by Linda Freeman
James Langston Hughes, born at the dawn of the 20th Century, lived a varied life: poet, playwright, essayist; leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance; world traveler, purported communist and defier of Joseph McCarthy. Wherever he lived and whatever role he was filling, in public or private, music remained a constant part of his life, and influenced many of his endeavors.
Hughes’s first published poetry collection was titled The Weary Blues, and many of his poems portrayed people playing, singing, or dancing to blues and jazz music. In the 1930s he befriended the young pianist and composer Margaret Bonds, who set a number of his poems, most famously “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” They went on to collaborate on two popular musicals, Don’t You Want to Be Free? in 1939 and Tropics After Dark in 1940. He also provided the lyrics for William Grant Still’s opera about Haiti, Troubled Island. In 1946, he worked with Kurt Weill to turn the play Street Scene, by Elmer Rice, into an opera.
We will be performing two of Hughes’s poems: “Dreams,” from 1927, set by Susan LaBarr as “Hold Fast to Dreams,” and “In Time of Silver Rain,” from 1947, set by B. E. Boykin. Both are part of the summer segment of the concert, depicting a time of abundant energy and passion.
