Born in Drummondsville, ON, Oct 11, 1882
Died in Battle Creek, MI, Oct 2, 1943
- Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville, Ontario, Canada (now part of Niagara Falls, Ontario). His ancestors were among the freedom-seekers who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. (In fact, Drummondville was a community founded by freedom-seekers.)1
- Dett’s formal musical education was substantial, to say the least.
- Dett attended Oberlin Conservatory, where he was the first person of African Descent to graduate from the institution with a double major in piano performance and composition in 1908.
- He would later be awarded honorary doctorates from both Oberlin and Howard University. Dett was the first Black alumnus to receive an honorary doctorate from Oberlin.
- Dett received his Master’s Degree from Eastman School of Music over 20 years after graduating from Oberlin. And in 1929, he studied with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France.2
- Dett was a choral conductor who taught for almost two decades at the Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, a historically Black university.
- Under his leadership, the Hampton Singers rose to artistic prominence, touring internationally and singing for President Herbert Hoover.3
- As a composer, Dett published around 100 works, primarily pieces for piano, voice, and choir. He is best remembered for his arrangements of folksongs and spirituals.4
Biography from the Library of Congress
Sources
- Christopher Brooks, “Dett, R(obert) Nathaniel,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 16, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000007669.
- Ginger Deppman, “Conservatory Performances to Honor Nathaniel Dett,” The Oberlin Review (2022), accessed November 2, 2022, https://oberlinreview.org/27560/conservatory/conservatory-performances-to-honor-nathaniel-dett/.
- Christopher Brooks, “Dett, R(obert) Nathaniel,” Grove Music Online.
- “R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943),” Library of Congress Biographies, accessed November 2, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038840/.