William L. Dawson

Gwynne Kuhner Brown

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English

University of Illinois Press
14 April 2025

Western "classical" music; Classical music (c 1750 to c 1830); Sacred & religious music; Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups; Biography: arts & entertainment

Series: American Composers

William L. Dawson is recognized for his genre-defining choral spirituals and for his Negro Folk Symphony, a masterpiece enjoying a twenty-first-century renaissance. Gwynne Kuhner Brown’s engaging and tirelessly researched biography reintroduces a musical leader whose legacy is more important today than ever.

Born in 1899, Dawson studied at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He worked as a church, jazz, and orchestral musician in Kansas City and Chicago in the 1920s while continuing his education as a composer. He then joined the Tuskegee faculty, where for 25 years he led the Tuskegee Institute Choir to national prominence through performances of spirituals at the opening of Radio City Music Hall, on radio and television, and at the White House. The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski premiered Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony in 1934.

Engaging and long overdue, William L. Dawson celebrates a pioneering Black composer whose contributions to African American music, history, and education inspire performers and audiences to this day.

By: Gwynne Kuhner Brown
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780252045967
ISBN 10: 0252045963
Series: American Composers
Pages: 168
Publication Date: 14 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Inactive

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Early Life Chapter 2. Tuskegee Chapter 3. Vocal Music Chapter 4. Instrumental Music Chapter 5. After Tuskegee Notes Select Discography Works Sources and Bibliography Index

Gwynne Kuhner Brown is a professor of music at the University of Puget Sound.

Reviews for William L. Dawson

“Gwynne Kuhner Brown has given us an excellent book chronicling the life of one of America’s greatest composers. The thoughtful research into his education and career provides a stunning account that is easy to understand.”--Marques L. A. Garrett, editor of The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers