GU Music Program’s Exploration of Margaret Bonds
Since Georgetown University Lauinger Library announced the 2013 acquisition of a substantial collection of the papers of Margaret Bonds, an important African American composer best known for her collaborations with Langston Hughes, the Georgetown University Music Program has taken a deep dive into the materials, exploring her life and works through research and performance. The Library’s collection, which Music Program Prof. Anna Celenza championed to bring to campus and is held in the Special Collections Research Center, includes hundreds of pages of music manuscripts and manuscript fragments, letters and cards from Langston Hughes and others, photographs, programs, and ephemera—all salvaged from a box found by a dumpster—including the only known copy of Bonds’ and Hughes’ Easter cantata “Simon Bore the Cross.” Georgetown presented the work’s world premiere, edited by Prof. Frederick Binkholder, at the Kennedy Center in February 2017 for Black History Month.
Read the 2017 Washington Post article about the incredible story of Bonds’ works, “A forgotten voice for civil rights rises in song at Georgetown” by Anne Midgette.
Below are examples of the extensive Bonds-related programming the Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts has presented or participated in over the years, in reverse chronological order.
March 24, 2021 at 9 a.m.
Black Feminism, Margaret Bonds, and the
Credo of W. E. B. Du Bois
GU Concert Choir
Frederick Binkholder, Music Director
The GU Concert Choir and Music Director Prof. Frederick Binkholder continued their exploration of the works of Margaret Bonds, participating March 24 in a Royal Irish Academy of Music guest lecture session with Professor John Michael Cooper (Southwestern University, USA). The ensemble performed selections from Bonds’ “Credo,” edited by Dr. Cooper, including the 1st Movement (“I Believe in God”), 2nd Movement (“Especially do I believe” with soprano soloist Katerina Burton from the Washington National Opera Cafritz Young Artists) and the 7th Movement (“I Believe in Justice”).
Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 8 p.m.
Credo and Montgomery Variations – Margaret Bonds
Georgetown University Concert Choir
Frederick Binkholder, Artistic Director
Georgetown University Orchestra
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, Artistic Director
The Georgetown University Concert Choir once again joined forces with the University Orchestra as they continued their effort to put research into practices as they performed the little-known Credo and Montgomery Variations by Margaret Bonds. Using a recently assembled score by Dr. Michael Cooper, the ensemble hoped to bring deserving recognition to this marvelous composer.
Gaston Hall | FREE
Additional past events in the exploration of Margaret Bonds’ works have included the following:
Friday, March 20, 2020 at 12:30 p.m.
The Music of Margaret Bonds
FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES
Louise Toppin, soprano
John O’Brien, piano
Manuscripts and sketches for many of the songs on this program came from Lauinger Library’s Booth Family Center for Special Collections, and the recital was offered in tandem with a spring world premiere of Bonds’ Credo, performed by the GU Orchestra and Concert Choir. Toppin is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera regional auditions.
World Premiere
Georgetown University Music Program
GU Concert Choir
Prof. Frederick Binkholder, music director
Simon Bore the Cross
Music by Margaret Bonds
Text by Langston Hughes
Friday, September 23, 2016
A collaboration between the Georgetown Music Program, the African American Studies Program, and Lauinger Library’s Special Collections
This day of events and exhibitions celebrated composer Margaret Bonds, including her musical friendship with writer Langston Hughes.
10:30 a.m. PANEL DISCUSSION | Murray Room, Lauinger Library (5th floor)
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Featuring talks by Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music Dr. Anna Celenza, Georgetown University and Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Professor of Music, Miami University in Ohio
A luncheon directly followed the panel (RSVP required). Viewing of two exhibitions curated by Prof. Celenza:
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist | Lauinger Library exhibition, Leon Robbin Gallery
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship | Lauinger Library exhibition, Special Collections Gallery
1:15 p.m. FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES CONCERT | McNeir Hall, New North Building
The annual Friday Music Series collaboration between the University Library and the Music Program featured Margaret Bonds’ musical settings of texts by Langston Hughes, including some unpublished and until now presumed lost works, followed by a Q&A with the performers.
