The Magic of Spirituals

♪♪ -♪ God's gonna build up ♪ -Next on "Great Performances"... -♪ Oh, great day ♪ -...relive the "Great Day" at Carnegie Hall, when opera superstars Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman united for a legendary concert of Spirituals.

-♪ Oh, swing low sweet chariot ♪ -When I think of a Spirituals, there's so much hope, joy, and life in that music.

-♪ The whole world in his hands ♪ -Spirituals came before jazz, blues, gospel music.

The slaves created these songs before coming to freedom.

-♪ Deep river ♪ -And then creating these other forms of music -♪ This is the righteous marching ♪ -Spirituals have been taken seriously since that concert.

-"The Magic of Spirituals" is next.

♪♪ Major funding for "Great Performances" is provided by... ...and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well, fare thee well ♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well, fare thee well ♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well, fare thee well ♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well, fare thee well ♪ -In the 1980s, I was working as a producer running this division of Columbia Artists called CAMI Video, creating new projects involving some of the world's leading classical artists for concert events and also television events.

And at that time, the two -- in America -- the two most dynamic and famous sopranos happened to be Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman.

At least in my opinion.

-Not euphoric at all.

He said he's worried, "Is she gonna get back up to sing?"

-I had a close connection with both of them.

-For me.

Okay.

-So, an idea came to me.

A concert using their incredible classical voices but also their African-American roots would be very, I thought, very interesting for the public.

The idea of them joining together, doing Negro spirituals.

-♪ To see the stars a-fallin' ♪ -♪ You'll see forked lightnin' ♪ -♪ You'll see the Christians risin' ♪ -♪ You'll see the saints a-marchin' ♪ -♪ You'll see my Jesus comin' ♪ -♪ With all His holy angels ♪ -♪ Take the righteous home to glory ♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well ♪ -♪ Oh, fare thee well ♪ -♪ In-a that great gettin' up morning ♪ -♪ Fare thee well ♪ -♪ Oh fare thee well ♪ -♪ Oh, fare thee well ♪ -♪ Great gettin' up morning ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] -When I first saw the concert "Spirituals in Concert" with Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, I was, I want to say I was 7 years old.

And the concert was very special to me because I've always wanted to sing opera, I've always wanted to be an opera singer since I was 4 years old.

And my sister, my older sister Heather, she also likes opera, she also studied voice.

So we took it upon ourselves to become Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle.

So we would hold hands in my sister's room, and we would play on VHS "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands."

And we would sing that back and forth to each other -- pardon -- and we'd sing it over and over again.

-♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ -[ Chuckles ] -♪ He's got the woods and the waters in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the woods and the waters in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the woods and the waters in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the birds and the bees right in ♪ ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the birds and the bees right in ♪ ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the birds and the bees right in ♪ ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ -That moment with my sister is something that, for me, is a monumental experience.

This concert has been one of the things in my life, I think, that has kept me going in terms of opera and what it means to be a classical singer.

[ Applause ] -My fear always in dealing with artists like that, you know, would they get along with each other?

They were considered to be rivals.

The idea that they would come together to do a concert was considered to be quite extraordinary, I guess, by the opera cognoscenti and the people who hoped that they hated each other.

They were very opposite types.

Jessye was a huge, had a huge dramatic voice that was borderline between mezzo and soprano, who could tackle a role like "Siglinde" in Wagner.

And Kathy had the most beautiful and lightest voice that would soar in the baroque repertoire and Mozart.

So, they were in completely two different worlds.

In fact, they got along brilliantly and had a lot of fun.

[ Applause ] -Thank you.

♪♪ -♪ You can tell the world about this ♪ ♪ You can tell the nation about that ♪ ♪ Tell 'em what Jesus has done ♪ ♪ Tell them that the comforter has come ♪ ♪ And he brought joy, great joy to my soul ♪ ♪ You can tell the world about this ♪ ♪ You can tell the nation about that ♪ ♪ Tell 'em what Jesus has done ♪ ♪ Tell them that the comforter has come ♪ ♪ And he brought joy, great joy to my soul ♪ ♪ Well, he took my feet out the miry-clay ♪ ♪ Yes, He did, yes, He did ♪ ♪ And He placed them in the rock to stay ♪ ♪ Yes, He did, yes, He did ♪ ♪ You ♪ ♪ Can tell the world about this ♪ ♪ You can tell the nation about that ♪ ♪ Tell 'em what Jesus has done ♪ ♪ Tell 'em that the comforter has come ♪ ♪ And He brought joy, great joy to my soul ♪ -There were a lot of people in the audience.

