Although one of the most famous female African American composers of her time who played a vital role in 20th- century classical music and musical theater, Margaret Bonds’ legacy remains mostly forgotten. Born in 1913, Bonds received extensive musical education from both her parents and several popular black musicians of the time, such as Florence Price and Will Marion Cook. In 1929, when she was sixteen, Bonds began her pursuit of collegiate musical education at Northwestern University. It was here that she faced much discrimination and an inherently racist environment as she was one of only a handful of black students in an almost entirely white student population. However, by reading poems by Langston Hughes, Bonds was able to find the strength to continue her education in the hostile environment, and ultimately received her Bachelor and Master of Music in piano and composition. In 1933, while still attending Northwestern, Bonds was able to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in its Century of Progress series. This was incredibly significant as she was the first black person to ever perform with the orchestra. 

After graduation, Bonds moved to New York City where she formed the Margaret Bonds Chamber Society. She also began to work on spiritual compositions, one of the most notable being her cantata The Ballad of the Brown King, which incorporated jazz, blues, and calypso styles. The work was performed by the George McClain Choir in 1954; and in 1960, it was aired on television. Furthermore, Bonds also played a key role in musical activism during the Civil Rights movement and wrote several pieces inspired by racial injustice. This is very important as most of the music dedicated to black activism was written by men and rarely by women. One of the most significant compositions that she dedicated to activism was the Montgomery Variations, intended for orchestra and theater.

The Montgomery Variations has been included here not only because of its rich, emotional sound, but also because of its connection to the Civil Rights movement and African American efforts to achieve social equality. Bonds created the work as an artistic approach to show African Americans’ discontent with segregation, and as a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. However, she was never able to hear the work performed and it soon became an estate item that was archived. A few years later in April of 1972, Bonds died of a heart attack and was buried next to her mother’s grave. 

Unfortunately, for such a remarkable career and powerful music, Margaret Bonds has remained mostly unknown as many of her works were archived since she did not have a will leaving them to someone. Furthermore, as she passed away before the Copyright Act of 1976 and has no living descendants, there is no one to control the copyright claims for her works, making it very difficult for ensembles to perform her works. However, Georgetown University has been making great strides in performing and reintroducing her work after finding some of her compositions in their archives. Through this, there is hope that Bonds will finally receive the recognition she deserves. 

Born in 1875, in Holborn, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was the son of Alice Hare Martin and Dr. Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor. Taylor grew up in Croydon, England and began to learn the violin from his step-father. As he became older and his talent more apparent, Taylor joined the Royal College of Music at the age of fifteen. It was here that he dropped his studies in the violin and took up composition under the instruction of Professor Charles Stanford. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, Taylor became a conductor of an amateur orchestra in Croydon while also beginning to compose pieces for theater, choir, and orchestras. His debut began in 1898 with his Ballade in A Minor, an orchestral work performed at the Gloucester Festival. It was so well received that he was deemed “a genius” by August Jaeger, a popular music publisher. As he continued in his career, he incorporated traditional African styles into his music, one of his most popular works being Deep River (1904) which was an African spiritual. It was originally written for the piano, but has been reimagined by artists specializing in other instruments. 

Taylor’s music incorporating traditional African styles became so popular both in Europe and America, despite both countries’ extreme racism, that he was able to go on tour three times. By 1904, his music had become so well-known that he was invited by Theodore Roosevelt to perform at the White House. This showed promise and somewhat of a step forward for blacks as being invited to the White House, no matter how talented or well known, was extremely rare. Sadly, however, Taylor’s career was cut short as he passed away on September 1, 1912 from pneumonia at the age of 37. 

Although Taylor’s career was relatively short, he left behind a very strong and impressive musical legacy. One of his most popular works to this day is his cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1898) which is the first part of his trilogy The Song of Hiawatha (see video below). Taylor was 23 when he composed this work for orchestra and choir. It was first performed in England at the Royal College of Music in 1898 and had its first American performance at the Cecilia Society of Boston in 1900. The piece has been included here not only because of its significance to Taylor’s success and has a wonderful score, but also because of its incorporation of poetry. When Taylor composed The Song of Hiawatha, he used parts of  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha to be sung by choir. Overall, both the instrumentals and choir together create a very beautiful score that is enjoyable to listen to throughout the entire piece. 

Most historians believe that Taylor’s legacy became forgotten due to his young death. Even though he had great fame when he was still alive, the musical world was almost completely dominated by whites. With the extreme racism of his time, people just began to forget about his works and accomplishments because he was black. The culture at the time only sustained the legacies of white composers while black composers were quickly forgotten after their deaths, no matter how famous they were. However, many artists are beginning to recognize the legacy of Taylor and are becoming more and more determined to give him the recognition that he deserved post-death.