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
with readings by Georgetown University students
Program
Solo piano:
- Overture to Simon Bore the Cross (GU owns only known copy of music)
Troubled Water
Three Miniatures of Uncle Joe (GU owns only known copy of music)
Solo voice and piano:
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” lyrics by L Hughes
Three Dream Portraits lyrics by L Hughes
“Minstrel Man”
“Dream Variation”
“I, Too”
“Mary had a Little Baby” from Ballad of the Brown King lyrics by L Hughes
“Note on Commercial Theatre” (GU owns only known copy of words and music) lyrics by L Hughes
“Dry Bones” spiritual
“Lord, I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’” spiritual
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand” spiritual
Friday Music Series: The Music of Margaret Bonds
Friday, September 23, 2016 at 1:15pm
McNeir Hall, New North Building
Free
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
The Music of Margaret Bonds
A collaboration between the GU Music Program, Lauinger Library Special Collections, and African-American Studies Program
This program featured music from the Bonds collection housed in the Leon Robbin Special Collections. American soprano Marlissa Hudson has been described as a “superb lyric coloratura” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). At home both on the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hudson made her professional debut while a student, performing Summertime from Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Pops Orchestra under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin Mills is organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland. He is also music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble, and guest artist with the Ritz Chamber Players, based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Georgetown University Friday Music Series features acclaimed artists in free concerts at 1:15 p.m. on select Fridays.
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist
Leon Robbin Gallery | August 29, 2016 to January 24, 2017
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Special Collections Gallery | August 30, 2016 to January 24, 2017
The Margaret Bonds Papers (GTM 130530) are available to researchers in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections.
Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Friday, September 23, 2016
A collaboration between the Georgetown Music Program, the African American Studies Program, and Lauinger Library’s Special Collections
This day of events and exhibitions celebrated composer Margaret Bonds, including her musical friendship with writer Langston Hughes.
10:30 a.m. PANEL DISCUSSION | Murray Room, Lauinger Library (5th floor)
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Featuring talks by Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music Dr. Anna Celenza, Georgetown University and Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Professor of Music, Miami University in Ohio
A luncheon directly followed the panel (RSVP required). Viewing of two exhibitions curated by Prof. Celenza:
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist | Lauinger Library exhibition, Leon Robbin Gallery
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship | Lauinger Library exhibition, Special Collections Gallery
1:15 p.m. FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES CONCERT | McNeir Hall, New North Building
The annual Friday Music Series collaboration between the University Library and the Music Program featured Margaret Bonds’ musical settings of texts by Langston Hughes, including some unpublished and until now presumed lost works, followed by a Q&A with the performers.
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
with readings by Georgetown University students
Program
Solo piano:
- Overture to Simon Bore the Cross (GU owns only known copy of music)
Troubled Water
Three Miniatures of Uncle Joe (GU owns only known copy of music)
Solo voice and piano:
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” lyrics by L Hughes
Three Dream Portraits lyrics by L Hughes
“Minstrel Man”
“Dream Variation”
“I, Too”
“Mary had a Little Baby” from Ballad of the Brown King lyrics by L Hughes
“Note on Commercial Theatre” (GU owns only known copy of words and music) lyrics by L Hughes
“Dry Bones” spiritual
“Lord, I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’” spiritual
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand” spiritual
Friday Music Series: The Music of Margaret Bonds
Friday, September 23, 2016 at 1:15pm
McNeir Hall, New North Building
Free
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
The Music of Margaret Bonds
A collaboration between the GU Music Program, Lauinger Library Special Collections, and African-American Studies Program
This program featured music from the Bonds collection housed in the Leon Robbin Special Collections. American soprano Marlissa Hudson has been described as a “superb lyric coloratura” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). At home both on the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hudson made her professional debut while a student, performing Summertime from Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Pops Orchestra under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin Mills is organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland. He is also music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble, and guest artist with the Ritz Chamber Players, based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Georgetown University Friday Music Series features acclaimed artists in free concerts at 1:15 p.m. on select Fridays.
Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 6 p.m. | WORLD PREMIERE
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Millennium Stage | FREE
Monday, April 30, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre | FREE
7:15 pm pre-concert lecture: Experts Dr. Tammy Kernodle (Miami University) and Dr. Anna Celenza (Georgetown University) gave a pre-concert lecture about Simon Bore the Cross, Margaret Bonds, and the importance of her legacy in music history.
Also part of the 2017-18 A Year of Margaret Bonds…
GU Concert Choir
Prof. Frederick Binkholder, artistic director
Featuring guest artists
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
& Mikyoung Cho, piano
Ballad of the Brown King
Music by Margaret Bonds
Text by Langston Hughes
This holiday concert featured the nine-movement Christmas cantata Ballad of the Brown King, with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes, her long-time collaborator. Front page dedication of the work notes that it is “Inspired by and Dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” This concert was part of the GU Concert Choir’s “A Year of Margaret Bonds,” which features works from the Special Collections Research Center at Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library, including Bonds’ and Hughes’ Easter cantata Simon Bore the Cross, which will have its world premiere on April 30.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 8 p.m.
Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre | FREE
The Music of Margaret Bonds
The Library announced the acquisition of a substantial collection of the papers of Margaret Bonds, an important African-American composer best known for her collaborations with Langston Hughes. The collection includes hundreds of pages of music manuscripts and manuscript fragments, letters and cards from Langston Hughes and others, photographs, programs and ephemera and is held in the Special Collections Research Center.
Bonds met Langston Hughes in 1936, and a lifelong friendship and collaboration ensued. In that year she set to music several Hughes songs including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Love’s Runnin’ Riot” and “Winter Moon.” They went on to collaborate on innumerable large and small projects, including “Ballad of the Brown King” and “Shakespeare in Harlem.” One of several notes from Hughes to Bonds in the collection, written from Los Angeles on March 9, 1961, reads: “Still here, can’t seem to get away. I’m doing a bit of work with Eartha Kitt on lyrics and Afro-Latin things. Dorothea Freitag flew out to rehearse her new numbers for the Plaza date. And Olga James is here, too. Dorothea saw her show and sends you the enclosed program.”
The acquisition of this fascinating collection was made possible by the Leon Robbin Library Endowment Fund.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
https://www.library.georgetown.edu/news/music-margaret-bonds
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist
Leon Robbin Gallery | August 29, 2016 to January 24, 2017
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Special Collections Gallery | August 30, 2016 to January 24, 2017
The Margaret Bonds Papers (GTM 130530) are available to researchers in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections.
Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Friday, September 23, 2016
A collaboration between the Georgetown Music Program, the African American Studies Program, and Lauinger Library’s Special Collections
This day of events and exhibitions celebrated composer Margaret Bonds, including her musical friendship with writer Langston Hughes.
10:30 a.m. PANEL DISCUSSION | Murray Room, Lauinger Library (5th floor)
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Featuring talks by Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music Dr. Anna Celenza, Georgetown University and Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Professor of Music, Miami University in Ohio
A luncheon directly followed the panel (RSVP required). Viewing of two exhibitions curated by Prof. Celenza:
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist | Lauinger Library exhibition, Leon Robbin Gallery
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship | Lauinger Library exhibition, Special Collections Gallery
1:15 p.m. FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES CONCERT | McNeir Hall, New North Building
The annual Friday Music Series collaboration between the University Library and the Music Program featured Margaret Bonds’ musical settings of texts by Langston Hughes, including some unpublished and until now presumed lost works, followed by a Q&A with the performers.
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
with readings by Georgetown University students
Program
Solo piano:
- Overture to Simon Bore the Cross (GU owns only known copy of music)
Troubled Water
Three Miniatures of Uncle Joe (GU owns only known copy of music)
Solo voice and piano:
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” lyrics by L Hughes
Three Dream Portraits lyrics by L Hughes
“Minstrel Man”
“Dream Variation”
“I, Too”
“Mary had a Little Baby” from Ballad of the Brown King lyrics by L Hughes
“Note on Commercial Theatre” (GU owns only known copy of words and music) lyrics by L Hughes
“Dry Bones” spiritual
“Lord, I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’” spiritual
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand” spiritual
Friday Music Series: The Music of Margaret Bonds
Friday, September 23, 2016 at 1:15pm
McNeir Hall, New North Building
Free
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
The Music of Margaret Bonds
A collaboration between the GU Music Program, Lauinger Library Special Collections, and African-American Studies Program
This program featured music from the Bonds collection housed in the Leon Robbin Special Collections. American soprano Marlissa Hudson has been described as a “superb lyric coloratura” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). At home both on the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hudson made her professional debut while a student, performing Summertime from Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Pops Orchestra under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin Mills is organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland. He is also music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble, and guest artist with the Ritz Chamber Players, based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Georgetown University Friday Music Series features acclaimed artists in free concerts at 1:15 p.m. on select Fridays.
The Georgetown University Concert Choir performed this Easter cantata by the African-American composer Margaret Bonds with text by her long-time collaborator Langston Hughes, based on the spiritual “He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word.” When the Special Collections of Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library purchased the archives of Margaret Bonds, handwritten parts of this work—once thought to be lost—were discovered by Prof. Anna Celenza. Prof. Frederick Binkholder created a performance score from the handwritten manuscripts and the GU Concert Choir’s “A Year of Margaret Bonds” featured the World Premiere of this marvelous, historic work.
Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 6 p.m. | WORLD PREMIERE
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Millennium Stage | FREE
Monday, April 30, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre | FREE
7:15 pm pre-concert lecture: Experts Dr. Tammy Kernodle (Miami University) and Dr. Anna Celenza (Georgetown University) gave a pre-concert lecture about Simon Bore the Cross, Margaret Bonds, and the importance of her legacy in music history.
