William L. Dawson (composer)

William Levi Dawson (September 26, 1899 – May 2, 1990) was an American composer, choir director, professor, and musicologist. Early life and education William Levi Dawson was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1899, Dawson paid his tuition by working as a music librarian and a manual laborer in the school’s Agricultural Division. He also participated as a member of Tuskegee’s choir, band and orchestra, playing several instruments, composing scores, and traveling with the Tuskegee Singers for five years. Dawson graduated from Tuskegee in 1921. Dawson’s goal was to write a symphony in the Negro Folk Idiom, and in the symphonic form used by European composers of the Romantic-Nationalist School (Dawson). He was greatly inspired by Dvorak and his views on nationalism in music. The entire work mirrors the Negro Spiritual. The symphony was a huge success and it garnered a great deal of attention from many critics. The success was however short lived. After four back-to-back performances in November, Dawson receded from the headlines, and the symphony was put to rest for 18 years. The symphony was revised in 1952 with added African rhythms inspired by the composer’s trip to West Africa. This new