It was so mixed, which is also rare and certainly was rare at the time for classical performances.

A lot of people who, you know, didn't go to opera but wanted to hear this music sung by these acclaimed people.

Everyone could feel what a moment it was, because, remember, Bush Sr. was still president.

This conservative backlash that was very much underway or continuing from Reagan and a real hostile environment in America toward Black rights, everyone's civil rights.

So this event meant a great deal, really a great deal.

♪♪ -♪ Great Day ♪ ♪ Great day, the righteous marchin' ♪ ♪ Great day, God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ Oh, great day ♪ -♪ Great day the righteous marchin' ♪ -♪ Great day, God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ Chariot rode on the mountain top ♪ -♪ God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ God He spoke, and the chariot stop ♪ -♪ God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ This is the day of Jubilee ♪ -♪ God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ When God done set His people free ♪ -♪ God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ ♪ Great day ♪ ♪ Great day the righteous marchin' ♪ -♪ Great day, God's gonna build up Zion's walls ♪ -♪ Great day ♪ ♪ Great day the righteous marchin' ♪ ♪ Great day ♪ -♪ God's gonna build up Zion's ♪ [ Vocalizing ] -[ Vocalizing ] ♪ Zion's Walls ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -It's a very interesting way that I became involved with this project.

I was praying and I was saying, "You know, God, I need to get some, some wonderful computer equipment", you know, so that I can write my music because to pay people to write by hand and do manuscript is extremely expensive.

So, what happened, this morning I got a call.

"We want to know if you'd like to do some arranging for Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman."

So I thought about it, and I said, "Is it from the Metropolitan Opera?"

And I said, "Uh, yes, I'd be very, very interested."

I was ecstatic and is just like, "Is this true?"

I'm going home like in a dream.

[ Laughs ] And so I get back to my house, and I tell my husband, you know what had just transpired.

And he said, "Who?!"

[ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David was a shepherd boy ♪ ♪ He killed Goliath ♪ ♪ And shout for joy ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu ♪ -Lil' David, play on your harp"... ♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David, play on you harp, hallelu ♪ So, like, that's one of those little things like the children might jump rope or play or, you know, doing something like that.

Now, I don't know if they had jump rope during the time of slavery.

But they did a lot of dancing.

-♪ Lil' David, play on your harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David Play ♪ [ Harp plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Lil' David done played on that harp, hallelu, hallelu ♪ ♪ Lil' David done played on that harp ♪ ♪ Hallelu ♪ [ Harp plays ] ♪♪ [ Applause ] That would be something like a play song, you know, "Lil' David."

Then you had sorrow songs.

There was one called ♪ Death come to my house ♪ ♪ He didn't stay long ♪ ♪ I looked on the bed, and my mother was gone ♪ So, they had songs for all kinds of occasions.

-♪ When I was in my father's house ♪ ♪ I was well supplied ♪ ♪ I made a mistake in a-doin well ♪ ♪ Now I'm dissatisfied ♪ ♪♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ ♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ ♪ Lordy, won't you help me ♪ ♪ In this field ♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me ♪ ♪ In this field?

♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ ♪ Lordy, won't you help me?

♪ -♪ I believe I'll go back home ♪ -♪ Lordy, won't you help me in this field?

♪ ♪ Home ♪ [ Applause ] -One didn't think of Jessye Norman, particularly in that time, as somebody who could sing genuine Negro spirituals.

She, you know, was a simple girl who grew up in the South but had developed a rather imperious British accent by the time she was had reached her super diva status on the stage of the Met.

-[ British accent ] Where did you get that?

