1871: I Too Sing America

Available for 35 days

1871, Ohio. A group of young Black students from Fisk University step onto a church balcony and begin to sing. Their repertoire is unlike anything most of the audience have heard before: spirituals, shaped by generations of enslaved African Americans and passed down through families, churches and communities. Before long, the Fisk Jubilee Singers are attracting attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Formed to raise money for a struggling university founded after the American Civil War, the singers tour the United States, Britain and Europe, overcoming prejudice and hostility along the way. Their performances help establish spirituals as a recognised concert tradition, bringing songs once confined to private and religious settings into public musical life. The influence of those songs reaches far beyond the nineteenth century. Through musicians such as Harry Burleigh and composers including Antonín Dvořák, spirituals become part of a wider conversation about what an American classical tradition might sound like. Their legacy can be heard in the work of generations of composers who draw on African American musical traditions in the concert hall. Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1,000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Kate Williams is in the chair, as together they explore the rich musical world of the nineteenth century. Producer: Megan Jones Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford Story Consultant: Kate Leys Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding MUSIC DETAILS Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan. Fisk Jubilee Singers: Go Down, Moses Fisk Jubilee Singers: Steal Away Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" – I. Adagio – Allegro molto Fisk Jubilee Singers: Blow Gabriel Blow Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63 Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" – II. Largo Harry T. Burleigh: Deep River Harry T. Burleigh: Southland Sketches William Grant Still: Darker America Jessie Montgomery: Source Code Fisk Jubilee Singers: Wade in the Water To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Key Changes."