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AN ANALYSIS of ROBERT NATHANIEL DETT's Presented To 37q h8( sta. cOi AN ANALYSIS OF ROBERT NATHANIEL DETT'S IN THE BOTTOMS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF MUSIC By Debra A. Miles, B.S. Denton, Texas December, 1983 @ 1984 DEBRA ANN MILES All Rights Reserved , Miles., Debra A. , R. Nathaniel Dett's "In the Bottoms" Piano Suite: An Analysis with Historical Background. Master of Music (Music Theory), December, 1983, 71 pp., 3 tables, 26 musical examples, bibliography, 24 titles. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze formally, harmonically and melodically the five movements of the suite both as separate movements and inclusively as one cohesive unit. The thesis will be written in three parts: Part One will include a biographical sketch of the composer, a general discussion of his music, background information on the suite and Dett's antecedents and contemporaries influencing him. Part Two will discuss the following: A) Form, B) Harmonic Analysis, and C) Melodic Analysis and the influences of black folk idioms. Part Three will include the keyboard music of Dett's contemporaries as compared to his suite in terms of their contrasts and similarities. ----. w-- - TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES........ ............. r............... ........ vi LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ......... ...........................vii FOREWORD ............. ". ........................ .... 1 Chapter I. "NIGHT" (The Prelude) . ........................... 6 II. "HIS SONG"..............a.....................". ...16 III. "HONEY" .............. .... ..... .......... 25 IV. "BARCAROLLE"......................... ............. 29 V. "DANCE" (Juba) .................................. ....34 CONCLUSIONS.. ................... .. ".....".....e... ...39 APPENDIX.-.....-.-.....................................45 BIBLIOGRAPHY- ........-.-... ......... .... 70 Y _ P*- LIST OF TABLES Table Page I. "Barcarolle," Thematic and Tonal Diagram (mm. 1-70). ...... 29 II. "Barcarolle," Thematic and Tonal Diagram (mm. 71-112)................................30 III. "His Song": Breakdown of Motivic Fragments (mm. 1-16) ............... 0...................49 vi frr- - LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Example Page 1. "Some Ancient Modes" From, "The Authenticity of the Spiritual" in The Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals (Third Group) . 2 2. Robert Nathaniel Dett, In the Bottoms, "Night," Theme A, mm. 1-19.... .6 3. "Night," mm. 49-56 (Theme B)..... ......... .. 7 4. "Night," mm. 1-4 (motif a) . 9 5. "Night," m. 49 (motif.. .b). 9 . 6. "Old Folk Song Scale" . 11 7. "Night," mm. 49-52 . 12 8. "Night," mm. 1-8 ....... ............. 12 9. "Night," mm. 65-67 . 13 10. "Night," mm. 69-72 . 13 11. "His Song" (Theme A), mm. 1-16 . 16 12. "His Song," mm. 77-84 . 18 13. "His Song," mm. 61-76 . 19 14. "His Song," mm. 1-2 (Motif cx) . 20 15. "His Song," mm. 3-4 (Motif cY) . 20 16. "His Song," mm. 49-60 . 22 17. "His Song," mm. 58-59 . ... 23 18. "His Song," mm. 100-101 . 23 19. "Honey," mm. 35-40....... 26 20. "Honey," mm. 41-48 . .26-27 vii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES (Continued) Example Page 21. "Barcarolle," mm. 57-60.... ...... .31 22. "Barcarolle," mm. 75-76..... 32 ... ... 23. "Juba," mm. 1-8.................... (ThemeA) .35 . 24. "Juba," mm. 39-48 (first ten measures of ..... .36 Theme B)................. 25. "Night," mm. 65-73 (score) and mm. 65-73 .(chart)................... ... 46 26. "His Song," m. 14 (score), m. 14 (chart) ..............47 viii . ;. , FOREWORD The In the Bottom suite, subtitled by Dett as "a characteristic suite for the piano," depicts scenes and moods in the lives of Black Americans along the river bottoms of the Southern United States. The suite is comprised of five movements: the "Prelude" ("Night"), "His Song," "Honey" ("Humoresque"), the "Barcarolle" ("Morning") and "Dance" ("Juba"). It was composed in 1913, during Dett's tenure at Lane College, and was published later that year by Clayton F. Summy. The suite was premiered in Chicago by Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler, a distinguished concert pianist of the time. The performance of the suite by Percy Grainger on many programs helped it to achieve popularity. On June 3, 1914, in Chicago, the In the Bottoms suite (along with Dett's Magnolia suite) was performed by Dett in an "All Colored Composers' Concert." Also included in this concert were works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Harry T. Burleigh, J. Rosamond Johnson and Will Marion Cook. In the June 4, 1914, issue of the Chicago Evening Post, the Magnolia and In the Bottoms suites were given very favorable reviews, as was Dett's performance. The concert was one of two which contributed to Dett's standing as a composer and pianist. The other, in which he and Burleigh performed, was pre- sented at the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Club, and included the Magnolia suite. Having been inspired by Dvorak's inclusion of traditional folk melodies in larger forms, Dett, in In the Bottoms, made use of charac- teristics indigenous to Black folk music. (These characteristics will be discussed in ensuing paragraphs) (4, p. 11). Dett felt that not only I , . 