Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre - "Wade in the Water" (with a video of that company's complete production of "Revelations")

Taylor Denny, Feb 22, 2021 -snip- This is a portion of Alvin Ailey's production entitled "Revelations". A YouTube video of that complete dance production is given as "Showcase Video #2 in this post.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the African American Spiritual "Wade In The Water" and showcases a YouTube video of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre performing "Wade in The Water", a piece from that company's production entitled "Revelations".

Information about Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre is included in this post along with a YouTube video of the complete production of "Revelations".

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of "Wade In The Water". Thanks to Alvin Ailey for his cultural legacy and thanks to all past and present members of Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of these videos on YouTube.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on the African American Spiritual "Wade  In Water" and songs that are based on that Spiritual. Google "Wade In The Water Pancocojams  or click the "Wade In The Water" tag below for other pancocojams posts in that series.

This post replaces a 2015 pancocojams post on Alvin Ailey's "Revelation". 

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL "WADE IN THE WATER"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_in_the_Water

"Wade in the Water" (Roud 5439) is an African American jubilee song, a spiritual—in reference to a genre of music "created and first sung by African Americans in slavery…W. E. B. Du Bois called this genre of songs the Sorrow Songs. "Wade in the Water" is associated with songs of the Underground Railroad.[5][6][7]

Fisk Jubilee Singers

John Wesley Work Jr. (1871–1925)—also known as John Work II—spent three decades at the historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, Fisk University, collecting and promulgating the "jubilee songcraft" of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers—an African-American a cappella Fisk University student chorus (1871–1878),[8] known for introducing a wider audience to spirituals.[9][10] In 1901, Work II co-published New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers with his brother, Frederick J. Work, which included "Wade in the Water."[2][11][12] Trademarks of the John Work II's Fisk singers included the "closing ritard that showcases the beauty and blending of the voices", the "solo call and unison response, overlapping layers, and spine-tingling falsetto humming."[13]...

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INFORMATION ABOUT ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE
From http://www.alvinailey.org/about
"Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now-fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance. The Ailey company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents – and has reached millions more online and through television broadcasts.

In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world” that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage. When Mr. Ailey began creating dances, he drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work, Revelations. Although he created 79 ballets over his lifetime, Mr. Ailey maintained that his company was not exclusively a repository for his own work. Today, the Company continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and commissioning new ones. In all, more than 235 works by over 90 choreographers have been part of the Ailey company’s repertory. Before his untimely death in 1989, Alvin Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Ms. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Revelations Alvin Ailey

Rhys Connolly, Published on Jun 6, 2015

Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul.

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INFORMATION ABOUT ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE'S "REVELATIONS"
From http://www.alvinailey.org/about/company/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/repertory/revelations
"About Revelations

Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul.

More than just a popular dance work, it has become a cultural treasure, beloved by generations of fans. Seeing Revelations for the first time or the hundredth can be a transcendent experience, with audiences cheering, singing along and dancing in their seats from the opening notes of the plaintive “I Been ’Buked” to the rousing “Wade in the Water” and the triumphant finale, “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”

Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the African-American cultural heritage —“sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” This enduring classic is a tribute to that tradition, born out of the choreographer’s “blood memories” of his childhood in rural Texas and the Baptist Church. But since its premiere in 1960, the ballet has been performed continuously around the globe, transcending barriers of faith and nationality, and appealing to universal emotions, making it the most widely-seen modern dance work in the world...

All performances of Revelations are permanently endowed by a generous gift from Donald L. Jonas in celebration of the birthday of his wife Barbara and her deep commitment to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Music
PILGRIM OF SORROW
I Been 'Buked - Music arranged by Hall Johnson*
Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel - Music arranged by James Miller+
Fix Me, Jesus - Music arranged by Hall Johnson*

TAKE ME TO THE WATER
Processional/Honor, Honor - Music adapted and arranged by Howard A. Roberts
Wade in the Water - Music adapted and arranged by Howard A. Roberts
"Wade in the Water" sequence by Ella Jenkins / "A Man Went Down to the River" is an original composition by Ella Jenkins
I Wanna Be Ready - Music arranged by James Miller+

MOVE, MEMBERS, MOVE
Sinner Man - Music adapted and arranged by Howard A. Roberts
The Day is Past and Gone - Music arranged by Howard A. Roberts and Brother John Sellers
You May Run On - Music arranged by Howard A. Roberts and Brother John Sellers
Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham - Music adapted and arranged by Howard A. Roberts

* Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
+ Used by special arrangement with Galaxy Music Corporation, New York City.

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The Christmas Song "Behold That Star" & Its African American Composer Thomas W. Talley

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the Christmas song "Behold That Star" and its African American composer Thomas Washington Talley.

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THOMAS W. TALLEY & BEHOLD THAT STAR
From
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1683
Thomas Washington Talley (1870-1952)

..."The majority of Talley’s teaching career, from 1903 to 1942, was spent at Fisk, where he taught chemistry, biology, and science, and was chair of the Chemistry Department for twenty-five years. Having earned a doctorate from Walden University in Nashville in 1896, he also spent two postgraduate summers, 1914 and 1916, at Harvard. In 1931 he finished a degree from the University of Chicago.

Although Talley’s profession was teaching and chemistry research, he made significant contributions to the study of American music, specifically black folk music. Music was a constant throughout Talley’s life. He joined the Fisk music program in 1888 and sang bass and toured with the New Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1890. He was a member of a quartet, active in the Mozart Society at Fisk, and conducted the Fisk choir for several seasons. Talley also participated in music activities at the Fisk Union Church.

