WLA Fall Choral Concert – Spirituals

This concert will go live at 7:00 PM, Sunday, October 24, 2010 Central Standard Time (GMT-6)

Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1871

If it weren’t for the nine members of the Fisk University Jubilee Singers going on choir tour in 1871 to raise money for their dilapidated Nashville freedmen school, the world might never have heard of the Negro Spiritual.  The original Fisk University, the Fisk Free Colored School, occupied an old, hastily built, Union army hospital in downtown Nashville in the 1860’s. After the Civil War, the school rapidly grew to over 1000 freed slaves who were eager to learn, but by 1871 Fisk was so poor that the black students and white faculty both believed that they would have to close down.  All except for their choir director, George White, who believed that if he could raise $300 from an audience of black people in Atlanta and Memphis, that he could organize a profitable choir tour of Ohio and New York and help Fisk University stay open. Little did those nine singers know that when they left on tour that three years later they would not only have had sung at the White House for President Ulysses S. Grant but also in London for Queen Victoria!  The Fisk Jubilee Singers raised over $250,000 in three years and helped pay for Jubilee Hall, which, along with Fisk University, stands to this day.

Jubilee Hall, Fisk University, Nashville, TN

What also stands till this day is the enduring legacy of the Negro Spiritual.  Born out of the slaves’ African culture of music and song being such an integral part of their entire society that they could not help but sing even when enslaved in America, the Negro Spiritual has not only become the roots of American Jazz, Blues, and Gospel music but also has lived on by itself as its own unique musical art form.  Thousands of spirituals have been written down over the years and have become so engrained in American folk and sacred music that many today have forgotten that these same spirituals were the “Sorrow Songs” of the Negro Slave of the the 1800’s and brought back painful memories of a life of slavery when they were sung.  Yet, through those painful memories comes a message of faith and hope in Jesus, the Savior of the world, who endured whipping and torture just like the slaves. If he could deliver Daniel from the lion’s den, then why not every man?

ALL CHOIRS

Go Down, Moses

African-American Spiritual, arr. David Cherwin

Erin Jacobs, Dan Moldenhauer, John Kammueller, Eric Post, Tom Knuth, Patrick Marchant, soloists

FRESHMAN CHOIR

Ain’t That Good News

African-American Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan, ed. John Purifoy, adapted by Janet Klevberg Day

Follow the Drinking Gourd

From the children’s book Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter

All Night, All Day

African-American Spiritual, arr. Dale Witte

VIKING CHOIR

Little David, Play on Your Harp

African-American Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan

Deep River

African-American Spiritual, arr. John Leavitt

Jacob’s Ladder

African-American Spiritual, arr. Daniel Kallman; Jordyn Wege, solo

ACADEMY KIDS

Livin’ on a Prayer

arr. Mac Huff; Libby Adelmeyer &  Matt Diederichs, soloists

TRAVELING CHOIR

Down By the Riverside

African-American Spiritual, arr. Kirby Shaw; Stephanie Meyer, solo

Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name

African-American Spiritual, arr. Brazeal W. Dennard

There is a Balm in Gilead

African-American Spiritual, arr. William Dawson; Megan Galske, solo

Kumbaya

African-American Spiritual, arr. Kirby Shaw; Rachel Thiesfeldt & Allison Schulz, solo & duet

Elijah Rock

African-American Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan

ALL CHOIRS

Amen

Jester Hairston

This concert could not have happened without the following donations:

Manitowoc Lutheran High School - StageRight tiered 3‘x8’ platforms

Camp Philip - speakers, lights, dimmers, control surfaces

UW-FDL - control booth platforms

Andy Sehloff - amplifiers

Mike Rosenfeldt - HD video camera for streaming