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In this second programme of this series, in which British composer Eleanor Alberga charts the contribution that black composers have made to the story of western classical music, the focus is America, and how 鈥渂lack pride and identity鈥� have helped to shape American classical music from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.

In the early 1890s, Antonin Dvorak was invited to the country to help establish an American national music. 鈥淲ith the negro melodies of America鈥�, he said, 鈥淚 discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music鈥�. There were several black classical composers who emerged at this time, and their music is often characterised by the use of spirituals; an example is the music of William Levi Dawson.

鈥淭he history of black people in America can never be divorced from the story of slavery鈥�, and Eleanor continues her story with a look at the impact on American culture of the 鈥楴orthern Migration鈥� of black people from the south and the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance. She features music by Lawrence Freeman, William Grant Still, Margaret Bonds, Julia Perry and Margaret Price.

There can be no denying that the 鈥榖lack experience鈥� has proved an important catalyst for expression amongst black American composers, but as Eleanor is at pains to point out, this is 鈥渁 story of composers who, like myself, just happen to be black鈥�. It is a not sub-genre of composition; the contribution that black classical composers make to the music of America is as broad as music itself. She foregrounds contrasting examples of American classical music from composers such as Adolphus Hailstork, Florence Price, George Walker, Julius Eastman, Jeffrey Mumford and Jonathan Bailey Holland.

(photo credit: Ben Ealovega)