VOICES OF CONNECTION WELCOMES
GUEST CURATOR MALCOLM J MERRIWEATHER

Conductor and baritone, Malcolm J. Merriweather enjoys a versatile career with performances ranging from the songs of Margaret Bonds to gems of the symphonic choral repertoire. The baritone can be heard on the GRAMMY-nominated recording of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road (NAXOS). Hailed by Opera News as “moving…expertly interpreted,” Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs (AVIE) has earned considerable praise around the world. Read more.

MARGARET BONDS The Ballad of the Brown King: VI. Could He Have Been an Ethiope?

The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra
Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor
Noah Stewart, tenor
Laquita Mitchell, soprano

from the recording Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs (AVIE)
Recorded December 2018, James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary.

MARGARET BONDS: THE BALLAD OF THE BROWN KING
"COULD HE HAVE BEEN AN ETHIOPE"

Dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Margaret Bonds composed The Ballad of the Brown King in 1954 in collaboration with the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes.

Bonds (1913-1972) requested a text chronicling the journey of Balthazar, the Ethiopian King, as he travels to Bethlehem to bring gifts to the infant savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Characterized by call-and-response textures, jazz harmonies, gospel vocalizations, calypso rhythms, and syncopated gestures, Bonds affirms Black identity and its place in classical music. Helen Walker-Hill describes this perfectly in her text, From Spirituals to Symphonies, African American Women Composers and Their Music: “Her deliberate use of Black musical idioms in these works made a statement about the value of African Americans and their culture.”

This sentiment is fully realized midway through the nine-movement cantata. Entitled “Could He Have Been an Ethiope?,” the sixth movement contains the most expansive and expressive content of the piece as it encompasses feelings of struggle, possibility, and triumph. Listen for the change in texture, à la Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” midway through the piece. Ultimately, this motif prepares us for what I believe to be the most important utterance of the piece.

Of all the kings who came to call
One was dark like me
And I’m so glad that he was there
Our little Christ to see

– Malcolm J. Merriweather, D.M.A., The Dessoff Choirs, Music Director, Brooklyn College, Associate Professor