Hale Smith

Hale Smith straddled the worlds of jazz and classical music as a composer, editor, performer, arranger, and educator. Self-described as “one of America’s most famous unknown composers,” Smith's won the 1973 Cleveland Arts Prize for Music, was designated to the New York Council on the Arts, and received various other awards from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Photo: Marilyn Harris, A Tribute to Hale Smith

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    About

    Born on June 29, 1925, in Cleveland, Hale Smith began studying piano at age 7. He began composing his own works, and by age 16 his compositions caught the interest of Duke Ellington. After serving in the Army (1943-5), he enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied composition with the serialist Marcel Dick and music theory with Ward Lewis. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1950 and a Master of Music degree in 1952. That same year his song cycle “The Valley Wind” (originally titled “Four Songs”) won the music licensing organization BMI’s first student composer award. His alma mater eventually awarded him an honorary doctorate for his achievements. Along with notable orchestral and lyrical compositions, Smith created jingles and music for radio, film, television, and theater. 

    After moving to New York in 1958, Smith found work as an editor and consultant at several music publishing houses (E.B. Marks, C.F. Peters, Frank Music Corp., and Sam Fox Music Publishers). He taught at the C. W. Post campus of Long Island University until 1970, and spent the rest of his teaching career as a music professor at the University of Connecticut-Storrs. Hale also worked as a consultant on music copyright infringement cases, representing popular artists such as Paul Simon and serving as an expert witness in Lennon v. Levy.

    The extensive list of distinguished musicians who have performed Hale Smith’s music extends to opposite poles of the musical world. From jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Chico Hamilton, his arrangements of spirituals have also been performed by sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. His work has additionally been performed by the notable John Coltrane, Joe Lovano, Ahmad Jamal, Chico Hamilton, Betty Carter and Eric Dolphy, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. 

    Smith made it known that he wanted his work, and that of his black peers, to appear on programs with that of Beethoven, Mozart, and Copland. “We don’t even have to be called Black,” he wrote in an article in 1971. “When we stand for our bows, that fact will become clear when it should after the music has made its own impact”. 

    Andrew Smith, Sophia Janevic

    This profile was created in 2022 as part of The Savvy Singer, an EXCEL Lab course at the The University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and a collaboration with the Hampsong Foundation via the Classic Song Research Initiative.

    This biography was edited in 2023 as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

     

    Sources:

    Caldwell, Hansonia, and Hale Smith. “A Man of Many Parts.” The Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (1975): 59–76. https://doi.org/10.2307/1214381.

    Grimes, William. “Hale Smith, Who Broke Borders of Classical and Jazz, Is Dead at 84.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Nov. 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/arts/music/28smith.html. 

    Harris, Marilyn. A Tribute to Composer HALE SMITH, http://marilynharris.com/HaleSmithObitNMB.jpg

    Related Information

    Songs

    Recordings

    How Sweet the Sound

    (Margaret Bonds, Henry T. Burleigh, Maria Thompson Corley, Jacqueline Hairston, Moses Hogan, Hall Johnson, Thomas H. Kerr, Betty Jackson King, Robert L. Morris, Hale Smith, Spiritual and George Walker)

    2011

    Sheet Music

    Beyond the Rim of Day

    Composer(s): Hale Smith

    Song(s): 1. March Moon, 2. Troubled Woman, 3. To a Little Lover-lass, Dead

    Voice Type: High Voice

    Buy via Subito Music

    Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, Compiled by Willis C. Patterson

    Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, Cecil Cohen, Noel de Costa, Mark Fax, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Eugene Hancock, Thomas Kerr, Jr., Charles Lloyd, Jr., Wendell Logan, Maurice McCall, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Hale Smith, William Grant Still, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Olly Wilson, John Work, Jr.

    Song(s): For You There is No Song (H. Leslie Adams)
    Early in the Mornin' (David Baker)
    A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet (David Baker)
    Status Symbol (David Baker)
    Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man; Dream Variations; I, Too (Margaret Bonds)
    The Barrier (Charles Brown)
    Song Without Words (Charles Brown)
    Death of an Old Seaman (Cecil Cohen)
    Two Songs for Julie Ju (Noel da Costa)
    Cassandra's Lullaby (Mark Fax)
    Love (Mark Fax)
    A Charm at Parting (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
    I Loved You (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
    Absalom (Eugene Hancock)
    Nunc Dimittis (Eugene Hancock)
    Riding to Town (Thomas Kerr, Jr.)
    Compensation (Charles Lloyd, Jr.)
    If There Be Sorrow (Wendell Logan)
    Marrow of My Bone (Wendell Logan)
    Chanson Triste (Maurice McCall)
    Sweet Sorrow (Maurice McCall)
    Weary Blues (Dorothy Rudd Moore)
    Love Let the Wind Cry...How I Adore Thee (Undine Moore)
    Faithful One (Robert Owens)
    Genius Child (Robert Owens)
    A Child's Grace (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
    Melancholy (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
    Night (Florence Price)
    Song to the Dark Virgin (Florence Price)
    Velvet Shoes (Hale Smith)
    Grief (William Grant Still)
    A Death Song (Howard Swanson)
    I Will Lie Down in Autumn (Howard Swanson)
    The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Howard Swanson)
    Lament (George Walker)
    A Red, Red Rose (George Walker)
    Wry Fragments (Olly Wilson)
    Dancing in the Sun (John Work, Jr.)
    Soliloquy (John Work, Jr.)

