Introductory Chapter Is Chapter 2, in Which I Survey Guion’S Radio Shows
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Copyright by Mark David Camann 2010 1 The Dissertation Committee for Mark David Camann certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: DAVID GUION’S VISION FOR A MUSICAL AMERICANA Committee: ____________________________ Elliott Antokoletz, Supervisor ____________________________ Rebecca Baltzer ____________________________ Lorenzo Candelaria ____________________________ Kevin Mooney ____________________________ Edward Pearsall 2 DAVID GUION’S VISION FOR A MUSICAL AMERICANA by Mark David Camann, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2010 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In my research on this topic I have been assisted by many people to whom I wish to express my gratitude. On my first visit to David Guion’s hometown, Billie Smithson at the Ballinger Chamber of Commerce provided me with a biographical sketch of the composer written by the composer’s sister. I had the privilege of meeting with Neuman Smith, former chairman of the Runnels County Historical Commission in composer David Guion’s hometown of Ballinger, Texas, and his wife Barbara, who had written the Centennial Edition of the Ballinger Ledger, of which she gave me one of her two remaining copies. Through their assistance I met David Albright, at that time the chairman of that same Historical Commission, who gave me a tour of the city and who helped me greatly in a search for a certain church on a certain alley mentioned in the sheet music of a Guion composition, and together we came to the realization that if Ballinger were indeed the unnamed Southern town mentioned in the preface to this song, then surely both the church and the alley were fictitious. Together Mr. Albright and I pored through cemetery records in a vain attempt to establish the identities of Uncle Andrew and Mammy Neppy, two formative influences on the composer. Mr. Albright also introduced me to Mary Sykes, daughter of the composer’s first cousin, who showed me the building that had housed the office of the composer’s father. She took me to a service at his church, and provided me with genealogical books that helped me immensely. Through her help and also through Elizabeth Wright of San Antonio I was able to meet with several other Guion relatives, including Polly Piasecki, Steven Levatino, and Dorothy Ward. iv Pam Martin and Mike Westbrook, reference librarian of Illinois College, provided me with documents pertaining to the composer’s brief period of study at the Whipple Academy. Mitch Meador sent me copies of Guion manuscripts housed in the Library of Congress. Kate Preston of the National Symphony Orchestra helped me by researching the date of a Washington performance of Guion’s Shingandi. I traveled across Texas to conduct this research. My understanding of the history of the Ballinger area was greatly enhanced through my conversation with Carolyn Moody, director of the Don Freeman Memorial Museum in Eden, who also provided helpful articles. David Williams, county attorney in San Saba, identified for me the house that the composer’s father built across the street from the composer’s maternal grandfather’s home. Mr. Williams also shared with me a paper he had written about how local authorities struggled to restore law and order in San Saba during the time that the composer’s father was the county judge there. Suzanne Campbell, curator of the West Texas Collection at Angelo State University, gave me access to further documents relating to the family’s history. I wish to express my appreciation to Sha Towers and James Floyd, both with the Crouch Fine Arts Library at Baylor University for their kindness in making available to me an enormous collection from the composer’s personal archives. Bruce Cammack, associate librarian for rare books at Texas Tech University, and Sara Holmes, conservator of the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University, assisted me in accurately dating one of Guion’s earliest compositions, as the composer had altered the date of composition on the manuscript in an apparent act of deception. Tina Murdock, music librarian for the v Dallas Public Library, allowed me to make copies from an enormous collection of Guion sheet music, including many pieces that I have not found anywhere else, in addition to providing access to several Guion manuscripts. I am deeply grateful to James Dick, artistic director of the Round Top Festival Institute and Richard Royall for providing my lodging on numerous visits, more than a month all together, where I worked with the archival collection there through the kind assistance of library director Lamar Lentz, who is also curator of the David W. Guion Museum Room. Linda Gamache helped especially by organizing the composer’s letters collection. I am grateful to pianist Rick Rowley and vocalists Heidi Cohenour Gordon and Karen Schipper McCarty, as well as my mother, Linda Camann, both pianist and vocalist, for their insight on Guion’s music from a performer’s perspective. Ara Carapetyan, music director at University Presbyterian Church contributed his insight on the suitability of Guion’s spiritual arrangements for use in worship today. I am indebted to my dissertation committee for their advice, expertise and encouragement: Rebecca Baltzer, Lorenzo Candelaria, Kevin Mooney, Edward Pearsall, and especially Elliott Antokoletz, my dissertation supervisor. Lastly I wish to thank my parents. Were it not for their encouragement and support, I never could have completed this work. vi David Guion’s Vision for a Musical Americana Mark David Camann, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 Supervisor: Elliott Antokoletz American composer David Guion (1892-1981) created and expressed in much of his music a unique and unmistakably American voice. Though he is remembered today mostly for piano pieces, especially Turkey in the Straw and Arkansas Traveler, he was famous for championing cowboy songs, African-American spirituals and folk songs as the truly authentic representations of the American experience. He also wrote many original works, including a substantial number of songs in Black dialect. In 1930 Guion starred in a cowboy show at the Roxy Theatre in New York, drawing upon his western- themed music. The next year he had a weekly radio show, broadcast around the country and featuring his music exclusively, with the title Hearing America with Guion. He played a substantial role in transforming Home on the Range into the best-known of all cowboy songs. His magnum opus, the ballet Shingandi, was highly regarded but has yet to be recorded. This dissertation examines those genres among Guion’s compositions that reveal his vision for a musical Americana. Much of his music is based on songs that circulated first in oral tradition before he adapted them for the concert stage. This dissertation surveys the breadth of the oral tradition of these songs, identifies his direct sources, and examines his treatment of melody, rhythm and harmony as he infused his music with such characteristic national flavor that his audiences were, in effect, “Hearing America.” A complete list of Guion compositions is attempted, and to the extent possible, probable dates of composition are established from recital programs and publication agreements. The scripts of his radio shows are reconstructed from papers in his archives and presented here. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 Guion’s biography, and questions of his credibility .............................. 6 Scope and outline of this dissertation .................................................... 15 Chapter 2. Radio Shows .................................................................................... 17 Chapter 3. African-American Spirituals ........................................................... 36 The early history of the spirituals .......................................................... 41 The spirituals from the Sea Islands ........................................................ 45 The spirituals of the Fisk University Jubilee Singers ............................ 50 The spirituals of the Hampton Student Singers ..................................... 54 Other early collections of spirituals ....................................................... 59 Guion’s sources for the spirituals .......................................................... 64 Holy Bible .............................................................................................. 71 John de Bap-a-tist .................................................................................. 74 Jubilee .................................................................................................... 76 Little David ............................................................................................ 78 My Little Soul’s Gwine a Shine .............................................................. 80 Nobody Knows de Trouble I Sees .......................................................... 82 Poor Sinner ............................................................................................ 85 Satan’s a Liar an’ a Conjur Too ............................................................ 87 Sinner, Don’ Let Dis Harves’ Pass ........................................................ 88 Some o’ these Days ...............................................................................