Obscure Music Monday: Dett's O Holy Lord

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 attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music.. At Oberlin, 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.

One of Dett's choral compositions is O Holy Lord, for 8 part mixed chorus. This work involves lots of repetitive phrases (O holy Lord, done with sin and sorrow), and the work slowly but steadily builds intensity, in addition to voices. It's starts with just the men, then altos, and then sopranos, expanding in sound, and in the work's sense of hope. It's interesting to note that the words "O holy Lord" are often in a major key, where "done with sin and sorrow" are mainly in minor. After reaching a peak, the work then slowly retreats in dynamics before one brief, last intense moment, before ending quietly. The textures he creates within the voices are rich, and through the building of the voices and intensity, he creates the most warm atmosphere of hope and praise. It's one of many examples of his wonderful choral writing.