LAMC Presents: The Robert De Cormier Folk Singers

PROGRAM NOTES

I WILLIAM BILLINGS (1746-1800)  A picturesque figure, blind in one eye, with a withered arm, legs of an uneven length and a rasping voice that in singing became a bellow, Billings was a tanner by trade. But by every inclination he was a musician and he had a profound influence on early American musical life. As a composer his greatest enthusiasm was for his fuguing tunes. Of them he wrote: " ... it is well known that there is more variety in one piece of fuguing music than in twenty pieces of plain song, for while the tones do most sweetly coincide and agree, the words are seemingly engaged in a musical warfare . . . and while each part is thus mutually striving for mastery, and sweetly contending for victory, the audience are most luxuriously entertained, and exceedingly delighted." II STEPHEN FOSTER SUITE (1826-1864)  Stephen Foster was as popular a songwriter in his time, as Irving Berlin or the Gershwins were in theirs, or as Stephen Sondheim is today. A notice in an 1854 edition of The Musical World claimed that "Old Folks At Home" had sold more than 130,000 copies. Foster was much influenced by his own Irish heritage and "Gentle Annie" is an example of Foster's debt to Irish melody. He was also familiar with the "Italian" style and with the operas of Donizetti and Bellini. Many of his songs reflect this influence, particularly “Beautiful Dreamer" written during the last days of his life and published only after his death. But it was as a composer of minstrel songs that the young Foster made his initial success, establishing his fame in America and abroad. During his songwriting career he wrote more than twenty five of these "plantation melodies" as they were called. It is interesting to note, from today's perspective, that Foster's minstrel songs underwent many subtle changes during the decade in which most of them were composed. At first written in heavy dialect, he began to rely upon it less and less until his last minstrel songs were virtually dialect free. Today all of these songs are probably best performed without the use of dialect at all. "Ring de Banjo," "Gentle Annie," "Some Folks," "Laura Lee" and "Camptown Races" offer a sampling of the variety of songs that Foster wrote. Ill HEROES, LEGENDS, & TALL TALES  One of the greatest heroes in American folklore is John Henry. The legend that surrounds him is traced to the drilling of the West Virginia Big Bend Tunnel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in the 1870's. When the newly invented steam drill was brought to Big Bend it was natural to stage a contest between machine and man, and John Henry easily won by drilling two holes seven feet deep while the machine made only one nine feet deep. He probably did not really die from the efforts of his victory, as stated in the song, but later in one of the numerous tunnel cave-ins. "Frankie and Johnny" is a legend based on many "boy-meets-girl, boy-jilts-girl , girl-takes-revenge" type songs, but the versions heard today probably stem from an actual incident that took place in St. Louis in 1899 between one Frankie Baker and her two-timing boyfriend. "The Frozen Logger," by James Stevens, is a tall tale like that of Paul Bunyan. In fact, the character in this song could be one and the same. IV WASN'T THAT A TIME?  Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger, "The Weavers," have made a dramatic and long lasting impact on American folk music. Their contribution to our musical heritage cannot easily be measured. On November 28, 1980, some few months before Lee Hays' death (August 1981), they held a reunion concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City and from that reunion a film was made Wasn't That A Time?, which will serve as a lasting testimonial to their rich and meaningful collaboration. V SONGS AROUND THE WORLD In this brief survey of international folk songs we open with a Kenya greeting song introducing us all by name, moving on to Poland and folksong from the repertoire of the Mazowsze Ensemble. From Somerset, England comes a song which has several versions in both Scotland and North America. Russia is represented by a contemporary song describing a young child's drawing. The Philippines offer a song based on an early tribal chant and in closing we sing three songs from the state of Israel, ending with "Havenu Shalom Aleichem" - "Peace Be With You." VI SONGS FROM BLACK AMERICA  The American melting pot of nationalities has provided us with a wonderful variety of folk cultures and songs. None, however, has had as strong an influence on both popular and serious music, at home and abroad, as the music of black Americans. The blues, work songs and spirituals have found their way into the consciousness of composers, from Dvorák to Gershwin, while jazz so firmly rooted in the black American experience, is played throughout the world.