Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint draws on early American ballads

For her chamber work Five Folksongs in Counterpoint (1950), composer Florence Price drew on traditional ballads of early America. She described the five as such in a composer’s note: 

No. 1 is based upon the Negro spiritual “Calvary.” 

No. 2 is based upon “Clementine,” a ballad which became a favorite during the Reconstruction period. It was popular in San Francisco, California, near the end of the 19th century [and is also known as “My Darling Clementine”]. 

No. 3 “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes” was sung by settlers on the Eastern coast of America before the days of the American Revolution — the words of which were written by Ben Johnson in 1616 and sung to a tune of unknown origin as early as 1770.

No. 4 Several folk songs (including “Shortnin’ Bread”).

No. 5  “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Well-known and one of the best-loved of American Negro folk tunes.

Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will perform Five Folksongs in Counterpoint in a CSO Chamber Music concert June 24 at the Murphy Auditorium of the Driehaus Museum, 50 E. Erie. Also on the lineup, which is part of the CSO’s America 250 programming, are Barber’s Adagio from String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11; Johnston’s String Quartet No. 4, The Ascent (Amazing Grace) and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12 in F Major (American).

The CSO musicians are Matous Michal and Gabriela Lara (violins), Danny Lai (viola) and Olivia Jakyoung Huh (cello).

Five Folksongs in Counterpoint (1950) "features recognizable American melodies in a succession of sophisticated contrapuntal guises and the collection highlights Price’s impressive technical skill and imagination,” wrote William Runyan for the site Earsense.org. 

"These movements are manifestly not the usual simplistic arrangements of folksongs one often encounters. Accordingly, they — notwithstanding the recognizable use of folk material — are miniature essays in contrapuntal treatment. One will hear a variety of accompanying motives and countermotives, usually in a non-imitative texture. Price was well educated in traditional European classical compositional styles and techniques, and her sophistication shows eloquently here. Yet, she is concomitantly, proudly and solidly rooted in her cultural roots.”

The entire work is steeped in Black musical traditions. “Each movement takes for its theme a Negro spiritual or hymn or folk song from the Black American tradition,” wrote James Bennett in a post for the WQXR-FM site. "Like the stream of hot water passing through the tightly, expertly packed espresso puck, Price squeezes these familiar American melodies through the practices of European chamber music. The result is a cup of transformed musical experiences — including the complex notes of the mildly off-putting, but playful dissonances of ‘Clementine,’ and the spry energy injected into the Black folk song ‘Shortnin’ Bread.’ A damn fine cup of coffee.”