    Buy via Classical Vocal Reprints

    An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs - 60 Songs

    Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David N. Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, H. T. Burleigh, Valerie Capers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arthur Cunningham, Harriette Davison Watkins, William Dawson, Mark Fax, Bruce Forsythe, Antônio Carlos Gomes, Adolphus Hailstork, Jacqueline Hairston, Maud Cuney Hare, Jeraldine Herbison, Jonathan Holland, Sylvia Hollifield, Langston Hughes, J. Rosamond Johnson, Thomas Kerr, Lena McLin, Undine Smith Moore, Andre Myers, Camille Nickerson, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Eurydice Osterman, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Zenobia Powell Perry, Rosephanye Powell, Florence Price, Dave Ragland, Nadine Shanti, Carlos Simon, Hale Smith, Irene Britton Smith, Brandon Spencer, Hilbert Stewart, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Aurelia Young

    Song(s): Amazing Grace (H. Leslie Adams)
    Christmas Lullaby (H. Leslie Adams)
    Sence You Went Away (H. Leslie Adams)
    The Heart of a Woman (H. Leslie Adams)
    The Alarm Clock (David N. Baker)
    The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Margaret Bonds)
    Caring (Charles Brown)
    Desire (Charles Brown)
    Your Eyes So Deep (H. T. Burleigh)
    Your Lips Are Wine (H. T. Burleigh)
    Autumn (Valerie Capers)
    Elëanore (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
    The Willow Song (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
    Minakesh (Arthur Cunningham)
    Stars (Harriette Davison Watkins)
    Out in the Fields (William Dawson)
    The Refused (Mark Fax)
    With Rue My Heart Is Laden (Bruce Forsythe)
    Suspiro d’alma (Antônio Carlos Gomes)
    If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking (Adolphus Hailstork)
    Longing (Adolphus Hailstork)
    Loveliest of Trees (Adolphus Hailstork)
    Dormi, Jesu (Jacqueline Hairston)
    Gardé Piti Mulet Là (Maud Cuney Hare)
    I’ll Not Forget (Jeraldine Herbison)
    Little Elegy (Jonathan Holland)
    In Time of Silver Rain (Sylvia Hollifield)
    The Founding Fathers (Langston Hughes)
    This is My Land (Langston Hughes)
    L’il Gal (J. Rosamond Johnson)
    Soliloquy (Thomas Kerr)
    Amazing Grace (Lena McLin)
    The Year’s at the Spring (Lena McLin)
    I Am in Doubt (Undine Smith Moore)
    I Want to Die While You Love Me (Undine Smith Moore)
    For a Poet (Andre Myers)
    Chere, Mo Lemmé Toi (Camille Nickerson)
    Gué, Gué, Solingaie (Camille Nickerson)
    Mshila (Fred Onovwerosuoke)
    Entreaty (I Am the Rose of Sharon) (Eurydice Osterman)
    Could I but Ride Indefinite (Robert Owens)
    Die Nacht (Robert Owens)
    From the Dark Tower (Robert Owens)
    The Lynching (Robert Owens)
    The Secret (Robert Owens)
    Madrigal (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
    O Children of Men (Zenobia Powell Perry)
    I Want to Die While You Love Me (Rosephanye Powell)
    Spring (Florence Price)
    The Sum (Florence Price)
    Martin Luther King, Jr. (Dave Ragland)
    Mangez, Boulez (Eat, Drink, Be Merry) (Nadine Shanti)
    Prayer (Carlos Simon)
    Troubled Woman (Hale Smith)
    Why Fades a Dream? (Irene Britton Smith)
    Dream Variations (Brandon Spencer)
    Spring Song (Hilbert Stewart)
    One Day (Howard Swanson)
    I Went to Heaven (George Walker)
    Norris Swamp (Aurelia Young)

    Voice Type: 36 Songs are for High Voice - Medium to High Voice
    24 Songs are for Medium - Medium to Low Voice

    Buy via Classical Vocal Reprints

    Three Patterson Lyrics: For Soprano and Piano

    Composer(s): Hale Smith

    Song(s): Night Peace, To a Weathercock, The World Bows Down to Beauty (Sonnet I)

    Voice Type: Soprano

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