New-York tribune., 1873-01-15
THE JUBILEE SINGERS.


OF TIE TRIBUNE have often heard during the past
year and a half, gave concert last night in Stein
way Hall, before audience which entirely filed the
building. These young people are connected with the
Fisk University college at Nashville intended especi-
ally for training of colored teachers. In 1871 they
set out on concert money for the enlarge
ment Of their institution and in the OF the
they made $4,000 This year they purpose doubling the
fund possible. aud, far as may judge from the
result OF their efforts last night we risk little In predict
ing for them hatterng There are eleven per-
sons in the compaDy-seven young women and four
young Most Of them were originally slaves; al
were born in the midst Of bondage, and their early
lives illustrate some OF the most terrible charac-
teristics of American Slavery. The songs which
they brought US last night were almost without
exception the songs which they brought with them out
of servitude, the rapturous hymn in which the OPP
pressed chant the coming of the day OF deliver
ance, the sad strains In which the suffering slave
bemoaned his wrongs the shouts Of religious exaaton
which resouDded in the plantation campmeetng. If the
selections given this occasion fairly represent the
favote subjects of the slave singers the prevalence OF
prophetic spirit among them long before the dawn Of
freedom, very significant circumstance. The constant
references last night TO Liberation, in one form or an
other, must have struck every attentive listener The
mind OF the maker seems 10 have been constantly
upon the deverance Of Egypt out Of bondage aud the
singer perpetually rejoicing in the discontinue OF
melodies begins with vigorous solo:
"'Gwine TO write TO Massa Jesus,
To send some valisnt soldier"
ana then breaks with accelerated time, into chorus;
To turn back Pharaoh's army Halelu!
To turn back Pharaoh's army, Haleujah"
The famous hymn, "Go down. Moses, Of whose twenty
FIVE stanzas the Jubilee Singers gave US few specimens
last night begins:
When IArael was in Egypt's land
Oppressed so hard they could not stand;
Let my people go.
Go down. Moses, way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharaoh, Let my people CO."
Another draws consolation and encouragement from
the story Of Daniel and the most effective and dramatic
of all the selections, last night this sung IN unison
with extraordinary expression and vigor;
"Dd MT my Lord deliver Daniel
Oliver Daniel. oliver Daniel
Did MT my Lord deliver Daniel,
And why not every mani
BE delivered Daniel from the lions den,
Jonah from the belly of the whale,
And the Hebrew children from the fiery furnace;
And why not every manP
Grotesoue as this seems in print only in the words
but in many Of the musical phrases, there Is nothing
eroesque there is even grandeur and nobility in the
song when one hears it from the lips Of these children
who have in truth delivered from bondage that
was worse than death So OF of the hymns OF re-
igous sentiment; there lines in them that pro-
voked laugh
.sWhen was announcer lust like you,
Washed in the blood Of the Lamb,
prayed aud prayed till got through,
Washed in the blood Of the Lamb"
'King Jesus rides on a milk white horse,
NOman can a-hender me-"
"Gwine to ride up in de chariot,
Sooner In de morning.
Gwinc 10 chatter wild de angels,
Sooner in do mOrning!
but no could fail 10 be impressed by the devout
spirit which breathed through the verest nonsense.
There never singing intensely dramatic than
this for there never singing more sincere 1t was
not an exhibition of art it the expression of real
emotion.
What there is in the music itself that seizes firmly
upon the Imagination it would be difficult TO explain.
The slave songs the spontaneous outgrowth Of un-
cultivated sentiment, yet they follow strict scientific
laws of which their makers must have been absolutely
Ignorant The most eccentric Of them be reduced 10
regular musical FORM and the rhythm, though good
deal is apparently left the taste and temper Of the
singer Is always clearly marked. Nor are the melo-
dies always very simple. They not only have their
peculiar turns unlike anything else in the whole range
of musical Inventions but they abound sometimes, in
difficult interyals-as the hymn "Rol Jordan
roll" which even a cultivated singer might have
trouble in catching The execution last night was in
variaby true and spirited, and in many cases almost
perfect. Most Of the pieces were sung by the whole
band in harmony and these 1y far the best Their
paussimo effects were admirable the changes Of senti
Inept we're beautifully marked and the precision with
which the young persons kept together deserved the
heartiest praise. They have sweet and rich voices,
rather pathetic in character, and one or two of them
who sang solos, betrayed the possession of gifts well
worth utivaton One Of their number Miss Ella Shep
pard accompanied the solos the piano aud did very
well. The choruses unaccompanied.
Another concert by this interesting company will be
given at steinway Hall on Friday.