Jubilee Singers of Fisk University Concert: 1st

“First concert in New-York since returning from their marvelously successful tour in England.” 

“Two years ago a company of colored singers came here from the South, who were trying to raise money, by giving concerts, to put up a new building for Fisk University, an institution for the education of persons of their race, near Nashville, Tennessee. This was to be called Jubilee Hall, and so they took the name of Jubilee Singers. Nobody had heard of them before; they came unheralded, and yet they soon attracted such attention, that Steinway Hall was thronged night after night to listen to their wild, plaintive melodies. Since then they have become famous; they have sung all over the country to the largest audiences which could be packed into the largest buildings. Not content with this, they have crossed the Atlantic, and had a triumphal career in Great Britain, singing before the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Prime Minister, and in all the chief cities and large towns of England, Scotland and Ireland, to immense audiences. They have now returned to this country, and will give their first concert in this city at Steinway Hall, on Monday night, when we are sure they will receive a hearty welcome.”

“The sable songsters whose laudable efforts in behalf of the Fiske University, with which they are connected, have met with such general approval throughout the country, have resumed their peculiar concerts at Steinway’s. The enthusiasm which welcomed their first appearance seems unabated, and most of their numbers have to be repeated—both the secular melodies and those strange wild hymns which form the singular feature of their entertainment.”

“At Steinway Hall last evening the Jubilee Singers gave their first concert in New York since their return from Great Britain, where they have received marked attention and met with the success which was desired for them. It is not a little remarkable that a university should be provided for funds for its endowment from the singing of its students, yet sympathy and aid are thus obtained, and the results are so satisfactory that it is the intention of these singers to give another series of concerts to raise $100,000 more, before returning to their studies.

These concerts will prove more interesting to those who sympathize with the objects for which they are given than to the mere art student. He will discover nothing in the music which will be new and attractive from the possession of peculiarly characteristic features, for the melodies are founded on the natural diatonic scale with which we are all familiar; the major key is nearly always employed, and the harmonies are extremely simple, being confined almost exclusively to two chords, namely, those of the tonic and dominant. The rhythms present no marked idiosyncracies, nor are modulations employed. It will, therefore, be seen that these slave songs do not present in themselves attractions, like those melodies adopted by the Hungarian Gypsies which we had recently occasion to notice. It is only the style in which they are sung that the musician will consider it necessary to consider. In the first place, the voices of these singers are of remarkably good quality, and this is really the chief point in which their excellence is perceived. They sing in perfect tune, and the language is most clearly enunciated. Occasionally, however, slight defects in the pronunciation are perceived—such as cradul for cradle and russling for wrestling—but these are quite exceptional and are often found in some of our best local concert singers; for one quite recently sang eagull for eagle, though in other respects her performance was entitled to great praise.

These Jubilee Singers succeed in producing the most delicate pianissimo, and at the same time deliver the text with remarkable clearness. Their mode of starting is perhaps peculiar, for one leads off a short opening phrase, then a second voice joins in, then a third, and so on till all enter. They glide in imperceptibly, as it were, by beginning with extremely soft tones. They also make ‘effects’ by prolonging the sounds and then allowing them to die away slowly and softly. The music itself cannot be regarded as the production of an illiterate people, for, though it is of the most elementary kind, it is written in conformity with the theoretical principles accepted by ourselves. Sometimes, however, the melodies of the different parts or voices are conducted unskillfully, errors and shortcomings in the part-writing which detract from the good effect that would otherwise ensue from careful performances.

The negroes are susceptible to kindness. The religion of love has a remarkable hold over them. They grasp some sublime truths feebly, and seem compelled to adopt some similes and illustrations which from their familiarity are suited for the expression of their conceptions of these truths. This groping towards the light is interesting to witness on the part of those now admitted to the full privileges of intellectual culture. But still the language at some points seems startling and objectionable to us from the familiar way in which subjects held sacred are handled. For this reason we do not recommend the repetitions of their strange, irreverent phrases, on the part of those of higher intellectual attainments; nor should we advise any capable of appreciating greater music to indulge in these songs. For without going so far as to assert that they stand in the same relation to the productions of great composers that the words do to the minor works of our great sacred poets, yet some such position might well be maintained.

The voices of these singers appeal to our sympathies. In them Nature’s gifts are found freely bestowed, and in listening to their unsophisticated, amost childlike employment of them, we derive the greatest gratification that they are capable of affording us; or rather we discover the secret of their influence, and can point to the particular excellence which has led to their success. Miss Jeannie Jackson, though styled soprano, has a full, round, large and broad, contralto voice of very considerable compass. She finished one song on low ‘A’ and rose to tolerably high notes, the quality of which was remarkably beautiful.

A glee by Mr. Brinley Richards, ‘Let the Hills Resound,’ was sung to a piano-forte accompaniment played from notation, which brought the performance immediately into comparison with that of our own glee singers. If such comparisons are sought it might perhaps be well for some competent writer to revise the music of the slave songs, and especially that of ‘Steal Away.’ These students, so fond of music, would thus learn the advantages of musical grammar. The audience was very enthusiastic, and encored several pieces. General Fiske, in a humorous speech, and subsequently Mr. W. E. Dodge, in a more serious manner, explained the status of the colored population of the South before the opening of the second part of the entertainment.”

“A very interesting concert was given last night by the Jubilee Singers, colored students of Fisk University, Nashville, at Steinway Hall. They are thirteen in number, and they sing part songs, madrigals and characteristic melodies in a style entirely remarkable.”