The shorter choral works of Margaret Allison Bonds: an analysis of compositional style

This thesis is a study of the life and works of Margaret Allison Bonds (1913–72) with specific attention paid to her shorter choral works. Bonds was an accomplished American composer, performer, and educator who, despite facing prejudice as a Black woman, made significant contributions to the story of American Music in the twentieth century.

Bonds wrote over 400 compositions including works for orchestra, solo piano, solo voice and piano, choir, and choir with orchestra. The most numerous and successful portion of her output is her solo vocal works which includes art song cycles, popular songs, and arrangements of traditional Negro Spirituals, collaborating regularly with several of the most prominent vocalists of their time including Marian Anderson (1897–1993), Etta Moten Barnett (1901–2004), and Leontyne Price (b. 1927).

While others have studied the instrumental, solo voice, and extended choral works of Margaret Bonds, no one has yet examined her thirty-six shorter choral works. These pieces span a variety of genres, styles, and difficulty, as Bonds typically wrote or arranged them for specific ensembles or circumstances. Therefore, they are fertile ground for a study of Bonds’ compositional style traits that make her works unique.

It is my hope that this study will serve as an entry point for those interested in learning more about this significant American composer, and will inspire others to execute further research on her life and works, and expose Bonds’ shorter choral works to a larger audience.