CBA Ode to Joy

Program Notes

Soon I will be don’ A-wid de troubles ob de worl’, De worl’, de troubles ob de worl’, De worl’, oh, Soon I will be don’ A-wid de troubles ob de worl’, Goin’ home t’live wid God. No more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, No more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, No more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, I’m goin’ t’live wid God. O more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, No more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, No more weepin’ an’ a-wailin’, I’m goin’ t’live wid God.

Soon I will be don’ A-wid de troubles ob de worl’, De worl’, de troubles ob de worl’, De worl’, oh, Soon I will be don’ A-wid de troubles ob de worl’, Goin’ home t’live wid God. I wan’ t’meet my Jesus, I wan’ t’meet my Jesus, I wan’ t’meet my Jesus, I’m goin’ t’live wid God. In de mornin’ Lord! God, I’m goin’ t’live wid God. I’m goin’ t’live wid God.

African-American composer and Alabama native William Levi Dawson earned a masters degree in music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago where he also studied at the Chicago Musical College, now the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. Early in his career he was first trombonist with the Chicago Civic Orchestra. During his long teaching tenure at the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, Alabama, Dawson developed the 100-voice Tuskegee Institute Choir into an internationally-renowned ensemble. The Choir performed to great acclaim at the grand opening of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in 1932. His legacy continues in the Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir. Dawson began composing at a young age. His arrangements of and variations on Negro spirituals still are widely published and performed in the United States. Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony received its world premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of noted conductor Leopold Stokowski.

According to Dominique-Rene de Lerma of Lawrence University, in notes to “The Spirituals of William L. Dawson” produced by The St. Olaf Choir in 1997, “What is even more striking than the richness of Dawson’s textures is the lushness of his sonorities, exhibiting his remarkable insight into vocal potentials.”

CBA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS 33