George_Walker__A_Twentieth_Century_Black_American_Composer

George Walker: A Twentieth Century Black American Composer Black composers have made significant advances in gaining acceptance in the field of classical music in the twentieth century. Many became innovators by combining some of the traditional styles associated with Blacks in their classical music and by exploring twentieth century compositional techniques. Living American composers, such as George Walker, are the product of the Black innovators of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This synthesis and exploration can be seen in most of Walker’s works, specifically his three songs “I Went to Heaven,” “Leaving” and “Mother Goose.” Throughout the twentieth century, music in America has played a significant role in defining its culture, and Black composers have made significant contributions towards shaping American music.1 Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Black composers produced primarily ragtime, jazz, spirituals and blues rather than classical compositions because Whites considered Blacks to be inferior and undereducated.2 These ideas could be seen in reviews of newspapers and magazines that discussed Black performances. One example is an article in an 1873 issue of the Dwight’s Journal 3 which discussed the performances of the Fisk Jubilee Singers: They have also received considerable musical instruction, and have been made black, music, walker, composers, american, classical, george, twentieth, composer, works, early, century, traditional, styles, seen, new, songs, voice, spirituals, piano, late, blues, two, measure, dvo#345ák, 2002, york, walker’s, song, piece, one, musical, idea, first, example