Julia Werthimer wrote:

>I'm sorry, butI simply can't stand the way Battle and Norman sing
>spirituals.  I know you are an expert on church music, Kevin; but I would
>plead that spirituals are not simply church music: they are a form of folk
>music as well.  And I don't think opera singers can do justice to that
>aspect of the spiritual.

I think the problem here is that arranged spirituals designed for the
concert stage (by African Americans such as Burleigh as well as others)
whether for solo voice or mixed chorus are a specialized genre that bear
a somewhat distant relationship to the vernacular form of spiritual that
started out as religious folksong.  The spirit of folk carries over more
directly into the genre of Black gospel, which would include a number of
choruses, quartets such as the Fairfield Four (who are really a quintet),
Five Blind Boys from Alabama, and soloists like Mahalia Jackson.  Whether
you enjoy the more "classical" spiritual arrangement depends on what
criteria you use.  It's also possible to critique a performance without
liking the style, if you know what it's SUPPOSED to sound like.  To a
Minnesotan of the St. Olaf tradition, a Black chorus singing spirituals
in the Gospel manner is not pleasant.  The pitch spread and lack of
"precision" is simply intolerable.  Personally, I prefer the sound of the
chorus on the CD "Black Christmas" to anything that ever came out of St.
Olaf (Uffda!!).  And I agree with Julia to the extent that the only way I
can enjoy Battle singing this stuff is to think of it as operatic.

But in the original spirit of this thread, I would say the central argument
is whether or not Black religious song survives the "crossover" process.
IMO it does not.  It becomes something else, something that serves to
remind and call attention to its origins in a way similar to the way
souvenir-shop Indian goods remind us of Native Americans.  There is
something that doesn't cross the culture barrier, and if one wishes to
partake of the African-American musical experience (gospel, that is) one
should go elsewhere.  IMO they will be the better for it!

Note that I believe anyone of any color who has musical talent can develop
that talent in any direction they wish.  There is no gene that selects for
the classical European musical tradition.  All it takes is sufficient
exposure to the style from an early enough age.

Chris Bonds