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JUNETEENTH PROGRAM for Noontime Concerts

A combination of June and nineteenth, Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day or African American Freedom Day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865. Ain-a That Good News, Great Day, and Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (and the walls came tumblin’ down) would have been appropriate and religious responses to Major General Gordon Granger’s announcement of the end of legalized slavery in the state of Texas in 1865 related belatedly after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Today’s presentation is a musical tribute to the indomitable spirit of a people who experienced enslavement and freedom.  Composers of African descent are featured as well as composers of non-African descent who were influenced by Black musical idioms.

PROGRAM

Classical

Arthur Farwell              Plantation Melody       (01:00)

Jean Sibelius                 The Spruce

Claude Debussy            Minstrels

Joseph Boulogne (aka Chevalier de St. Georges)        Adagio (slow)

Nathaniel Dett Adagio cantabile (slow, song-like)

Frederico Mompou     Les Jeunes Filles aux Jardin (Girls in the Garden)

Maurice Ravel              A la manière de Emmanuel Chabrier (In the Style of Emmanuel Chabrier)

Abram Chasins             Prelude in D minor

Jazzed Classical

Valerie Capers                  Billie’s Song

George Gershwin            Prelude No. 3 in E-flat minor

Alexander Scriabin         Prelude in C-sharp minor

Richard Thompson         (Jazz) Prelude No. 6

Spirituals

Harry T. Burleigh              On Bended Knees

Calvin Taylor                     Ain’-a That Good News

Calvin Taylor                     Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

Jacqueline  B. Hairston   Great Day Ode