A deeply soulful song, "Deep River" sung by Marian Anderson demonstrates how to invoke feeling within the hearts of the audience. The technical aspects, the lyrics, and the instrumentation add to Anderson's power as the face of this song.
Instrumentation, Volume:
The song is sung with the rich almost operatic voice of Marian Anderson, with piano accompaniment. Together the two voices work well to compliment one another, while also add to the flow of the song. The song is very strophic and the anchor verse is, "Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground." The pianist and Anderson use the first verse to coordinate completely with one another while on the second and third verse the piano strays from directly playing the notes and adds embleshishment to the chorus, thus changing the reptition slightly.
Together Anderson and the pianist create the climax to the song by increasing in volume, speed and a new line of lyrics. Yet for the majority of the piece, Anderson sings slowly and softly. The piano follows the accentuates the pattern in her voice, and plays lightly and quietly. Additionally the song shares both melismatic and syllabic parts.
Texture, Rhythm, Repetition: Since the two instruments attempt to compliment the tone of the other so well in this song, the texture reflects monophony. While each holds slight variation between the other, Anderson and the pianist work to create one line of music. The rhythm is slow and steady since it follows the path of Anderson's voice. The beat speeds up for the new section at 1:35 into the song, but then settles after around thirty seconds. "Deep River" is an example of "Theme and Variations" in a song. The first verse, A, when repeated with piano embellishment becomes, A'- a variation, and then we hear a completely new verse, B. This adds to the idea of repetition and adds elements to the texture of the song.
Importance of the song: This song is very programmatic in that it evokes a story of a women away from her home, Africa, and the pain she suffers being in a place without peace. This song, when sung by Anderson once moved a musical instructor to tears. Known as “A true mezzo-soprano, she encompassed both ranges with full power, expressive feeling, dynamic contrast, and utmost delicacy.”"(Marian Anderson Biography) Although she faced prejudice, Anderson was a talented black female with a powerful voice and ability.
Well -- maybe not Africa; but there are many metaphors for a deep river -- the river Jordan, for example -- that exist in a metaphoric space. Based on your reading of her article, was she eager to be a civil rights icon?
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks Hannah! Good work!