Date of Award

Fall 2024

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Music, DMA

Program

School of Arts and Humanities

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Robert Zappulla

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

David Rentz

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Mark Howard

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Michael T Stanley

Keywords

American composers, Black composers, Critical Edition, Enchantment Suite, Orchestral Music, R. Nathaniel Dett

Subject Categories

Music | Music Practice

Abstract

In the annals of music history, there are many composers whose works have fallen out of the repertoire over time, including some who were very famous and popular during their lifetimes. This phenomenon is compounded for composers from diverse backgrounds who often face issues of racism or other forms of discrimination when trying to make inroads into the Western classical music establishment. Such has typically been the case for Black composers in America until recent cultural events spurred an explosion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the U.S. As a result, the music of African American composers past and present has recently seen a resurgence of popularity unprecedented in the history of American classical music. However, the programming has primarily focused on a small number of Black composers who have become well-known while many others have yet to be rediscovered. As a result, there are valuable compositions by deserving African American composers that have yet to be brought to light. In many cases, the music has never been published and is unavailable in its current state for orchestras to use.

This project works to remedy that situation by making available for the first time a previously unpublished and unknown orchestral version of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s Enchantment Suite made by the composer himself. Enchantment Suite is a four-movement work of fifteen to nineteen minutes in duration that until now has only been known as a suite for piano. However, newly discovered primary source documentation has revealed that Dett’s initial concept for the music was orchestral. In addition, Enchantment Suite is unique in Dett’s output in that it is a thoroughly Romantic work based on an original program of his creation with minimal use of the type of Negro folk material with which his music is usually associated.

Through the discovery of the orchestra manuscript and other primary source materials in the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia, a new critical edition of this work has been prepared and will be made available for orchestras to perform, thereby expanding the diversity of the orchestral repertoire by adding another composition by a worthy Black American composer of the past which orchestras can program. It is hoped that the publication of this orchestral version of the Enchantment Suite will spark an interest in Dett and his music and lead to the discovery of other pieces by diverse composers that will further enrich the repertoire.

ISBN

9798346890195

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