “Suite caractéristique” In the Bottoms in 1913. The five movements—1. Prelude (Night); 2. His Song; 3. Oney (humoresque); 4. Barcarolle (Morning); and 5. Juba (Dance)—depict the lives of Black Americans who lived along river bottoms in the South. Dett was inspired by Dvorak to incorporate folk songs into his own work. Dett skillfully employs syncopation, ancient modes, and remote key modulations. The Barcarolle has some similarities to Chopin, but throughout Dett’s style shines through. The suite finishes with a wonderful ragtime dance. Dett premiered In the Bottoms on 3 June 1914 in Chicago, and his performance and the piece were both acclaimed.

My classical music post for today is Nathaniel Dett’s In the Bottoms.

 


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