H. T. Burleigh

Harry T. Burleigh (b. Erie, PA, 1866; d. Stamford, CT, 1949) began his musical career as a choirboy in St. Paul's Cathedral, Erie, Pennsylvania. He also studied at the National Conservatory of Music, New York City, where he was befriended by Antonín Dvořák and, according to tradition, provided Dvořák with some African American musical themes that became part of Dvořák's New World Symphony. Burleigh composed at least two hundred works but is most remem­bered for his vocal solo arrangements of African American spirituals. In 1944 Burleigh was honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

Bert Polman