Stephen Raymond, 11th Grade - Percussion

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a famous African-American English composer, born on August 15th, 1875 in London, England and died on September 1st, 1912 In London England.  His father was a local vicar who was already 53 when Samuel was born, but then passed when Coleridge was just six years old, and his mother was a Doctor who studied medicine. Coleridge- Taylor was very famous in the English community for being a great composer and conductor. Taylor’s music was so great, his nickname had been the “African Mahler” which white New York composers called him. “African Mahler” came from a composer named Gustav Mahler, since Mahler was an Australian master symphony composer, who was also well known and respected. Although Taylor had lived a short life, for most of it, he fought for African-American and all racial prejudice all his life, which he earned much respect for, and was later admired by many. 

Taylor was a composer of both African-American folk music and classical concert music. He had composed many pieces, such as African Suite, African romances, and many more. Taylor had been pretty successful, he was even recommended to Three Choirs Festival in Worcester. Taylor was really known as a “genius” composer. One of his most famous pieces, mainly known for his three cantatas based on the epic poem, Song oh Hiawatha. This piece was absolutely amazing, it was very relaxing all throughout and really was beautifully composed.

William Grant Still was the first African American conductor for an American Symphony Orchestra. Along with that major accomplishment, Still was the first to have his Opera produced by an opera company and to have it performed on national television. His most famous piece was the ‘Afro-American’ Symphony No. 1. Still composed over 150 pieces of music which included 5 symphonies and 8 Operas. Born in Woodsville Mississippi in 1895, he had been musically gifted from a young age and attended Oberlin College’s school of Arts and Sciences. His mother wanted him to become a doctor but he decided to go to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Famously once he graduated from college he became an avid oboe player as well as Jazz Arranger. Grant Still went on to write music/operas for the New York City Opera and was the conductor for the Los Angelos Philharmonic Orchestra. 

I choose this piece because it is Still’s most famous piece and I wanted to listen to it. You can hear the heart and soul he put into his music and how he reflected what it was like to be a black man into musical notes. I believe he is not as famous as some of his white counterparts because that’s just how life used to be back then, African Americans weren’t respected in music or anywhere except for in a few cases for Jazz Music. Still was a great musician and composer but because of the color of his skin, it was hard for him to find the even greater success he deserved. We can honor his memory by listening to the beautiful music he wrote throughout his entire life until his death in 1978.

Stephen Raymond, 11th Grade - Percussion

William Grant Still, was one of the greatest African-American composers of all time. Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on May 11, 1895. Still’s father was also a musician, but had died when William was just an infant, however, William’s mother was a schoolteacher. Still was a very smart student in school. While in school, he composed many pieces, which some had been performed by his school’s symphonic band. As a senior in high school, Still became class Valedictorian. After High School, Still studied in college for 2 years, but near the end of college, he dropped out to pursue a career as a musician. Years later, Still returned to college, where he studied many different kinds of music, starting with Classic Symphonic, then changing to study more black culture music, such as Jazz and Blues. 

Still always had the urge to compose music all his life. After college, he was taught more how to compose music by composers, George Chadwick and Edgar Varese. Through Still’s lifetime, he had composed over 150 pieces. One of Still’s most recognized pieces was the, Afro-American Symphony - I. Moderato Assai. I truly found this piece to be very beautiful and moving, and after learning more about him, and knowing his love for jazz, you could hear the Jazz in this piece, it contained a mix of both Classical Symphony and Jazz style. Aside from his music,  one of the greatest best parts about Still’s life is that it did not matter to him if he was a number one composer. All that Still wanted was for his voice to be heard by many, and to lift up people’s spirits of all countries, colors, and races, through the power of his pieces.

Stevie Wonder is a black songwriter, composer, and musician who was born in 1950 and still lives to this day. He was born blind, but it never stopped him from learning music at a very young age, starting with piano, harmonica, and drums at the age of 4. At the age of 11, he was signed to a 5-year record deal with Motown to start recording covers of Ray Charles’ music and slowly move on to his own music. During his first tour in 1962, at the age of 12, Stevie Wonder was only able to perform in theatres that accepted black artists. When he was 13, he became the youngest artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 list, and during the mid-1970’s, he became the only person to have won the Album of the Year Award at the Grammys for three consecutive album releases. Wonder is well known for songs such as Superstition, Sir Duke, For Once In My Life, and Isn’t She Lovely. The type of music he wrote was for rhythm and blues, pop, and soul bands. He is credited for influencing musicians of genres such as rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, gospel, pop, and funk. He’s been able to play his music from street corners to huge sold-out arenas throughout his life.

I chose to listen to the song I Just Called To Say I Love You because it’s a very down-to-earth and relatable song for many people. It was written from the heart, but also can form a place in others’ hearts to remember and enjoy. This song was written as an original song for a motion picture and presents sounds of 80’s pop, RnB, and a little bit of soul.

Stevie Wonder is just as well-known as his white counterparts, but unfortunately, they’ve casted shadows on some of his music. When people think of the 1960’s, they think of the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. The 1970’s were filled with the Beatles and the Bee Gees, while the 80’s had Bon Jovi and Madonna. This is the way people reflect back on those decades, especially the newer generations that inquire about music from before their time. Black musicians inspired a lot of the music that white musicians have written, but people forget to remember where it all started.