Reading and Interpreting Harry T. Burleigh’s From the Southland
From the Southland (1907), Harry Burleigh’s only work for solo piano, is a suite of six pieces that reveals some detail into the development of his compositional voice. Known primarily for his pioneering work with the art song spiritual, Burleigh also composed song cycles, folk ballads, and a few instrumental works. While existing readings of the piano suite highlight attributes of style and comment on a few vernacular emblems within the musical surface, this study seeks to not only broaden perspectives on Burleigh’s compositional voice and output, but also situate From the Southland as a work that foreshadows the neo-Romantic spirit and modernist tenets of the succeeding generation of African-American composers that were active during the Harlem Renaissance.
Each piece is prefaced by an epigraph signed by Louise Alston Burleigh, though some of the lines are from preexisting songs or writings. Through uses of the poetic epigraphs as interpretive frames, I aim to move beyond surface-level descriptions and offer more comprehensive readings of select works from the suite. For example, Jean Snyder (in Harry T. Burleigh: From the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance (2016)) mentions Burleigh’s “playful reference” to Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home” in “A Jubilee.” The implication of Burleigh’s reference is intriguing because of the distortion of the “Suwanee River” tune and its placement in a transitory section that prolongs dominant harmony. Furthermore, the aspect of “play” (or role playing) is suggestive by way of the first-person perspective of the epigraph: “Altho’ you see me go ‘long so, Ma spirit’s boun fo’ de Hebbenly sho’.” Exploring such connections in this piano suite expands the perspective of Burleigh’s aesthetic, and also offers insight into the breadth of his craftsmanship—which is sometimes overshadowed by his work with the spiritual.
From the Southland (1907), Harry Burleigh’s only work for solo piano, is a suite of six pieces that reveals some detail into the development of his compositional voice. Known primarily for his pioneering work with the art song spiritual, Burleigh also composed song cycles, folk ballads, and a few instrumental works. While existing readings of the piano suite highlight attributes of style and comment on a few vernacular emblems within the musical surface, this study seeks to not only broaden perspectives on Burleigh’s compositional voice and output, but also situate From the Southland as a work that foreshadows the neo-Romantic spirit and modernist tenets of the succeeding generation of African-American composers that were active during the Harlem Renaissance.
Each piece is prefaced by an epigraph signed by Louise Alston Burleigh, though some of the lines are from preexisting songs or writings. Through uses of the poetic epigraphs as interpretive frames, I aim to move beyond surface-level descriptions and offer more comprehensive readings of select works from the suite. For example, Jean Snyder (in Harry T. Burleigh: From the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance (2016)) mentions Burleigh’s “playful reference” to Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home” in “A Jubilee.” The implication of Burleigh’s reference is intriguing because of the distortion of the “Suwanee River” tune and its placement in a transitory section that prolongs dominant harmony. Furthermore, the aspect of “play” (or role playing) is suggestive by way of the first-person perspective of the epigraph: “Altho’ you see me go ‘long so, Ma spirit’s boun fo’ de Hebbenly sho’.” Exploring such connections in this piano suite expands the perspective of Burleigh’s aesthetic, and also offers insight into the breadth of his craftsmanship—which is sometimes overshadowed by his work with the spiritual.