Margaret Bonds
1913 - 1972

Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-72) stands as one of the more remarkable composers in twentieth-century music. Her mother was a musician who studied at Chicago Musical College; her father, a doctor who also authored one of the first published books for Black children and the lexicon Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities (Jackson, Tennessee, 1893). She grew up in a home that, while on the segregated Black south side of Chicago, was relatively affluent and a cultural mecca for musicians and other artists of color. By the age of eight she had been taking piano lessons for several years and written her first composition, and by the time she entered Northwestern University in 1929 she had studied piano and perhaps composition with Theodore Taylor of the Coleridge-Taylor Music School and Will Marion Cook, as well as (reportedly) Florence Price. In 1933 and 1934, respectively, she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano from Northwestern University, where she had to study in the basement of the library because of her race.By 1967 her renown was so great that Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley proclaimed January 31 of that year as the city’s official Margaret Bonds Day. Having traveled between New York City and Los Angeles for many years for her career, she decided to relocate to Los Angeles after the death of her longtime friend and collaborator Langston Hughes in 1967. She remained based there, composing, collaborating, and concertizing, until her death in 1972.
Our Margaret Bonds Signature Series was launched in 2021. Hildegard Publishing is honored to be able to offer a varied collection of Bonds' previously unpublished music for today's musicians to enjoy, learn and perform.
Works in Our Catalog:
491-00679 - African Dance492-00228 - Credo
496-00136 - Credo (orch study score)
392-03114 - Especially Do I Believe
392-01233 - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free
496-00135 - Montgomery Variations
392-01232 - No Man has seen His Face
491-00676 - Six Songs on Poems by Edna St Vincent Millay (medium voice)
491-03177 - Six Songs on Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay
392-03113 - Sleep Song
392-03111 - St. Francis' Prayer
392-01231 - Touch the Hem of His Garment
494-03212 - Troubled Water (cello/piano)
490-01185 - Two Works for Solo Piano
392-01234 - We Shall Overcome
491-00677 - When the Dove Enters In
Works in Our Collections:
- Dry Bones (Spiritual) (1946) - found in Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- He's Got the Whole World In His Hand (Spiritual) (1963) - found in Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- Lord, I Just Can't Keep from Cryin' (Spiritual) (1946) - found in Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1942) - found in Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- Three Dream Portaits (1959) - found in Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- Troubled Water - found in Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893-1990)
Works Available on Rental:
for Soprano and Baritone Soloist, SATB Chorus and Orchestra
Instrumentation: S solo, Bar solo, SATB, orch: 2 Fl/Pic, 2 ob, 2 Bsn, Cbn, 2 Hn, 2 Tpt, 3 Tbn, Tuba, Timp, Perc, Harp, Vln.I, Vln. II, Vla., Vc., Cb
Duration: 23'
for Orchestra
Instrumentation: 2 Fl., 2 Ob., Engl. Hn., 3 Cl., B Cl., 2 Bsn., Cbsn., 4 Hn., 3 Tpt, 4 Tbn, Tuba, Timp, Perc, Hp, Vln I, Vln II, Vla, Vc, Cb
Duration: 28'