Concert Spirituals Audio Files

Below is an audio playlist of concert spiritual recordings from the personal collection of author and musician Randye Jones. Most tracks were originally released on 78 RPM, 45 RPM, audio cassette or long-playing discs between 1916 and the 1980s.

These concert spirituals were selected to present musicians who use a wide range of interpretative approaches–such as tempo choices, melodic and rhythmic improvisation or singing in dialect–as well as a variety of accompanying vocal and/or instrumental forces or unaccompanied traditional performances.  Some spirituals, for example “Deep River,” have been set and recorded numerous times, while others have drawn limited attention from composers or vocalists. The playlist also includes a few songs composed and performed in the style of the concert spiritual.

Vocalists and composers in the playlist encompass those who obtained international renown as interpreters of the concert spiritual and were recorded by major record producers to those who chose to independently produce commercial recordings. While most of these musicians are African American, the list is culturally diverse, reflecting the broad array of musical interest in the concert spiritual.

The vocalists–with biographical links to Afrocentric Voices in “Classical Music” where available–in the playlist include:

Adele Addison, soprano Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano Marian Anderson, contralto Ethel Ayler, soprano Kathleen Battle, soprano Jules Bledsoe, baritone Carol Brice, contralto Anne Wiggins Brown, soprano Lawrence Brown, vocalist Thomas Carey, baritone Count Carnette, vocalist Kitty Cheatham, soprano

Clarence Carroll Clark, baritone Ellabelle Davis, soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs, soprano Todd Duncan, baritone Nelson Eddy, baritone Simon Estes, bass-baritone Dorothy Fisher, contralto Mario Haniotis, bass Roland Hayes, tenor Barbara Hendricks, soprano Charles Holland, tenor Eugene Holmes, baritone

Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano Inez Matthews, mezzo-soprano Dorothy Maynor Robert McFerrin, baritone Dame Nellie Melba, soprano Robert Merrill, baritone Jeanette Miller, soprano Sherrill Milnes, baritone A. Grace Lee Mims, soprano Nettie Moore, contralto Oral Moses, bass Jessye Norman, soprano John C. Payne, baritone

Elwood Peterson, baritone Leontyne Price, soprano Paul Robeson, bass-baritone Bayard Rustin, tenor Oscar Seagle, baritone George Shirley, tenor Kenneth Spencer, bass-baritone Lawrence Tibbett, baritone Helen Traubel, soprano Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano William Warfield, baritone Camilla Williams, soprano Lucretia West, contralto

Composers of these concert spirituals and songs composed in the style of the spiritual include:

Edward Boatner McHenry Boatwright Margaret Bonds Lawrence Brown H. T. Burleigh Carl Davis William L. Dawson R. Nathaniel Dett

William Arms Fisher Leonard de Paur Roland Hayes Eva Jessye Hall Johnson John Rosamond Johnson William Lawrence Robert MacGimsey

Sam Morganstern Aubrey Pankey Willis Patterson [Ursula] Plinton Florence Price Mario Robbiani Howard Roberts Elie Siegmeister

Hale Smith William Grant Still Howard Swanson Frederick Tillis Booker T. Washington Andres Wheatley Clarence Cameron White John W. Work

 

 

Additional information about each track is available by searching The Spirituals Database.

Contents of this playlist are intended for research purposes.