Songs of (re)Imagining: Margaret Bonds

Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) was an American composer and arranger, notably setting many texts by Langston Hughes (a close friend) and arranging African-American spirituals. When she was growing up, she lived in a home that had visits from Florence Price and Will Marion Cook. She studied piano and composition with Florence Price and William Dawson during high school and later earned degrees in both of these areas. Her music often addresses issues of race.

There are some composers I would love to spend more time studying– Margaret Bonds, Florence Price, Julia Perry, to name a few– and to that end, I’m starting my studies on Bonds here. Below is a list of some of her choral music, and information I could find that might be helpful to conductors who might be considering programming her music. 

I first came across Margaret Bonds when I was teaching a class to my undergraduate music majors on silenced voices. I looked at the dates and the regions that they studied in music history, and we went over those exact dates and places… but instead of talking about Claudio Monteverdi or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Olivier Messiaen, we only learned about voices of women. And not Fanny Mendelssohn or Clara Schumann, since they had small boxes about them in the history book my students used. In preparation for the course, I learned about Bonds. Even in the last few years, access to her music has opened up a little.

I was thrilled to see some of Bonds’ music on Dr. Marques Garrett’s list of non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers (here! Check it out if you haven’t. It’s also where I learned of Remel Derrick– and I adore his music). 

I’ve also followed Dr. Michael Cooper, who researches and edits the works of Bonds. He is a blogger, and I really enjoyed his blog from April 23, 2022. Dr. Cooper works with Hildegard Publishing on Bonds editions, which has a Margaret Bonds Series.

Choral Music Titles:

The Ballad of the Brown King

• SATB
• Soloists
• Orchestra
• Cantata
• Used to be published by the Sam Fox Publishing Company. Currently out of print. Alfred Music controls the rights… I think. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all request them to bring it back into print?
• Mary had a little baby, Mvt IV
  • SSSA

Children’s Sleep

• SATB
• Text: Vernon Glasser
• Written as a chorus section in a children’s opera called Winter Night’s Dream. Published in New York by Carl Fischer in 1942.

Credo

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• SATB, Soprano and Baritone soloists, piano/vocal score (not a reduction)
• Based off of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Credo” from 1904
• Movement sold separately:
  • Especially Do I Believe

• Soprano solo
• Not yet available, but soon

Fields of Wonder

• TB voices
• Text by Langston Hughes

Hold On

• SATB, piano

I Shall pass through this world

• A capella
• I can’t find this located on the publishers website (Bourne Music).

I Wish I Knew how it Would Feel to Be Free

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• SATB
• Soprano Solo
• Coming in 2022
• Orchestra?

Mass in D Minor

• SATB, Organ
• Only the Kyrie exists, and it’s only the voice parts with some organ indications
• There is no complete score of the Mass. 

The Negro speaks of rivers

• Text: Langston Hughes
• SATB
• Published by Handy Brothers Music Co

No Man has seen His Face

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• Very diatonic, Accessible
• Text by Janice Lovoos

St. Francis’ Prayer (Hildegard Publishing)

• SATB, piano
• Editor: Louise Toppin with Hildegard Publishing

Sinner, please don’t let this harvest pass

• SATB, soprano
• Can’t find a place where this is published?

Simon Bore the Cross

• SATB cantata, solos
• Text: Langston Hughes
• Based on the spiritual He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word
• GIA Publications
• Two selections sometimes extracted from the cantata:
  • Don’t You Know, Mary?
  • The Crucifixion
• Overall, an accessible cantata for singers

Sleep Song

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• SSAA Chorus
• Coming soon
• Text by Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918)

Standin’ in the Need of Prayer

• SATB
• Soprano solo
• Looking yet for where this is published.

This Little Light of Mine

• SATB, piano
• Soprano solo

Touch the Hem of His Garment

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• SATB, piano
• Soprano/Tenor solo
• Short sacred chorus
• Text by her friend Janice Lovoos
• Accessible to amateur singers (including church musicians)

We Shall Overcome

• Editor: John Michael Cooper with Hildegard Publishing
• SATB, hand drum
• Soprano solo
• Coming soon

You can tell the world

• SSA or TTBB