Noteworthy: The Centennial of R. Nathaniel Dett's "Characteristic Anthem"

February 11, 2014

The influence of R. Nathaniel Dett has shaped Roland Carter's career ever since Carter took his first piano lessons under the watchful gaze of Dett's picture. Now Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Carter calls our attention to the 2014 centennial of Dett's "Listen to the Lambs."

"Listen to the Lambs"
By R. Nathaniel Dett
Recommended by Roland Carter

From Roland Carter:

"All of my teachers were admirers or students of Dr. Dett."
~Roland Carter

In 1914, 100 years ago, G. Schirmer published a milestone in American choral literature: “Listen to the Lambs.” I have known this piece since high school, for some 55 years. 

The life, music, and teachings of Robert Nathaniel Dett form a vital base of my musical heritage, contributing significantly to the shaping of my career. All of my teachers were admirers or students of Dr. Dett. My first piano teacher used him to watch over hundreds of students she taught in Chattanooga, Tennessee; she placed a picture of him atop the old upright on which we played. My high school teacher was a student of Dr. Dett, as were my principal college mentor and the instructors who oversaw my student teaching.  

Please recognize that “Listen to the Lambs” is not an arrangement or a setting of a spiritual. Dett accepted Antonin Dvorak’s challenge to American composers to use indigenous music materials, particularly Negro and Native American idioms, as the basis for compositions—American Nationalism.  The composer uses only the opening call and response of the traditional spiritual and builds what he terms “A Characteristic Anthem.” 

To accentuate the call-and-response technique, the opening section (“A”) uses timbral contrasts, beginning with women’s voices followed by responses from the male voices.  The “A” is repeated in reverse beginning with the men, and then the treble voices respond. Consistent with the anthem tradition, there is a contrasting “B” section with completely new material on a related biblical text: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.”  In true contrast, a solo with choral support is followed by a brief contrapuntal statement of the new theme, leading to a full choral statement akin to the sound of the Russian romantic liturgical music style. (Dett believed there is an affinity between Russian music traditions and the Negro spiritual.) The solo is repeated and uses an ostinato “in his bosom” in the choral parts, leading to a four-measure bridge on the text “Ah, Listen!” Section “A” returns with semichorus followed by a stretto section on “all a’crying,” with a final unison “Amen.”

Throughout my career this has been a beloved favorite of audiences, not only as an Advent anthem but also for general use. The challenge of this piece is not at all in the notes for the singers, but in the conductor’s pacing and shaping. 

Give this choral music milestone the attention it deserves and help celebrate the centennial of the publication of “Listen to the Lambs.”

Carter recommends the "Listen to the Lambs" recording by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale on the Marquis Music label.

Date of composition: 1913
Author/source of text: Spiritual/R. Nathaniel Dett
Parts: SSAATTBB/S or T Solo
Publisher: G. Schirmer
First performer: Hampton Choir 


Carter

Roland M. Carter is  Professor Emeritus of American music at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. During his 23-year tenure at The University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Professor Carter conducted choirs, taught classes, accompanied recitals, arranged music, funded concerts, fostered inter-departmental productions, chaired the department, mentored and recruited students, and promoted affirmative action.

To the greater Chattanooga community he has served as an advocate for the arts through his work with Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Association, with a very special promotion of the great musical traditions of the African-American heritage, through his work with The Chattanooga African American Museum, and the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song. 

Roland Carter served as the Ruth S. Holmberg UTC Foundation Professor of Music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Carter served as Head of the Cadek Department of Music and Conservatory for six years.  He also served as chair of the Department of Music at Hampton (Institute) University and director of its internationally acclaimed choirs for nearly a quarter century. 

He is founder and CEO of MAR-VEL, a publisher specializing in music by African American composers and traditions.

Chorus America’s Noteworthy web series highlights choral repertoire that may not be familiar to you—yet. Each month, a different conductor, music director, or other artistic professional recommends a piece of music that hasn't been widely noticed, but in his or her opinion, deserves to be heard.