The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

SIUC music professors help black composers find a voice

Jeanine Wagner and Margaret Simmons have been performing music together for 25 years.

Wagner, a vocalist and Simmons, a pianist, share a love for spirituals and art songs.

After one performance, a woman approached the SIUC music professors and said she appreciated that two white women were performing art songs composed by black composers since black performers had been performing songs done by white composers for so long.

"Her comments really intrigued us," Wagner said. "We started to look for songs done by African-Americans."

The two took a sabbatical last year and collected unpublished works of black composers for an anthology that will be available in the fall. The anthology that is being published by Southern Illinois University Press will contain about 40 unpublished works by black composers.

"Black composers have been ignored in this area," Wagner said. "We want to make available a body of literature that has not been available."

In honor of Black History Month, the two will perform for students and other community members some of the work they have collected from black composers.

The performance will be Tuesday at the Epiphany Lutheran Church of All Saints.

Wagner said they enjoyed performing art songs and they tried to find more pieces by black composers but there were not many published. She said they also had students approach them wanting music by black composers they could perform.

Wagner and Simmons could only find one anthology on black composers, and it was published in 1975.

They primarily focused on art songs, which is poetry set to music, written by black musicians.

"With art song, the fusion of poetry and music is paramount," Simmons said. "It is just as much about the poetry as it is about the music."

Carolyn Snyder, vice president of Programs for American Association of University Women, said that the performance is a great way to commemorate Black History Month and is relevant to the focus of the AAUW.

"These women are part of our faculty, have done this wonderful research and are well-known performers," Snyder said.

The duo also has plans to put together another anthology of music by black composers because of the response from the composers they have published and others with unpublished work.

"We did it because of our love of art songs and we saw a hole in the repertoire that was available," Wagner said. "It has been amazing to see the positive feedback and excitement over the publication," Wagner said.

Reporter Kristina Dailing can be reached at kdailing@dailyegyptian.com