
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was a noted composer, choral director and pianist from Canada, who was also the first Black graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
Over the past few years, he’s received more attention both for his music, story, and for the influence he had on later Black classical composers, including Florence Price and William Grant Still.
Pianist Luke Welch has a new album, “Northern Magnolias” that brings us graceful performances of Dett’s early piano works: including the Magnolia Suite and a piece named for a familiar tourist destination in our region, “Cave of the Winds.” This follow’s Welch’s earlier recording of another noted Black composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was in turn an influence on Dett and his music.
One of my favorites on this album is a slightly later work piano miniature by Dett, “Nepenthe and the Muse” (from 1922, still nearly a decade before Dett came to Rochester). This piece taps into something a bit deeper and dreamier than many of these early pieces. Though, on the lighter side, the “Inspiration Waltzes” have a charm that’s hard to resist.
There are books worth of material that you could read (and still need to be written!) about Dett and his music, but for now, I invite you to check out this excellent new addition to recordings that are available of this music.
And if you’re now in the mood to go, as scholar Jeannie Ma. Guerrero calls it, “Deeper into Dett,” here are a few things to add to your explorations.
“Rediscovering the genius of R. Nathaniel Dett” (CITY Magazine, January 2022)
“Dett the Rochesterian: Cursory Introduction”
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale (they are premiering a new work by Stewart Goodyear later this month!)