The Dunbar Music Archive was established by Dr. Minnita Daniel-Cox in 2014. This resource is meant to increase awareness and consumption of musical settings of texts by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar the poet, author, librettist, activist, and essayist was a seminal figure in establishing a poetic voice that would influence African-American poets for generations, including those responsible for the blossoming of the Harlem Renaissance.
For translation and pronunciation information for dialect terms used in Dunbar's poetry, see the Dunbar Glossary of Dialect Terms.
This collection was produced by University of Dayton's Department of Music, the University Libraries and the University of Dayton's media production group.
The Dunbar Music Archive will be expanding through generous funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the University of Dayton College of Arts and Sciences. Please explore the contents of this collection and stay tuned for the launch of the Dunbar Library and Archive.
Musical Settings
He Had His Dream (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Howdy, honey, howdy (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
How Shall I Woo Thee (voice and piano), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Hunting Song, Evelyn McCue Wright (Streaming Media Available)
If op.15 no.1 (high voice and piano), Robert Owens
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Phillip Magnuson
In Dahomey, William Marion Cook
In May (voice and piano), Alice Barnett
Invitation to Love (voice and piano), Granville English
Invitation to Love (voice and piano), Theophil Wendt
Itching Heels, C. Koerner
Itching Heels (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Jes Lak White Fo'ks, Will Marion Cook and William Marion Cook
Jump Back, Honey, Philip Hayden
Jump Back, Honey, Jump Back (voice and piano), William L. (William Levi) Dawson
Justice (medium voice or high voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Lager Beer (baritone and piano), Gary Bachlund
Lay Me Down Beneaf de Willers in the Grass, Reginald Evans
Lead Gently, Lord, and Slow, Reginald Evans
Lead Gently, Lord (SATB chorus and organ), Gary Bachlund
Lead Gently, Lord (voice and piano), Wynn Leo Boyd
Life (Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar), Zenobia Powell Perry
Life (low voice and piano), Mary Elizabeth Turner Salter
Life (low voice or medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Life (SATB chorus a cappella, or voice and piano), Herbert Haufrecht
