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
Not They Who Soar (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Old (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
O li'l lamb (SATB chorus a cappella), Herbert Haufrecht
O Lord, the Hard-won Miles (voice and piano), R. Nathaniel Dett
On a Clean Book (Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar), Zenobia Powell Perry
One Life (soprano and piano), Richard Thompson
On the Road (voice and piano), Mark Andrews
Over the Hills (medium voice or low voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Over the Hills (voice and piano), Marion Eugénie Bauer
Over the Hills (voice and piano), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground, Herbert Woodward Martin and Adolphus Hailstrok
Philosophy (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Po' Li'l' Lamb (medium voice and piano), Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Possum (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Prologue: Ships that Pass in the Night (baritone and chamber orchestra), Jake Heggie
Response (voice and piano), George Theophilus Walker
Riding to Town (baritone and SATB chorus a cappella), Herbert Haufrecht
Riding to Town (voice and piano), Thomas H. Kerr Jr.
Scamp (baritone and piano), Gary Bachlund
Seen My Lady Home Las' Night, James Gilroth
Sermon, Robert Jager
Silence, Gary Bachlund
Silence, Carson P. Cooman
Sling Along (medium voice and piano), Gary Bachlund
Slumber Song (voice and piano), Wynn Leo Boyd
