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The Music Plays On — William Levi Dawson
The African American composer William Dawson was born in Anniston, Alabama, September 26, 1899. He moved to Chicago to attend the Chicago Musical College and the American Conservatory of Music, playing trombone in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, 1927–30. He taught music conducted the choir at Tuskegee Institute 1931–56, greatly influencing generations of students and faculty.
He began to compose at a young age, writing chamber music including a piano trio and a scherzo for orchestra, but he is best known today for his arrangements of spirituals. This recording of Dawson conducting his arrangements with the Tuskegee Institute Choir is extraordinary.
However brilliant his spiritual arrangements are, it is imperative we bring his Negro Folk Symphony back into the repertoire. While on tour with Tuskegee Institute Choir, Dawson showed this extraordinary score to Leopold Skokowski, who immediately fell in love with it. In 1934…
