Julia Werthimer wrote:

>To which I would add: any black opera singer performing negro spirituals.
>I can see that they would regard them as "their" music - but they have no
>understanding of how to sing them IMHO.

Tell that to Marian Anderson, Julia.  I am afraid that I must respectfully
disagree.  Most of the major black opera singers grew up in Southern black
churches singing this very literature from their birth.  I think that they
know the style better than most.  They have, indeed polished the edges a
bit, but you can't tell me that Anderson, Norman, Battle, Price and Graves,
Donnie Albert, W. Warfield, Paul Robeson among others don't know how to
sing spirituals.  That's just silly!

Kevin Sutton