Obscure Music Monday: Dett's Cave of the Winds

Robert Nathaniel Dett (Oct. 11, 1882 - Oct. 2, 1943) was a composer, pianist, organist, and professor of music. Born in Ontario, Canada, he showed interest in music at a young age, and began piano lessons at five years old. The family moved to New York around the time Dett was ten years old, and a few years later he was playing piano for his church. He would later on study at the Oliver Willis Halstead Conservatory of Music, and continued studying piano at the Lockport Conservatory, before eventually attend the Curtis Institute of Music. At Curtis, Dett was introduced to the idea of using spirituals in classical music, like in the music of Antonin Dvorak. The music Dett heard reminded him of spirituals he'd learned from his grandmother, and he'd later on integrate folksongs and spirituals in to his music.

In 1902, when he was only 20 years old, Dett wrote a Cave of the Winds, for solo piano. Cave of the Winds was a cave behind Niagra Falls' smallest waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls, where winds were capable of reaching tropical storm levels. It's not entirely surprising that Dett wrote a piece about the cave (that eventually closed due to a rock fall), as he grew up in Ontario, and the sites of Niagra Falls can certainly be inspiring.

Originally subtitled "March and Two-Step," this bright and colorful work is popular among wind ensemble enthusiasts, and has been arranged for band; it's quite understandable as to why, since it's quintessential marching band music. Along with that strong march feel, it has chromatic lines that sweep through as if a huge wind gust were building up and sweeping through the cave, and the energetic lines pack quite a punch, much like the winds of that cave once did, many years ago.

Here's a recording of this fantastic work for you to enjoy!*

Clipper Erickson

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