John Wesley Work

Short Name: John Wesley Work
Full Name: Work, John Wesley, 1873-1925
Birth Year: 1873
Death Year: 1925

John W. Work, Jr. (b. Nashville, TN, 1872; d. Nashville, 1925), is well known for his pioneering studies of African American folk music and for his leadership in the performance of spirituals. He studied music at Fisk University in Nashville and classics at Harvard and then taught Latin, Greek, and history at Fisk from 1898 to 1923. Director of the Jubilee Singers at Fisk, Work also sang tenor in the Fisk Jubilee Quartet, which toured the country after 1909 and made commercial recordings. He was president of Roger Williams University in Nashville during the last two years of his life. Work and his brother Frederick Jerome Work (1879-1942) were devoted to collecting, arranging, and publishing African American slave songs and spirituals. They published two collections: New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1901) and Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907).

Bert Polman


Texts by John Wesley Work (12)sort ascendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
While shepherds kept their watchingJohn W. Work II, 1872-1925 (Author (stanzas))English64
Voy a retirar mis armasJohn Wesley Work (Author)Spanish2
¿Viste tú cuando en la cruz murió?John W. Work (Adapter)Spanish3
طال انتظار العالمJohn Wesley Work (Author)Arabic1
Knocks like JesusJohn W. Work (Author)English12
Pastores sus rebañosJohn Wesley Work (Adapter)Spanish6
Nasceu na estrebariaJohn Wesley Work (Author (stanzas))Portuguese2
Lord, I want to be a ChristianJohn W. Work (Adapter)English9
Listen, poor sinner Somebody's knocking at your doorJohn W. Work (Author)1
Goin' to lay down my sword and shieldJohn W. Work Jr., 1873-1925 (Author)English1
El mundo ha esperado Que Cristo el Rey de pazJohn W. Work (Author)Spanish4
Dios, yo quiero ser cristiano de corazón, de corazónJohn W. Work (Adapter)Spanish2

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