[11] Moore graduated cum laude in 1926. [30] Indiana University awarded her an honorary doctorate the following year. Some of them, especially her works for instruments alone, followed European methods, including the extremely intellectually rigorous twelve-tone technique, while others turned to African American history in various ways. One of them, 1952’s “Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord,” was based on one of the songs she had transcribed from her mother’s singing. One of the few African Americans to have enjoyed a successful career in the rather closed-in world of acade…, Walker, George Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Jaratt had a large African-American population and Moore would later recall memories of the community singing and praying together at the Morningstar Baptist Church. [58] Moore had planned the piece for at least five years, and considered it her “most significant work.”[40]. "I Want to Die While You Love Me" is a song by Undine Smith Moore for contralto and piano setting the poetry of Georgia Douglas Johnson. [19] On 4 January 1941 Moore gave birth to their daughter, Marie Hardie. [14], Although her teachers encouraged her to continue her studies by enrolling at the Juilliard School, Undine Smith Moore instead took a job as supervisor of music in the public schools in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Contemporary Black Biography. Brought Fame to Tuskegee Choir "Like everyone else able to hold a pen, I have been asked to do a large work on Martin Luther King." [38] Moore was named one of the Virginia Women in History for 2017.[39]. Undine Smith Moore died on February 6, 1989. After she finished her first year at Fisk, Moore’s father gave her a Steinway grand piano as a gift, and for a time she considered trying to become a concert pianist. Sir Olaf and the Erl King’s Daughter (choral cantata), 1925. 22 Scenes from the Life of a Martyr (narrator, chorus, soloists, orchestra), 1980. Composer • Classical Mus…, Kay, Ulysses 1917–1995 The word chose me,” she was quoted as saying in the International Dictionary of Black Composers. Undine Smith Moore (Arranger) Anton Armstrong (Editor) This collection showcases five of Undine Smith Moore's spirituals edited by Anton Armstrong, who includes an instructional forward written for this newly-engraved edition. Crucifixion Adolphus Hailstork. One of her last compositions was a trio for violin, cello, and piano called Soweto (1987); that highly complex work used the12-tone technique to explore the implications of an opening motif based on the rhythm of the name “Soweto.” The work had its roots in Moore’s responses to the South African apartheid system of racial segregation. [57] The 16-part oratorio is based on the life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and written for chorus, orchestra, solo voices and narrator. Please have a listen. She was the granddaughter of slaves. Contemporary Musicians. At Virginia State her creative energy was channeled mostly into small pieces for the school’s choral groups and for her own keyboard students. [28][29], In 1973, Undine Smith Moore was presented with the Humanitarian award from Fisk University. 11 Mar. Harris added that Moore began directing the choir when director J. Harold Montague (1907–50) joined the army. ." Winning a scholarship to Fisk University seemed to seal Moore’s choice of a music as her life’s work, for the musical traditions at that historically black institution ran deep. When it came to spirituals, Undine Smith Moore was one of the finest American composers and teachers in the 20th century. Undine Smith Moore. Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. The granddaughter of slaves, Undine Smith Moore’s first musical memories were of the Morningstar Baptist Church in Jarratt, Virginia. ." But she also heard the work songs and the spirituals that she would remember for the rest of her life. However, the date of retrieval is often important. In 1926 Moore graduated at the top of her class with a dual degree that included studies in piano and music theory, and then decided to pursue a career in music education. She received a scholarship from the Julliard School to study music at Fisk University, and later studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School. Moore died in 1989. “I did not choose the word. She married fellow Virginia State faculty member James Arthur Moore; the couple had a daughter, Mary, who became a dancer and educator. Her mother was a voracious reader who stressed the importance of books and music lessons. The work’s text, depicting scenes from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was written by Moore herself, with interpolations from the Bible and from the works of poets of various different backgrounds. Many of her most popular compositions are for chorus, and draw in one way or another upon the settings of spirituals that she had absorbed during her years at Fisk. ." 11 Mar. Goldsboro Public Schools, supervisor of music, 1926-27; Virginia State University, associate p… degree at Columbia University. Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (Aug. 25, 1904 – Feb. 6, 1989) was born in Jaratt, Virigina. Afro-American Suite, for flute, cello, and piano, 1969. Selected Awards: Certificate of Appreciation from John Lindsay, Mayor, New York City, 1972; Honorary Doctorate, Virginia State University, 1972; Honorary Doctorate, Indiana University, 1976; National Black Caucus Award, 1980; nominated, Pulitzer Prize, for Scenes from the Life of a Martyr, 1982. [53] Moore wrote over 50 choral works, 21 compositions for solo voice and accompaniment, and 18 instrumental pieces. Composer, conductor, music educator Moore was originally trained as a classical pianist, but developed a compositional output of mostly vocal music—her preferred genre. On, This page was last edited on 20 January 2021, at 16:42. 2021 . [25] Moore was a visiting professor at Carleton College and the College of Saint Benedict, and an adjunct professor at Virginia Union University during the 1970s. Unusually successful for a contemporary composition, the work was published by Warner Brothers the following year and has remained in print ever since as a perennial favorite among college and community choirs. (March 11, 2021). By and By Carol Barnett. [7] Of her childhood, Moore said that “above all else, music reigned.”[8], At age seven, Undine Smith Moore began taking piano lessons under Lillian Allen Darden, who later encouraged her to attend Fisk University, where she studied piano and organ with Alice M. Grass and theory with Sara Leight Laubenstein. She reestablished contact with one of her teachers at Columbia, Howard Murphy, and embarked on further study with him in order to familiarize herself with the latest developments in classical music coming out of Europe. Soweto, for violin, cello, and piano, 1987. [51], The works of Undine Smith Moore range “from arrangements of spirituals, to solo art songs, instrumental chamber music, and multimovement works for chorus, soloists, and instruments.”[52] Although she composed more than one hundred pieces between 1925 and 1987, only twenty-six were published during her lifetime. [32] Among her many awards was a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1984. Her studies in New York further developed this European Romantic strain in her work, but she also was touched by the artistic ferment of the Harlem Renaissance, the awakening of African American artistic and intellectual sensibility that flowered in the 1920s. Retrieved March 11, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/moore-undine-smith-1904-1989. And if … (1951), "I Want To Die While You Love Me" (1975), "Come Down Angels" (1978), on, “To be Baptized” and "Watch and Pray." In 1908, her family moved to Petersburg, Virginia. Mentored by Booker T. Washington She was the granddaughter of slaves. [2] Undine Smith Moore was a renowned teacher, and once stated that she experienced “teaching itself as an art.”[3] Towards the end of her life, she received many awards for her accomplishments as a music educator. In 1927, Undine Smith Moore joined the faculty of Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute in Petersburg, where she taught theory, piano and organ, and continued to arrange and compose for the college choir. Her compositions are widely performed and loved; many of her choral pieces are staples of the performing repertory among choirs great and small, and she also composed music in other genres, employing a broad range of expressive styles. Retrieved March 11, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/moore-undine-smith. Go Tell It on the Mountain Steve Barnett. The 752-member Stay at Home Choir joins the King's Singers in Billy Joel's "And so it Goes." Undine Smith Moore (1905-1989) Born in Jarratt, Virginia, and the granddaughter of slaves, “Undine Smith Moore graduated from Fisk University (1926) with highest honors and received a M.M. Its chorus had been well known since the 1870s for its performances of spirituals. As an African American musical pioneer in the university setting, Undine Smith Moore inspired and influenced black musicians across the United States. • Black Musicians in Early America She went on to Columbia University Teachers’ College in New York, where she completed her M.A. We’ve put together a list of some choral music created and performed by black composers and artists. Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (25 August 1904 – 6 February 1989), the "Dean of Black Women Composers," was an American composer and professor of music in the twentieth century. As with her music, Moore worked toward a broad-based approach that would touch both upon the efforts of African Americans in the classical field and upon, as she told Creative Black Artists, the “true creative genius of the black people in the ditches and the sawmills.” She retired from Virginia State in 1972 and was feted by her former students in a ceremony held at New York’s Town Hall. [4], On 6 February 1989, aged 84, Undine Smith Moore suffered a stroke. The work’s text, depicting scenes from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was written by Moore herself, with interpolations from the Bible and from the works of poets of various different backgrounds. ." "Moore, Undine Smith 1904–1989 Live performance 1 year ago # opera. Its chorus had been well known since the 1870s for its performances of spirituals. Moore began to think about ways of incorporating her African American heritage into her compositions, and when she moved back to Virginia she began to set down in musical notation some of the unique songs she had heard her mother sing in southside Virginia. The works she composed in late life are generally regarded as some of her best. Floyd, Samuel, ed., International Dictionary of Black Composers, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999.