SKU: PR.140401330

ISBN 9781491134412. UPC: 680160684939.

Nathaniel Dett was among America’s leading composers in the early 20th century, and MAGNOLIA SUITE is a beautiful example of his rich, hybrid style. Deeply inspired by the music and mission of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Dett’s piano music springs from the late Romantic traditions of florid texture and embellishment, along with programmatic titles and raw emotion. It is notable for melody writing inspired by and paraphrasing African-American song. The 18-minute MAGNOLIA SUITE contains five movements, any of which may also be performed separately. This edition by Lara Downes provides a clean, new engraving that corrects the many errors and unclear indications appearing in the historical printing.
Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in a place that was built on freedom. The little village of Drummondville, Ontario was founded by enslaved Africans – Dett’s ancestors among them – who traveled the Underground Railroad out of the American South into Canada. Their journey brought them to a safe haven, a place where fortunes and futures could be transformed in the span of one generation, to lives full of new possibilities. You could call it “the place where the rainbow ends,” which is the title of the last movement of Dett’s Magnolia Suite.When Dett wrote these pieces, he was a young teacher at Lane College in Tennessee, a historically Black college that had been founded in 1882, the year of his birth. A place built on freedom, with the purpose of educating newly-emancipated slaves – a place designed to nurture the blossoming of ideas, the vibrant flowering of minds set free. This music is inspired by the gorgeous splendor of the magnolia blooms on that college campus, and also by the shared histories, experiences, and aspirations of the community that Dett found there.These five pieces pay affectionate tribute to lineage and legacy. They express gratitude for the bittersweet beauties of the present; nostalgia for the past (a bit romanticized, as the past always is); and an effervescent optimism for the future that awaits us in the place where the rainbow ends.

SKU: AP.48971

UPC: 038081562957. English. Traditional Spiritual.

This a cappella arrangement was originally published in The Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals (1936). Share this impressive work with today's choirs in a carefully crafted new edition by Dr. Marques L. A. Garrett. The motet-like setting features an unaltered soprano melody that appears with each iteration of the refrain. Accompanying voices are imitative, with an ascending melody to represent the singer's journey to heaven (home over Jordan). Publication includes brief background information to provide introductory context about R. Nathaniel Dett, a Black nationalistic composer, educator, conductor, and writer who transformed impressions of Black music during the early twentieth century.

SKU: AP.36-M398291

UPC: 654690637635. English.

Robert Nathaniel Dett was a Canadian-American Black 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. The Magnolia Suite for solo piano is in five movements: 1. Magnolias (D Major), 2. The Deserted Cabin (B minor), 3. My Lady Love (A Major), 4. Mammy (D flat Major), The Place Where the Rainbow Ends (G flat Major).

These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.

SKU: GI.G-10703

English. Text source: Traditional.

SKU: AP.36-M321691

UPC: 660355010828. English.

"In the Bottoms" is a Suite of five numbers giving pictures of moods or scenes peculiar to African-American life in the river bottoms of the South.  It is similar in its expression, and in a way continuation, of the sentiments already set forth in the "Magnolia Suite," but suggests ideas incidental to life in a more particular geographic territory.  Movements: 1. Prelude (Night)  2. His Song  3. Honey (Humoresque)  4. Barcarolle (Morning)  5. Dance (Juba).

These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.

SKU: GI.G-10151

UPC: 785147015116. English. Text Source: Thomas Hastings, 1784-1872, alt. Text by Thomas Hastings.