In 1893 the composer Antonin Dvorak prophesied a "great and noble" school of American classical music based on the searing "negro melodies" he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would found popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall. Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, he looks back to literary figures-Emerson, Melville and Twain-to ponder how American music can connect with a "usable past". The result is a new paradigm, that makes room for Black composers, including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Dawson and Florence Price, to redefine the classical canon.

Performing in a country rife with racism and segregation, the tenor Roland Hayes was the first African American man to reach international fame as a concert performer and one of the few artists who could sell out Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Covent Garden. His trailblazing career carved the way for a host of African American artists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Performing the African American spirituals he was raised on, Hayes's voice was marked with a unique sonority which easily navigated French, German, and Italian art songs. A multiculturalist both on and off the stage, he counted among his friends George Washington Carver, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Pearl Buck, Dwight Eisenhower, and Langston Hughes. This engaging biography spans the history of Hayes's life and career and the legacy he left behind as a musician and a champion of African American rights. It is an authentic, panoramic portrait of a man who was as complex as the music he performed.

Hangings, Sinkings and Trust in God: The fascinating life of an English sailor who enlisted with the Royal Navy from 1793 till 1837. Experience in vivid detail the lives and deaths of men who served during the age of glory of the most formidable fleet ever to sail. Meet amongst others Nelson, Hood, Rodney and Canadian Admiral Sir Provo Wallace who served for 96 years. Did you know... Until 1812 the British Royal Navy would seize Americans and force them into British military service. This was one of the causes of the war between Britain and the US between 1812 and 1815 (see Pressgangs). British seamen in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were extremely badly paid, but by helping to seize foreign ships they could earn rewards equivalent to a million dollars or more in modern terms (see Five Hundred Pounds Prize Money). If Napoleon had been one year older he would have been Italian, his parents were Italian, his first language was Italian and he hated the French - at least in his younger life (see Napoleon Bonaparte). Canadian Sir Provo Wallace served for 96 years with the Royal Navy (see Sir Provo Wallis). "There Go the Ships" was written by the Reverend George E.A Shirley in 1889. It is a fascinating first hand insight into life onboard various British warships between 1793 and 1837. "Hangings, Sinkings and Trust in God" draws upon the original text of "There Go the Ships," adds modern historical text to fill in gaps, adds insight and interest to an already fascinating book. Together the two show how random chance can create fascinating, sometimes very diverse, connections.

Blackness in Opera critically examines the intersections of race and music in the multifaceted genre of opera. A diverse cross-section of scholars places well-known operas (Porgy and Bess, Aida, Treemonisha) alongside lesser-known works such as Frederick Delius's Koanga, William Grant Still's Blue Steel, and Clarence Cameron White's Ouanga! to reveal a new historical context for re-imagining race and blackness in opera. The volume brings a wide-ranging, theoretically informed, interdisciplinary approach to questions about how blackness has been represented in these operas, issues surrounding characterization of blacks, interpretation of racialized roles by blacks and whites, controversies over race in the theatre and the use of blackface, and extensions of blackness along the spectrum from grand opera to musical theatre and film. In addition to essays by scholars, the book also features reflections by renowned American tenor George Shirley. Contributors are Naomi Andre, Melinda Boyd, Gwynne Kuhner Brown, Karen M. Bryan, Melissa J. de Graaf, Christopher R. Gauthier, Jennifer McFarlane-Harris, Gayle Murchison, Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., Eric Saylor, Sarah Schmalenberger, Ann Sears, George Shirley, and Jonathan O. Wipplinger.

Performing in a country rife with racism and segregation, the tenor Roland Hayes was the first African American man to reach international fame as a concert performer and one of the few artists who could sell out Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Covent Garden. His trailblazing career carved the way for a host of African American artists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Performing the African American spirituals he was raised on, Hayes's voice was marked with a unique sonority which easily navigated French, German, and Italian art songs. A multiculturalist both on and off the stage, he counted among his friends George Washington Carver, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Pearl Buck, Dwight Eisenhower, and Langston Hughes. This engaging biography spans the history of Hayes's life and career and the legacy he left behind as a musician and a champion of African American rights. It is an authentic, panoramic portrait of a man who was as complex as the music he performed.

Great vocal teachers from the 16th century through the early 19th century discovered through trial and error how to properly develop the singing voice, and the term bel canto came to be applied to both the manner of singing and the vocal music of that period. But by 1858, according to Rossini, the term was already being misused and wrongly confused with fioriture. Well-schooled in the teaching of singing, Rossini more accurately describes bel canto as being composed of: the building of the instrument; technique, or the means of using the instrument; and style, of which the ingredients are taste and feeling. In this 50th anniversary edition of The Free Voice, renowned vocal pedagogue Cornelius L. Reid articulates the teaching principles of his own school of functional vocal training, grounded firmly in the old principles while remaining in line with a modern understanding of the physical value of the vocal instrument. The muscles that move the vocal folds and the vocal folds themselves are involuntary, and as such, the singing voice is not an instrument that can be manipulated directly. Reid's approach to singing is one of indirect control, stemming from an understanding of the vocal registers and how specific patterns of pitch, intensity, and vowel affect the vocal folds. Through the vocal exercises outlined in this book, and catered to each individual, a poorly coordinated musculature can be brought to efficiency. Only when the musculature of the vocal mechanism is well-balanced and coordinated can the voice be free, and the natural beauty and resonance of the individual voice come through without force.