Many Thousand Gone, by Undine Smith Moore

Many Thousand Gone is a four-page piano piece written in 1986 by Undine Moore. The piece is appropriate for an advanced student. As the title page of the piece says, it’s based on the slave song: “No more auction block for me. No more, no more. No more auction block for me. Many thousand gone.” Written in B flat major, the piece presents a cheerful tune in 4/4, arranged in a thick chordal texture with embellishments like broken arpeggios, chromatic runs, and grace notes. Additionally, there is some contrapuntal writing in the middle section. Romantic in nature, the composition style is tonal and even a little jazzy. A student must have large hands in order to play this piece. 

Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) was an accomplished African-American composer, teacher, and arranger. Often referred to as the “Dean of Black Women Composers”, Moore left a legacy of more than 100 compositions in a variety of forms. She was best known for her choral works and arrangements of spirituals. Born in Jarratt, Virginia, Moore obtained her musical education at Fisk University and Columbia University. After finishing her graduate degree at Columbia University, Moore joined the music faculty at Virginia State College, where she taught piano, organ, and music theory until her retirement in 1972. Moore’s musical and teaching career was so diverse and renowned that she received honorary doctorates from Indiana University and Virginia State College. Probably Moore’s most ambitious work, a cantata written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Scenes From the Life of a Martyr,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Moore felt strongly about the inclusion of African-American music in high school and college programs but wanted to avoid stereotypes around it. She once said, “Black music is a house of many mansions. Blacks have many musics and some of them relate in an extremely universal way to the human condition.” She believed that the term “black music” should only mean music written by a black person. 

Sources

• Brunelle, P. (2004). The Centenary Year of Undine Smith Moore: Dean of Black Women Composers. The Choral Journal,44(7), 39-41.
• Undine Smith Moore. (1989). The Black Perspective in Music,17(1/2), 177-177.
• Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
• Photo from Open Ears: Get to Know "the Dean of Black Music Composers" - Classical KDFC