Negro Folk Symphony

The Negro Folk Symphony is a symphony composed by William L. Dawson in 1934 and revised in 1952. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra debuted the Negro Folk Symphony on November 14, 16, and 17, 1934, with a follow-up performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall on November 20. It was recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi in 2001. A recording by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducted by was released in June 2020. Composition Dawson began working on his Symphony No. 1 In the late 1920s while living in Chicago. The initial four performances of Dawson’s symphony by a major orchestra made him only the third African American composer, after William Grant Still in 1931 and Florence Price in 1933, to achieve such a milestone. Audiences responded enthusiastically, breaking tradition by applauding after the second movement and giving standing ovations at the symphony’s conclusion. Critics, both Black and white, praised the work—a rare honor for any new American composition, especially by a Black composer. Despite its initial success and critical acclaim, the Negro Folk Symphony, like many works by Black composers, soon faded from the spotlight.