04.
Many Americans have had to raise their voices to be recognized or even heard in America. In this program, we hear songs of African Americans and Native Americans; women, immigrants, and war resisters; and voices from the labor movement and the gay rights movement.
Related Educational ResourcesSong listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number:
Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing
John Rosamond Johnson
James Weldon Johnson
Record#: New World Records 80399 (Robert Honeysucker, baritone; Videmus chamber ensemble)
Song For a Dark Girl
Hermann Reutter
Langston Hughes
Record#: Orfeo d'Or C707062 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Malcolm Martineau, piano)
Song Collection: My Dark Hands
Silhouette
John Musto
Langston Hughes
Record#: Albany Records TROY 081 (Paul Sperry, tenor; Irma Vallecillo, piano)
Song Collection: Shadow of the Blues
Inketunga's Thunder Song
Arthur Farwell
Arthur Farwell
Record#: Program 4 & 8: New World Records 80463 (William Parker, baritone; William Huckaby, piano)
Song Collection: Three Indian Songs, Op. 32
The Indians
Charles Ives
Charles Sprague
Record#: Teldec/Warner Classics 2564-60297-2 (Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano)
The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Peter La Farge
Peter La Farge
Record#: FW 3044 (Pete Seeger, singer and guitar)
Within Thy Heart (op. 29, no. 1)
Amy Marcy Beach
Amy Marcy Beach
Record#: Bridge 9182 (Patrick Mason, baritone; Joanne Polk, piano)
Chinaman, Laundryman
Ruth Crawford Seeger
H. T. Tsiang
Record#: DG 000289 449 9252 6 (Lucy Shelton, soprano; Reinbert de Leeuw, piano)
Song Collection: Two Ricercari
Joe Hill
Earl Robinson
Alfred Hayes
Record#: MCD (or MON) 61580 (Paul Robeson, bass-baritone; Alan Booth, piano)
Joe Worker
Marc Blitzstein
Marc Blitzstein
Record#: BMG 902700 (Audra McDonald, soprano; Steven Tyler, piano)
The Real War Will Never Get in the Books
Ned Rorem
Walt Whitman
Record#: PHCD 116 (Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Eugene Istomin, piano)
Song Collection: War Scenes
Official Notice
Elie Siegmeister
Langston Hughes
Record#: NWCR814 (Esther Hinds, soprano; Alan Mandel, piano)
Song Collection: The Face of War
Fury
Donald Wheelock
Susan Snively
Record#: Harmonia 907602 (William Parker, baritone; Alan Marks, piano)
We Two Boys
Michael Tilson Thomas
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI 7243 5 55028 2 7 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
Song Collection: Whitman Songs
Oh, Freedom
Record#: Rykodisc 1004 (1996 CD) or V.I. Music 450661 (2005 CD) (Odetta, singer)
Whitman, the “Bard of Democracy,” was the founder of a new American language. With music built deep into his poetry, it’s no surprise that Whitman has been a beacon for American composers.
Throughout our history, America has gone to war with bravado and with anguish. Songs have helped shape those emotions, and express them—inspiring us to battle, sustaining our courage, giving us a way to lament our losses.
