Margaret Bonds

This is the long-awaited study score for the orchestral setting of Margaret Bonds's powerful work, Credo, for soprano and baritone soloists, orchestra and SATB chorus. The text for this seven movement...

A Spiritual

The spiritual “You Can Tell the World” remained fertile ground for Margaret Bonds’ compositional genius throughout her career. This SSA setting of “You Can Tell the World,” is unique, however, because...

For solo voice and piano. Text by Langston Hughes. In the words of editor John Michael Cooper, this work is an example of the deeply poetic creative nature of the Bonds-Hughes collaborations. By genre...

This duet for two solo voices with piano accompaniment features text by Langston Hughes, whose words emphasize the powerful rhythms of African drums and the sensual appeal of the dance. Bonds' work of...

A Spiritual, for mixed chorus (SATB) with piano

This work is typical of the unrelenting originality of Margaret Bonds' arrangements of spirituals. It was composed in 1969 for legendary soprano Leontyne Price and the A Cappella Choir of Rust College...

This is one of two short sacred choruses and two sacred songs on the same texts that Bonds composed in 1968. Bonds originally composed the work for solo voice and piano, then arranged it for chorus wi...

This is one of two short sacred choruses and two sacred songs on the same texts that Bonds composed in 1968. The words were written by her friend and frequent collaborator Janice Lovoos, a multifacete...

The text for this choral masterpiece is W. E. B Du Bois' 'Credo' (1904), promoting racial justice, equality and harmony. The piano/vocal score was the original score prepared by the composer. This is...

Margaret Bonds composed this choral piece in 1968. The text for this work is the well known and timeless 'Prayer for St Francis of Assissi' (anonymous) that begins 'Lord, make me an instrument of thy...

Adapted by acclaimed pianist Lara Downes from the original work “Especially Do I Believe in the Negro Race” by Margaret Bonds. This is the lyrical second movement from Bonds’ larger work, “Credo” on t...

The two works in this publication are Tangamerican and Fugal Dance. In the words of editor John Michael Cooper, Tangamerican is melodically, harmonically, and stylistically rich, but succinct - just t...

This beautiful lullaby for women's chorus uses text by Joyce Kilmer (1886 - 1918). Bonds sets this text as a tender lullaby, beginning quietly and moving to intricate melodies, lush harmonies, and tex...

A Spiritual

A frequent collaborator with poet Langston Hughes and one of the first black women to break into the world of classical composition and performance; Margaret Bonds studied with Roy Harris at Juilliard...

The songs in this volume document Margaret Bonds's musical life work as composer of art songs before her move to New York in 1939. "Sleep Song" and "Sea Ghost" are the first known works by Margaret Bo...

In 1969, soprano Leontyne Price commissioned Bonds to set I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free and three other spirituals for performance with the Rust College A Cappella Choir. The setting refl...

Edited by John Michael Cooper. Those who know the composer from the melodic richness and emotional intensity of her works 'Troubled Water', 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers', and 'Three Dream Portraits' wi...

Margaret Bonds described this work as the first choral composition written expressly for the George McClain Chorale. In her own words, "the choir needed a light, gay composition. I knew Langston Hughe...

The spiritual "You Can Tell the World" was fertile ground for Margaret Bonds’ compositional genius. She first arranged it for solo voice and piano, then went on to write an orchestrated version for so...

The Millay settings are remarkable for their almost symphonic textures and pronounced sense of drama. Bonds' music is compelling and as profoundly moving as Millay's poems themselves - a feat rarely i...