Ralph Joseph Gleason, American, 1917 - 1975 Search this
Medium:
toner on paper (fiber product)
Dimensions:
H x W: 14 x 8 1/2 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm)
Type:
essays
treatments (documents)
Place depicted:
United States, North and Central America
Date:
ca. 1973
Description:
A photocopy of a narrative essay written by James Baldwin and outlining a musical and dramatic collaboration between Baldwin and Ray Charles. The essay is typed in black ink on white paper and consists of five total pages: four interior pages as well as a title page.
The cover page reads [HALLELUJAH CHORUS] at center with [BY / JAMES BALDWIN] at the lower right. The first page is not numbered at the top and begins "My earliest notes indicate that Ray Charles is a A: Troubadour, B: Poet, C: Lover, D: Preacher, E: Tragic Artist." The remaining pages are numbered at the top center. The content of the essay describes Ray Charles and his music before giving a tentative outline for the proposed show. On page three, Baldwin writes, "I am sketching a blue-print for what is, after all, an unprecedented improvisation." The document ends with several paragraphs of prose identified as "JB's opening, after Lift Every Voice." which introduces the event as a "testimony service," and muses on the relationship of "Hallelujah" to "Amen." The essay ends on page four with "But I am here only as a witness, to say, Amen. The right Reverend Ray Charles is testifying, singing Hallelujah: Listen."