Also part of the 2017-18 A Year of Margaret Bonds…
GU Concert Choir
Prof. Frederick Binkholder, artistic director
Featuring guest artists
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
& Mikyoung Cho, piano
Ballad of the Brown King
Music by Margaret Bonds
Text by Langston Hughes
This holiday concert featured the nine-movement Christmas cantata Ballad of the Brown King, with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes, her long-time collaborator. Front page dedication of the work notes that it is “Inspired by and Dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” This concert was part of the GU Concert Choir’s “A Year of Margaret Bonds,” which features works from the Special Collections Research Center at Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library, including Bonds’ and Hughes’ Easter cantata Simon Bore the Cross, which will have its world premiere on April 30.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 8 p.m.
Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre | FREE
The Music of Margaret Bonds
The Library announced the acquisition of a substantial collection of the papers of Margaret Bonds, an important African-American composer best known for her collaborations with Langston Hughes. The collection includes hundreds of pages of music manuscripts and manuscript fragments, letters and cards from Langston Hughes and others, photographs, programs and ephemera and is held in the Special Collections Research Center.
Bonds met Langston Hughes in 1936, and a lifelong friendship and collaboration ensued. In that year she set to music several Hughes songs including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Love’s Runnin’ Riot” and “Winter Moon.” They went on to collaborate on innumerable large and small projects, including “Ballad of the Brown King” and “Shakespeare in Harlem.” One of several notes from Hughes to Bonds in the collection, written from Los Angeles on March 9, 1961, reads: “Still here, can’t seem to get away. I’m doing a bit of work with Eartha Kitt on lyrics and Afro-Latin things. Dorothea Freitag flew out to rehearse her new numbers for the Plaza date. And Olga James is here, too. Dorothea saw her show and sends you the enclosed program.”
The acquisition of this fascinating collection was made possible by the Leon Robbin Library Endowment Fund.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
https://www.library.georgetown.edu/news/music-margaret-bonds
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist
Leon Robbin Gallery | August 29, 2016 to January 24, 2017
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Special Collections Gallery | August 30, 2016 to January 24, 2017
The Margaret Bonds Papers (GTM 130530) are available to researchers in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections.
Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Friday, September 23, 2016
A collaboration between the Georgetown Music Program, the African American Studies Program, and Lauinger Library’s Special Collections
This day of events and exhibitions celebrated composer Margaret Bonds, including her musical friendship with writer Langston Hughes.
10:30 a.m. PANEL DISCUSSION | Murray Room, Lauinger Library (5th floor)
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship
Featuring talks by Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music Dr. Anna Celenza, Georgetown University and Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Professor of Music, Miami University in Ohio
A luncheon directly followed the panel (RSVP required). Viewing of two exhibitions curated by Prof. Celenza:
Margaret Bonds: Composer and Activist | Lauinger Library exhibition, Leon Robbin Gallery
Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship | Lauinger Library exhibition, Special Collections Gallery
1:15 p.m. FRIDAY MUSIC SERIES CONCERT | McNeir Hall, New North Building
The annual Friday Music Series collaboration between the University Library and the Music Program featured Margaret Bonds’ musical settings of texts by Langston Hughes, including some unpublished and until now presumed lost works, followed by a Q&A with the performers.
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
with readings by Georgetown University students
Program
Solo piano:
- Overture to Simon Bore the Cross (GU owns only known copy of music)
Troubled Water
Three Miniatures of Uncle Joe (GU owns only known copy of music)
Solo voice and piano:
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” lyrics by L Hughes
Three Dream Portraits lyrics by L Hughes
“Minstrel Man”
“Dream Variation”
“I, Too”
“Mary had a Little Baby” from Ballad of the Brown King lyrics by L Hughes
“Note on Commercial Theatre” (GU owns only known copy of words and music) lyrics by L Hughes
“Dry Bones” spiritual
“Lord, I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’” spiritual
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand” spiritual
Friday Music Series: The Music of Margaret Bonds
Friday, September 23, 2016 at 1:15pm
McNeir Hall, New North Building
Free
Marlissa Hudson, soprano
Marvin Mills, piano
The Music of Margaret Bonds
A collaboration between the GU Music Program, Lauinger Library Special Collections, and African-American Studies Program
This program featured music from the Bonds collection housed in the Leon Robbin Special Collections. American soprano Marlissa Hudson has been described as a “superb lyric coloratura” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). At home both on the operatic and concert stage, Ms. Hudson made her professional debut while a student, performing Summertime from Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Pops Orchestra under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin Mills is organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland. He is also music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble, and guest artist with the Ritz Chamber Players, based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Georgetown University Friday Music Series features acclaimed artists in free concerts at 1:15 p.m. on select Fridays.