Around the age of fifty, at the end of World War I, Talley began collecting rural black traditional songs. He sought texts from the Middle Tennessee countryside and elsewhere through an active network of friends, family, students, and colleagues, and recalled songs from memory or from his travels. In 1922 Macmillan published these folksongs as Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise and Otherwise) containing 349 secular folksongs (some with music notations), an essay by Talley, and an introduction by Walter Clyde Curry, literature professor at Vanderbilt University. This successful publication was the first serious collection of folksongs from Tennessee, the first compilation of black secular folksong, and the first to be assembled by a black scholar.

In addition, Talley accumulated stories from African American rural communities and compiled a manuscript of folk narratives. The unpublished work was entitled “Negro Traditions,” a version of which was later published in 1993. Talley also wrote an original composition, “Behold That Star,” which has since entered the Christmas music repertoire.

Talley retired from Fisk around 1942. He worked for the War Department during World War II. Talley moved to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1943 but eventually returned to Nashville, where he spent his last years writing about the sciences."

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From http://folio.furman.edu/projects/anthems/pdf/Behold_That_Star.pdf "Behold That Star An Original Jubilee Carol by Thomas Washington Talley, Date: First Half of 20th Century"
... "[Thomas Washington] Talley was a gifted musician. He sang bass and toured with the New Fisk Jubilee Singers. He was director of Fisk's Mozart Society and for a time conducted the Fisk Choir. Seeking a Christmas spiritual for the Jubilee Singers to perform and finding none that was suitable, he composed "Behold That Star." At what date is not known.

Marian Anderson (1897–1993) performed Talley's spiritual in a 1916 arrangement made for solo voice and piano by Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949). In this version for chorus and solo voices I have kept Burleigh's original accompaniment, and have arranged a choral refrain, alternating with verses set in a call-and-response pattern between soloists and choir."

[written by Albert Blackwell, February 2, 2012]

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From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=152562 posted by Mary in Kentucky, Date: 10 Dec 01 - 04:05 PM
"Talley, Thomas W. Negro Folk Rhymes. A New expanded edition, with Music. Edited...by Charles K. Wolfe. Music transcriptions by Bill Ferreira. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1991. Rev. ed. of Negro folk rhymes, wise and otherwise, published 1922 by the Macmillan Company.* Contains music (ISBN 0-87049-673-5)...

The following are quotes mentioning "Behold That Star" from the introduction [of that book]:

...Florence Hudson Botsford invited Talley to contribute a song to her collection, Folk Songs of Many Peoples, and he sent her an original composition called 'Behold That Star'." (pp. xviii-xix)...

During the [second world] war, Talley did classified work for the War Department; he returned to Nashville during this time and began working on a book-length manuscript entitled "A Concept of the Magnetic Atom." During his latter years, he seemed to view this as his life's work and he produced several drafts of it. It had little to do with folklore. He continued to compose music and completed a mass which was never published. His song "Behold That Star" entered the Christmas music repertoire and was widely reprinted in anthologies. In the early 1970s, the piece was performed on a national broadcast by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, with Leontyne Price singing. By this time the song had become so pervasive that Talley's name had been detatched from it, and Bernstein announced that he regretted that he did not know who had composed the song." (pp. xx-xxi).

The above information was gathered by Masato Sakurai.
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* The original 1922 edition of Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes Wise & Otherwise is available online at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm
Warning: What is now known as "the n word" is fully spelled out in this book.

**Folk Songs of Many Peoples, Volume 1 by Florence Hudson Botsford was published by Womans Press , Harvard University in 1921. It is available online as a Google book http://books.google.com/books/about/Folk_Songs_of_Many_Peoples.html?id=0aQQAAAAYAAJ

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LYRICS OF "BEHOLD THAT STAR"
(Thomas W. Talley)

Refrain:
Behold that star!
Behold that star up yonder,
Behold that star!
It is the star of Bethlehem.

1. There was no room found in the inn.
It is the star of Bethlehem.
For Him who was born free from sin.
It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

2. The wise men travelled from the East. [1]
It is the star of Bethlehem.
To worship Him, the Prince of Peace.
It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

3. A song broke forth upon the night.
It is the star of Bethlehem.
From angel hosts all robed in white.
It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

Source:
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/behold_that_star.htm
1. Or: The wise men came on from the east.

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THREE EXAMPLES OF "BEHOLD THAT STAR"
These examples are posted in chronological order based on their posting dates with the oldest dated exampls given first.]

Example #1: Behold That Star" (1963)- The Patterson Singers


JayEm86, Uploaded on Nov 29, 2008
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The Patterson Singers' rendition of Thomas W. Talley's "Behold That Star" is what I call a "gospelized song", that is, a song that is arranged and sung in a manner of African American Gospel song. There are many different types of African American Gospel music, but the tempo is usually increased in a "gospelized" song.

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Example #2: Morehouse/Spelman Choirs - Behold The Star



mikep793, Uploaded on Dec 13, 2010

Christmas Concert
-snip-
"Behold That Star" is often categorized as a Spiritual. However, "Behold That Star" differs considerably from African American Spirituals in that it has a known composer and its lyrics are usually fixed. I describe "Behold That Star" as a Christmas song which was composed in the manner of African American Spirituals.

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Example #3: Behold That Star



Bel Canto Singers Bahamas, Published on Dec 19, 2012

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Thanks to Thomas Washington Talley for his life worth, including composing the Christmas song "Behold That Star". Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to the vocalists & musicians who are showcased in this post & thanks to the publishers of those examples on YouTube.

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Visitor comments are welcome.