Undine Smith Moore

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:31:52 +0000

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:31

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Many Thousand Gone is a four-page piano piece written in 1986 by Undine Moore. The piece is appropriate for an advanced student. As the title page of the piece says, it’s based on the slave song: “No more auction block for me. No more, no more. No more auction block for me. Many thousand gone.” Written in B flat major, the piece presents a cheerful tune in 4/4, arranged in a thick chordal texture with embellishments like broken arpeggios, chromatic runs, and grace notes. Additionally, there is some contrapuntal writing in the middle section. Romantic in nature, the composition style is tonal and even a little jazzy. A student must have large hands in order to play this piece.

Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) was an accomplished African-American composer, teacher, and arranger. Often referred to as the “Dean of Black Women Composers”, Moore left a legacy of more than 100 compositions in a variety of forms. She was best known for her choral works and arrangements of spirituals. Born in Jarratt, Virginia, Moore obtained her musical education at Fisk University and Columbia University. After finishing her graduate degree at Columbia University, Moore joined the music faculty at Virginia State College, where she taught piano, organ, and music theory until her retirement in 1972. Moore’s musical and teaching career was so diverse and renowned that she received honorary doctorates from Indiana University and Virginia State College. Probably Moore’s most ambitious work, a cantata written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Scenes From the Life of a Martyr,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Moore felt strongly about the inclusion of African-American music in high school and college programs but wanted to avoid stereotypes around it. She once said, “Black music is a house of many mansions. Blacks have many musics and some of them relate in an extremely universal way to the human condition.” She believed that the term “black music” should only mean music written by a black person.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

Performed by Anastasiia Pavlenko.

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Before I’d Be a Slave, by Undine Smith Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:30:56 +0000

Before I’d Be a Slave, by Undine Smith Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:30

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Before I’d Be A Slave is a four-page piano piece written by Undine Moore in 1953. It is graded as advanced level of difficulty. The piece was commissioned by Barbara Hollis for the Modern Dance Group, Virginia State College. Moore wrote on the title page:

“It follows a program which I would hope is evident in the music without verbal explanation – in general:

In frustration and chaos of slaves who wish to be free

In the depths – a slow and ponderous struggle marked by attempts to escape-anyway-being bound-almost successful attempt at flight

Tug of war with the oppressors

A measure of freedom won – some upward movement less lacerating

Continued aspiration-determination-affirmation.”

Marked Furioso, the piece opens with a series of clusters intensified by accelerando. Highly dissonant, the piece presents a whirlwind of strong emotions. There are many wide dense chords (a student needs to reach a 9th easily), octaves, and tremolos. The composer left markings indicating characters like “tug of war”, “great power”, and imitation instructions “like a xylophone”. The piece requires a performer with exceptional stamina and concentration to play dense texture combined with jumps and rapid dynamic changes.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

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Fugue in F major, by Undine Smith Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:29:59 +0000

Fugue in F major, by Undine Smith Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:29

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Fugue in F major is a contrapuntal work written in three voices for piano. The piece is written in sonata allegro form as the composer clearly stated where exposition, development, and recapitulation begin. Only three pages in length, the piece is graded as appropriate for an advanced level student. It has a well-thought-out, relatively easy, contrapuntal writing, which makes this fugue a great piece with which to introduce three-voice polyphony. Completely diatonic, it is full of harmonies pleasant to the ear. There is no use of pedal marked in the score, however, a student might need to use pedal to create legato in some lines in the middle voice which alternate between hands.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

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Scherzo, by Undine Smith Moore Post author

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:28:22 +0000

Scherzo, by Undine Smith Moore Post author Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:28

Anastasiia Pavlenko

Scherzo is a three-page piano piece written by Undine Smith Moore in 1976. It is appropriate for an advanced student. Marked as “Very Fast,” with the quarter note equal to 120 or 126, and having an interesting combined time signature 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, this piece will definitely keep its performers on their toes. Atonal in general, the piece is full of scale runs, octaves, and jumps. Time signatures are constantly switching, often without being marked. Since this work has a lot of hand crossing and moves rapidly around the keyboard, it is best performed by an individual with a strong kinesthetic feeling.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

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The Romantic Young Clown, by Undine Smith Moore

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 14:26:51 +0000

The Romantic Young Clown, by Undine Smith Moore Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/26/2020 - 08:26

Anastasiia Pavlenko

The Romantic Young Clown is a four-page character piece written by Undine Smith Moore on March 12, 1952 and dedicated to her daughter, Mary Hardie. The piece is appropriate for an advanced level student.The structure of the piece is based on alternation between sections of scherzo and dolce waltz. Often being written in three textural voices, the piece presents its performer with a variety of technical challenges. Hand crossing, hand alternation, chords (not too dense, more clustery), chromaticism, accents, jumps, and rapid changes in dynamics. The whole range of keys is used in the piece. No use of pedal is marked in the score. The piece ends with a coda built on dreamy, fairytale-like, impressionistic broken chords.

Sources

Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC

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Undine Smith Moore

Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore

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