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Robert Nathaniel Dett
Robert Nathaniel Dett (October 11, 1882 – October 2, 1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. Born and raised in Canada until the age of 11, he moved to the United States with his family and had most of his professional education and career there. During his lifetime he was a leading Black composer, known for his use of African-American folk songs and spirituals as the basis for choral and piano compositions in the 19th century Romantic style of Classical music.
He was among the first Black composers during the early years after the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was organized. His works often appeared among the programs of Will Marion Cook's New York Syncopated Orchestra. Dett performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Boston Symphony Hall as a pianist and choir director.
Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in 1882 in Drummondville, Ontario (now part of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), to Charlotte (Washington) Dett and Robert T. Dett. Descended from previously enslaved people who had escaped and travelled North, his mother was a native of Drummondville and his father was from the United States. The young Dett studied piano at an early age, showing initial interest when he was three years old and starting piano lessons at the age of five. When he was a child, his mother directed him to study Shakespeare, Longfellow and Tennyson, and commit passages to memory.
In 1893, the family moved over the border to Niagara Falls, New York. At about age 14, Dett played piano for his local church, the Methodist Mission Church, later renamed to R. Nathaniel Dett Memorial Chapel. He studied at the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory of Music from 1901 to 1903.
He continued his piano studies at the Lockport Conservatory, matriculating to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he first encountered the practice of incorporating spirituals in classical music. He heard the music of Antonín Dvořák, a Czech composer who had toured the United States and incorporated elements of American music in his own work, including the New World Symphony. He was also influenced by the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who composed a set of three cantatas called The Song of Hiawatha based on a poem of the same name by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Some of the music reminded Dett of the spirituals he had learned from his grandmother. He was the first black American to complete the Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin (1908), for which he studied composition and piano. Dett toured as a concert pianist and during this period wrote only rudimentary piano compositions. He came under the influence of Emma Azalia Hackley, a soprano singer, who inspired his interest in black American folk music.
After graduation, Dett started teaching at Tennessee's Lane College, followed by a tenure at the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri. During this period, his compositional activities included writing practical choral and piano pieces suitable for his students. The 1913 piece In the Bottoms contains one of his most played movements, "Dance Juba". Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler performed the work at the Chicago Music Hall. In 1913 Dett began to teach at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, and in 1926 became the first black director of music there. He remained at Hampton until 1932. During his nearly twenty-year tenure, he founded the Hampton Choral Union, Musical Arts Society, Hampton Institute Choir and its School of Music. Internationally recognized, the choir specialized in African American sacred music and performed Dett's own compositions and arrangements. Sometimes, his arrangements were criticized for being "inauthentic" due to their similarities with Western classical music. He encouraged his Hampton student, soprano Dorothy Maynor, to pursue a career as a concert artist; she followed his advice to become one of the leading concert artists in the nation.
His position as a major pianist-composer was earned in 1914. His piece Magnolia was performed at the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Club. On June 3 that year he performed Magnolia and In the Bottoms. The Chicago Evening Post reported that among the works on the "All Colored" program, his works were the most innovative, and it praised his high level of piano skills.
On December 27, 1916, Dett married Helen Elise Smith. She was the first black graduate of the Institute of Musical Art in New York City, which became known as the Juilliard School of performing arts.
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Robert Nathaniel Dett
Robert Nathaniel Dett (October 11, 1882 – October 2, 1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. Born and raised in Canada until the age of 11, he moved to the United States with his family and had most of his professional education and career there. During his lifetime he was a leading Black composer, known for his use of African-American folk songs and spirituals as the basis for choral and piano compositions in the 19th century Romantic style of Classical music.
He was among the first Black composers during the early years after the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was organized. His works often appeared among the programs of Will Marion Cook's New York Syncopated Orchestra. Dett performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Boston Symphony Hall as a pianist and choir director.
Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in 1882 in Drummondville, Ontario (now part of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), to Charlotte (Washington) Dett and Robert T. Dett. Descended from previously enslaved people who had escaped and travelled North, his mother was a native of Drummondville and his father was from the United States. The young Dett studied piano at an early age, showing initial interest when he was three years old and starting piano lessons at the age of five. When he was a child, his mother directed him to study Shakespeare, Longfellow and Tennyson, and commit passages to memory.
In 1893, the family moved over the border to Niagara Falls, New York. At about age 14, Dett played piano for his local church, the Methodist Mission Church, later renamed to R. Nathaniel Dett Memorial Chapel. He studied at the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory of Music from 1901 to 1903.
He continued his piano studies at the Lockport Conservatory, matriculating to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he first encountered the practice of incorporating spirituals in classical music. He heard the music of Antonín Dvořák, a Czech composer who had toured the United States and incorporated elements of American music in his own work, including the New World Symphony. He was also influenced by the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who composed a set of three cantatas called The Song of Hiawatha based on a poem of the same name by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Some of the music reminded Dett of the spirituals he had learned from his grandmother. He was the first black American to complete the Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin (1908), for which he studied composition and piano. Dett toured as a concert pianist and during this period wrote only rudimentary piano compositions. He came under the influence of Emma Azalia Hackley, a soprano singer, who inspired his interest in black American folk music.
After graduation, Dett started teaching at Tennessee's Lane College, followed by a tenure at the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri. During this period, his compositional activities included writing practical choral and piano pieces suitable for his students. The 1913 piece In the Bottoms contains one of his most played movements, "Dance Juba". Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler performed the work at the Chicago Music Hall. In 1913 Dett began to teach at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, and in 1926 became the first black director of music there. He remained at Hampton until 1932. During his nearly twenty-year tenure, he founded the Hampton Choral Union, Musical Arts Society, Hampton Institute Choir and its School of Music. Internationally recognized, the choir specialized in African American sacred music and performed Dett's own compositions and arrangements. Sometimes, his arrangements were criticized for being "inauthentic" due to their similarities with Western classical music. He encouraged his Hampton student, soprano Dorothy Maynor, to pursue a career as a concert artist; she followed his advice to become one of the leading concert artists in the nation.
His position as a major pianist-composer was earned in 1914. His piece Magnolia was performed at the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Club. On June 3 that year he performed Magnolia and In the Bottoms. The Chicago Evening Post reported that among the works on the "All Colored" program, his works were the most innovative, and it praised his high level of piano skills.
On December 27, 1916, Dett married Helen Elise Smith. She was the first black graduate of the Institute of Musical Art in New York City, which became known as the Juilliard School of performing arts.
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