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Julian Work
View on WikipediaJulian Cassander Work (September 25, 1910—June 15, 1995) was an arranger and composer.
Key Information
Work was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to a family of professional musicians. His grandfather, John Wesley Work (1848-1923) was a composer and arranger for the Fisk Jubilee Singers; his father, John Wesley Work Jr. (1871-1925) was the first African-American collector of folk songs and spirituals, and also a choral director, educator and songwriter; his brother John Wesley Work III (1901-1967) was a composer, educator, choral director, musicologist and scholar of African-American folklore and music; his mother, Agnes Hayes Work, was a singer who also helped train the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[1]
Work studied music with local teacher Mary E. Chamberlain and was involved in musical activities from an early age, participating in neighborhood musical groups and performing as a jazz pianist.[2][1] He studied composition with his brother John Wesley Work III while attending Fisk University, where he majored in sociology.[2][3] By 1929 he had moved to New York City and was playing piano on the radio.[4] He became a staff arranger for CBS Radio, becoming one of the first Black American composers to write music for radio and television.[3] He was also the sole music arranger for the Voice of Firestone on radio and television.[2] Work was also a member of the American Society of Music Arrangers and served on its national board in the mid-1940s.[5]
Work married Kathryn Holliday in 1953.[6] Upon his retirement they moved to Tolland, Massachusetts, where he died.[3]
Partial list of compositions
[edit]- Wanderlust (1938)[7]
- Myriorama by Night (orchestra, ca. 1946)[8]
- Portraits from the Bible (1956)[3]
- Autumn Walk (wind band, 1957)[3]
- Processional Hymn (arrangement of "Gaudeamus Igitur" for chorus with band or piano accompaniment, 1957)[1]
- Driftwood Patterns (wind band, 1961)[3][9]
- Stand the Storm (1963)[3]
- Reflections, Poems of Praise[2]
- Forest Images[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Eileen Southern, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musician (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), p. 415.
- ^ a b c d e Lucius R. Wyatt, "Composers Corner: Julian C. Work," Black Music Research Newsletter 8, no. 3, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f g William Burres Garcia and Willie Strong, "Work Family: Julian C(assander), Work," Grove Music Online. (accessed 11 July 2021)
- ^ For example, see "Radio Programs for Tuesday, August 20," New York Herald Tribune (August 19, 1929), p. G3.
- ^ Marvin, Wanda. ”Arrangers Want Some ‘Cake’ Too; ASMA Will Voice Beefs.” Billboard 56:50 (9 December 1944), 14, 22.
- ^ "New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018" on Ancestry.com.
- ^ "Martinelli Sings Eighth 'Otello, Last of Season", New York Herald Tribune (March 19, 1938), p. 8.
- ^ "Anderson Booked with Philharmonic." Los Angeles Times, 3 February 1946 (article gives LA Philharmonic premiere of the work as 7 February 1946).
- ^ The work is reviewed in Instrumentalist magazine, June 1961, 64 ("New Music").
External links
[edit]- The CBS Collection of Manuscript Scores in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (contains over 270 scores arranged and orchestrated by Julian Work)
- Invisible No More: Julian Work (blog post)
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