At Fisk University, A Tradition Of Spirituals
The Fisk University Jubilee Quartet in 1909, from left: Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass) and John W. Work II (first tenor). Courtesy of Doug Seroff hide caption
The Fisk University Jubilee Quartet in 1909, from left: Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass) and John W. Work II (first tenor).
Courtesy of Doug SeroffHear The Music
"There Is A Balm In Gilead" (1909)
"There Is A Light Shining On Me" (1915)
There Breathes a Hope is available at Archeophone Records.
For nearly 150 years, a largely black private university in Nashville has prided itself on its liberal arts studies and its music. Vocal ensembles at Fisk University have been there about as long as the campus itself. But the songs performed there today could have sounded very different if it hadn't been for the efforts of one of the school's first music directors.
A new collection from Archeophone Records, an Illinois label that revives old recordings, not only preserves that effort but also reopens the debate on whether so-called Negro spirituals are simply cruel reminders of slavery. The collection is titled There Breathes a Hope: The Legacy of John Work II and His Fisk Jubilee Quartet, 1909-1916.
Between 1909 and 1916, the Fisk Jubilee Quartet recorded more than 40 songs. John Work II was a scholar, musician and anthropologist who collected these songs from the days of slavery, had them published and recorded many of them with the quartet.
The Switch
When Work came to Fisk University in 1891, the institution had already used music as a way to save the school from insolvency. The first Fisk Jubilee Singers toured the world, performing for Queen Victoria, among others. And what they were performing was just as significant: They switched from operatic arias to religious songs like "There Is a Balm in Gilead." But by the time Work came to Fisk, the choir had disbanded and was all but forgotten, in part because of those very songs.
"Because of their very sacred nature, they had been an essential part of the insular slave worship," author Doug Seroff says. "Further, white minstrel performers had seized on their spiritual songs and subjected them to parody and ridicule — ridiculing the slave's religion as well as the songs."
Seroff has traced the earliest history of black vocal harmonies and written the liner notes for the new collection. He says there was a reluctance to perform spirituals following emancipation because they were seen as a degrading reminder of slave life. Freed men were anxious to put this era behind them, he says, and saw a college education as a way to achieve that. But Seroff says Work saw things differently.
"For John Work, the spirituals preserved the religious faith and wisdom of his forebears," Seroff says. "And he took great pride in the racial heritage of sacred folk music, especially the fact that the songs in his mind contained no trace of hatred or revenge against the slave masters and oppressors."
John Work II took pride in the racial heritage of sacred folk music. Courtesy of Fisk University, John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library Collection hide caption
John Work II took pride in the racial heritage of sacred folk music.
Courtesy of Fisk University, John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library CollectionMessengers Of Black Music
Work, the son of a slave, eventually convinced the university to let the singers go back out on tour.
Reduced from a chorus to a men's quartet for financial reasons, they made their first recordings in 1909 for the Victor label. The Fisk Jubilee Quartet became messengers for black music, says Tim Brooks, author of the book Lost Sounds, a history of the earliest African-American recordings.
"They only toured in the North, of course, and usually to a kind of upper-educated group, and churches, and things like that," Brooks says. "They didn't play vaudeville or broad-based entertainment. So when those records came out from Victor — the big record company in 1910 — they spread across the country. People everywhere, including people who would never allow a black person in their front parlor, bought those records."
Some blacks felt the Fisk Jubilee Singers were pandering to white audiences. But Brooks says there were fans, including Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak, who believed black Americans should look to their own roots and traditions for music, and then build on them.
"Another very prominent school of thought was that, 'No, they should show that they can do everything that the white man can do, and do it as well, or do it even better,' " Brooks says. "That is, follow the European tradition, go into great art and show how well they could do it. Roland Hayes himself pursued that very strictly."
Hayes was the most prominent singer to come out of the Fisk Jubilee Quartet. He went on to become a lyric tenor. Translating the power of his voice and the rest of the quartet recordings for modern ears turned out to be a challenge for Richard Martin, co-owner of Archeophone Records. He says the shellac discs and wax cylinders compiled for this CD set were released years before standard playback speeds existed. And, with only a cappella voices to guide him, Martin sought some advice.
"The recommended speeds as they applied made this material sound like it was funeral music," Martin says. "By consulting with an expert and testing out some theories and comparing it to what we knew about what the group was supposed to sound like, we were able to make the changes to the pitching that made it much more vibrant, much more jubilant, and it just clicked."
In Work's Footsteps
Surprisingly, Work's contributions to African-American music on the Fisk campus were largely overshadowed by those of his son. John Work III spent more than 40 years at Fisk, not only as a student and teacher but also as leader of the Jubilee Singers. He ultimately became the first African-American chairman of the school's music department. Anthony Williams, an associate professor of music at Fisk, wrote his dissertation on John Work III, whom he knew as a child.
"The research [John Work III] did was more extensive; therefore, he probably overshadowed his father in that regard," Williams says. "But I believe without his father's work, I'm not sure where his son would have been in terms of his work and research."
John Work II left the Fisk campus under a cloud. It's unclear whether he was dismissed or quit because the university remained uncomfortable with the kind of music he championed.