Margaret Bonds : the Montgomery variations and Du Bois Credo / John Michael Cooper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, John Michael, author.

Series:

New Cambridge music handbooks

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bonds, Margaret--Criticism and interpretation.

Bonds, Margaret.

Bonds, Margaret. Montgomery variations.

Bonds, Margaret. Credo.

Civil rights movements--United States.

Civil rights movements.

Music and race--United States--History--20th century.

Music and race.

Music--United States--20th century--History and criticism.

Music.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 164 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

In her lifetime, African American composer Margaret Bonds was classical music's most intrepid social-justice activist. Furthermore, her Montgomery Variations (1964) and setting of W.E.B. Du Bois's iconic Civil Rights Credo (1965-67) were the musical summits of her activism. These works fell into obscurity after Bonds's death, but were recovered and published in 2020. Since widely performed, they are finally gaining a recognition long denied. This incisive book situates The Montgomery Variations and Credo in their political and biographical contexts, providing an interdisciplinary exploration that brings notables including Harry Burleigh, W.E.B. and Shirley Graham Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abbie Mitchell, Ned Rorem, and - especially - Langston Hughes into the works' collective ambit. The resulting brief, but instructive, appraisal introduces readers to two masterworks whose recovery is a modern musical milestone - and reveals their message to be one that, though born in the mid-twentieth century, speaks directly to our own time.

Contents:

Margaret Bonds's Societal Mission and The Montgomery Variations

Hope, Divine Benevolence, and The Montgomery Variations

The Text and Music of the Credo ; Appendix 3.1. Full Text of Du Bois's Credo

Interpreting the Credo in Context

Epilog. The Veil and Margaret Bonds's Syncretic Dual Perspective.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 30 Nov 2023).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009053792 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.