Obscure Music Monday: Coleridge-Taylor's Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor took inspiration from many spirituals in his writing, often arranging them for new ensembles or building works around these themes. These could take the forms of piano works (such as his 24 Negro Melodies), vocal works (such as his 6 American Lyrics), or instrumental ensembles, which we look at today. While the song Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? makes other appearances in Coleridge-Taylor's works, it was in a collection entitled 5 Negro Spirituals that we find a lively interpretation of this melody for Piano Trio.

In this short work, the violin and cello harmonize beautifully with the original melody as the piano drives the music forward. Both string parts spend much of the time in the upper registers of the instruments, often in octaves, giving the work an intense feeling.

While prints of this work have not been available for some time, we were happy to locate an original edition of the work, though the ink was faded in places. We've worked to restore some of the original ink in the piano score to make this as legible as possible!