R. Nathaniel Dett

Musician and educator

• Born: October 11, 1882
• Birthplace: Drummondsville, Ontario, Canada
• Died: October 2, 1943
• Place of death: Battle Creek, Michigan

Best known for his arrangements of folk songs and spirituals for piano, voice, and chorale, Dett was one of the most successful African American composers who strived to preserve black folk music in the twentieth century.

Early Life

Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville, Ontario, Canada, to Robert Tue Dett and Charlotte Johnson Dett. His parents were educated and both musical. His mother played the piano, sang soprano, and organized concerts that featured local talent. She also was active in the community, serving as vice president of the Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs, president of the Phillis Wheatley Club, and a member of the Eastern Star. She encouraged her children to aim for perfection in all their pursuits. Dett’s father was an amateur pianist and guitarist and sang baritone. He managed a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Dett first learned to play the piano by ear: He listened to his mother play and imitated her. His first piano teacher was an Englishwoman named Mrs. Marshall, who taught in Niagara Falls. She recognized Dett’s talent and offered to teach him for free. Because Dett could play by ear, he often improvised during his piano lessons. His teacher became aware of his improvisation and sent a note home to his mother insisting that he learn to read the notes. Thereafter, whenever Dett made a mistake, his mother swatted his fingers with a switch from the peach tree in their yard. He soon learned to read the notes fluently.

Dett’s piano studies continued with Oliver Willis Halstead at the Halstead Conservatory in 1901. Halstead encouraged Dett to pursue a career in music. While at the conservatory, Dett presented piano concerts, playing Ludwig von Beethoven’s Sonata in F Major and a few of his own compositions, which included Etude in A Flat, “Inspiration Waltzes,” and “Churning Song.”

Between 1903 and 1908, Dett attended the Oberlin Conservatory. During his first year of study, he received financial support from Frederic H. Goff, who realized that Dett had special talent. Dett presented recitals in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall, where his performances and compositions were well received. He also directed the choir at Oberlin’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church and did custodial work, which assisted him with his expenses at the conservatory.

While attending Oberlin, Dett was exposed to Antonín Dvořák’s music, which featured traditional folk tunes in serious music. Dvořák’s neoromantic music reminded Dett of the songs his grandmother used to sing. He recognized the beauty of the spirituals and was inspired to base his own compositions on the spirituals he had learned as a child. The year he graduated from Oberlin, he presented a senior recital that included four original compositions: “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” for violin and piano, and “To the Sea,” “Twilight,” and “Oh, Whisp’ring Tree” for voice.

Dett graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 1908 with a bachelor’s degree in music, majoring in composition and piano. He was the first African American student to complete Oberlin’s first five-year program. Oberlin authorities were so impressed with Dett’s abilities that they considered sending him to Europe to further his career. However, he decided to stay in America in order to perform and spread appreciation for music.

Life’s Work

Dett’s first faculty position was at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, from 1908 to 1911. His duties included teaching piano and vocal music and directing the Lane Choral Society. He later taught at Lincoln Institute (1911-1913); Hampton Institute (1913-1932), where he was the first black director of music; Samuel Huston College (1935-1936); and Bennett College (1937-1942).

Dett spent most of his career at the Hampton Institute. He established the Hampton Choral Union, Musical Arts Society, Hampton Institute Choir, and School of Music. During his tenure at Hampton, Dett furthered his interest in spiritual arrangements by incorporating spirituals in an extended form in his piece titled The Chariot Jubilee (1919) for tenor, chorus, and orchestra. He also arranged various spirituals in his Religious Folk-songs of the Negro (1927) and The Dett Collection of Negro Spirituals (1936), which were performed by the Hampton Choirs.

While teaching at Hampton, Dett also continued his own education. From 1920 to 1921, he studied at Harvard University during the summers. He won two prizes while at Harvard—the Francis Boott Award for his choral composition titled Don’t Be Weary, Traveler and the Bowdoin Prize for his essay “The Emancipation of Negro Music.” He studied with Nadia Boulanger during the summer of 1929 and received his master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1932. Dett also was presented with honorary doctorates in music from Howard University in 1924 and Oberlin Conservatory in 1926.

Upon his departure from the Hampton Institute, Dett relocated to Rochester, New York, where he set up a private teaching studio. In Rochester, he continued to compose and lecture on his definition of folk songs. He became the director of the American Choir, a group of sixteen well-paid white singers. In 1933, Dett organized the Negro Community Chorus in Rochester.

In 1943, Dett accepted a job as the director of the United Service Organizations (USO). He mainly worked with a touring Woman’s Army Corps chorus and also organized the All-City Chorus in Battle Creek, Michigan. Dett’s workload was strenuous, and he sometimes worked eighteen hours a day. While in Battle Creek, Dett had a heart attack and was hospitalized. He died shortly thereafter, on October 2, 1943.

Significance

Dett’s works combine the music of the European Romantics with American folk songs. He is mainly remembered for his choral works, which are based on African American spirituals. He also is the namesake for the Nathaniel Dett Chorale in Canada, which performs and records his music. Dett was passionate about the unique musical heritage of African Americans and dedicated his talents to educating the world about the importance and significance of spirituals.

Bibliography

Levy, Alan. “R. Nathaniel Dett.” In Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Informative biography and career summary that examines Dett through the lens of racial identity.

McBrier, Vivian Flagg. R. Nathaniel Dett, His Life and Works, 1882-1943. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1977. Detailed biography of the life and music of Dett.

Simpson, Anne Key. Follow Me: The Life and Music of R. Nathaniel Dett. Composers of North America 10. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993. Detailed biography examining Dett’s wide-ranging influence.

Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. 3d ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. The section on Dett offers analysis of his compositions and his significance in preserving African American folk music.