2 were Black folk melodies worthy of being used in art music, but that they themselves could be expanded to become larger forms. It was not, however, until several years later that this concept clearly became his objective (4, p. 43). The most obvious and pervasive use of a Black folk idiom in the suite is that of syncopation. The syncopated pattern (U),}), appearing first in measure 37 of "Night" labeled as the head motif of the suite (since it appears in three of the five movements), is a rhythm pattern which is characteristic of Ante-Bellum folk dances (2). It is used both melodically and accompanimentally. In "Night," it appears in Theme B as shown above; in the "Barcarolle," it appears in Theme A in diminution; in "Honey," it is used both as an accompaniment to Theme A, and once in the melody of Theme B. In addition to the usage of the syncopated head motif, other syncopated patterns are an integral part of the first, third, fourth and fifth movements. Another characteristic of Black folk music employed in the suite is the gapped or altered scale. Dett, in his collection of spirituals, lists seven scale patterns upon which most Black folk music is based, noting that these scales are also the basis for most American Indian folk songs (1). Example 1. "Some Ancient Modes" from, "The Authenticity of The Spiritual" in The Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals (Third Group) lentalomlfc a-Od Fok Song Sae 3,yzantne 4Iiungarian Gyjy d c iewih ii) tl i )ira dd 7.Aeolan (mod lx) 3 Supporting Dett's postulates concerning the use of gapped scales is Krehbiel's research pertaining to the scale structure of Black folk melodies in which he catalogued 527 Afro-American folksongs. Of these, 111 were found to be built upon the pentatonic scale and 78 contained no seventh (3, p. 43). These figures and scale structures become signifi- cant when examining the various elements of the suite, and will be mentioned later, in discussions of the individual movements. Stylistically, the suite is Romantic. Dett makes frequent use of ninth, augmented sixth and appoggiatura chords. His use of a head motif throughout the suite creates a cyclic effect, a very popular late- Romantic technique. Also typical of the Romantic era is Dett's use of remote key modulations, sometimes to and from keys that are in a third relationship to one another. Pianistically, he uses full sonorities and a wide pianistic range. The consistent use by Dett of melodically, harmonically and pianistically Romantic techniques throughout the suite clearly makes In the Bottoms stylistically anachronistic, placing it more in a category with the works of Dett's Romantic predecessors than with those of his contemporaries. With the exception of "His Song," which is more homophonic, all of the movements have a melody-with-accompaniment texture. "Honey" and "Juba" are closely related to one another in mood in that they contain syncopated melodies, are in the same major key and have a light, bouncy quality. "Night" has an opening theme that is somber in mood, in contrast to the lyricism of the second theme. It thus serves a twofold purpose: to add an air of solemnity to the movement, and to balance the playful mood of "Honey" and "Juba." "His Song," an anomaly in the suite 4 because it is homophonic, contains no syncopation and begins in a minor key. In character, it is in direct contrast to the bounciness and gaeity of the last two movements. The "Barcarolle," although not an anomaly, is unique. It is written in the pianistic style of Chopin, but still has the head motif in the melody (Theme A). CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Dett, R. Nathaniel. "The Authenticity of the Spiritual ," The Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals, third group, Chicago: Hall and McCreary, 1936. 2. "In the Bottoms," The Collected Piano Works of R. Nathaniel Dett, Suites reproduced from the original edition published by C. F. Summy Co., J. Church Co., and Mills Music; Evanston, Illinois: Summy-Birchard Company, c. 1973. 3. Krehbiel, Henry Edward. Afro-American Folksongs - A Study in Racial and National Music, 4th ed., reprint of the 1914 edition published by G. Schirmer, New York; Portland, Maine: Longwood Press. 4. McBrier, Vivian Flagg. R. Nathaniel Dett: His Life and Works (1882-1943), Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, Inc., 1977. 5 : , CHAPTER I "NIGHT" (The Prelude) There exists just cause for labeling the form of the first movement ternary, but with some aberrations. The movement contains three sections, two of which contain themes in distinct contrast to one another. Example 2. Robert Nathaniel Dett, In the Bottoms, "Night," Theme A, mm. 1-19 Adagio Sostenuto 54 D - -- E S,---- 464 I4 . M i {4 i v "t 6 . 4 7 Example 3. Theme B mm. 49-56 .1 1dra~o " 1Ast ~Lpeggeriiiii 3ttU7 The end of Section A at measure 36 is clearly delineated by a perfect authentic cadence after which there is a 12-measure transition, the material of which forecasts the contrasting theme of Section B (which begins at measure 49).
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