The Voice of the Spirit
The Negro Spiritual: An American Genre for All
Florence Quivar, George Shirley, Ollie Watts Davis, & Katherine Jolly
Jacob Lawrence, The Music Lesson, from the Harlem Series, 1943, gouache on paper. New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, gift of the Friends of the New Jersey State Museum. Artwork © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society, ARS, New York.
Duration: 1 hour and 18 minutes
About:
A conversation with four internationally renowned African American Opera singers: Florence Quivar, George Shirley, Dr. Ollie Watts Davis and Dr. Katherine Jolly. These singers and pedagogues discuss their musical heritage and upbringing, the negro spiritual, and the performance practice of this important music.
“Blues Singer” by Palmer C. Hayden, undated, oil on canvas, Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles
Resources:
Links for Further Research:
Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" Music: Collections & Bibliography
The African American Art Song Alliance: Composer List & Facebook Page
Art of the Negro Spiritual: Singing Spirituals
The Spirituals Database: The Pioneers & Recommended Recordings
Books/Anthologies Referenced:
Christopher A. Brooks & Robert Sims - Roland Hayes: The Legacy of an American Tenor
Randye Jones - So You Want to Sing Spirituals
Willis Patterson - Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers
Eileen Southern
About the Presenters
Ollie Watts Davis
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Professor of Voice, Director of Black Chorus
Recordings:
- Rootsongs with the Jupiter String Quartet
- Here’s One, Spiritual Songs
- Have Thine Own Way, Lord (University of Illinois Black Chorus)
Publications:
- Talks my mother never had with me: Helping the young female transition to womanhood