That's rather nice.

-She says, [ British accent ] "I am from Ogoosta, Georgia.

[ Normal accent ] And I was trying to figure out, where is Ogoosta, Georgia?

I said, "Oh, that's Augusta, Georgia!"

[ Laughs ] -Whereas Kathy with somebody who was much more down to earth.

I mean, she she had a few inner demons she was dealing with from time to time, but she was an extraordinary living kind of document of the Spiritual.

♪♪ ♪♪ And I learned about her own background growing up in Portsmouth, Ohio, a real dirt poor town in along the Ohio river, which was part of the escape route for slaves during the Civil War.

-[ Laughs ] So you're not going to go?

That chicken smells good.

And her mother, in fact, I mean, it seems hard to believe given the ages, but her mother actually was either, I think, the daughter herself of an escaped slave.

And so Kathy was very conscious of her African-American Black heritage and the suffering of African-Americans in this country and tapped into very much the Spirituals, which were the songs of the slave route.

♪♪ -♪ I trust in God ♪ ♪ Wherever I may be ♪ -I did get a chance to see a documentary on Kathleen Battle and her family, and they showed her in a little church.

I think it looked like a little wooden church, probably with plank floors.

And she was singing a beautiful hymn.

-♪ Watches over ♪ ♪ Me ♪ -In a church like that, in those old rural churches, they would be singing songs like that, those old spirituals.

We have something that we call "lined out."

A lot of times, it was done because the people of the time could not read, during the time of slavery, and a person would line out the songs like "Amazing Grace" and say, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound."

And then the congregation would go... ♪ Amazing ♪ ♪ Grace ♪ ♪ How ♪ ♪ Sweet the sound ♪ And these melodies would be known, you know, to the congregation, and I can't imagine that Kathleen was not familiar with that.

So, all of those things were a challenge of things that I had to think about, you know, in the writing, and so trying to keep as much of the historical type of writing as possible in the context, you know, of African-American indigenous singing.

♪♪ "Oh, Glory" is one of my favorites.

♪♪ Hubert Laws is one of my favorite flautists, and he begins the piece with a solo.

♪♪ And he played it very soulfully.

♪♪ And then Kathleen comes in.

♪ Oh, Glory ♪ And this happened to be one of my favorites, because, again, this particular piece, to me, has kind of a traditional type of approach to the Spiritual in the way that it was sung and also in the instrumentation, is very simplistic.

♪♪ -♪ Oh, Glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Glory ♪ ♪ There is room enough in Paradise ♪ ♪ To have a home in Glory ♪ ♪ Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone ♪ ♪ To have a home in Glory ♪ ♪ He, whom I fix my hopes upon ♪ ♪ To have a home in Glory ♪ -♪ Oh, Glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Glory ♪ ♪ There is room enough in Paradise ♪ ♪ To have a home in Glory ♪ -♪ To have a home ♪ [ Flute playing ] ♪ In ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] -Jessye Norman, when she sang "Deep River" and I played that for her on the organ at Carnegie Hall, I could hear her Southern roots, you know, coming through.

She took -- she didn't want the piece to go fast.

She took her time and just sang it, you know, very slowly.

I added a celest or harp like effect to get, you know, the harp in the beginning.

And she really liked that.

And she said, "Ooh, I like that."

♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ My home is ♪ ♪ Over Jordan ♪ ♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ I want to cross ♪ ♪ Over into ♪ ♪ Campground ♪ ♪ Deep ♪ ♪ River ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ I want to cross ♪ ♪ Over into ♪ ♪ Campground ♪ -In saying things like "Deep River, I want to cross over into Jordan, I want to go home, I want to go to heaven," there's something very special about that.

When I think of a Spiritual, I think of hope because the spiritual was introduced to me when I was a baby.

I mean, I heard my great grandmother singing Spirituals, and she would get really excited when she she used to sing, she'd go... ♪ Walk with me, my Lord, walk with me ♪ And you could hear her in the kitchen and she'd go... ♪ Walk with me, my Lord, walk with me ♪ And she's washing dishes and just singing these Spirituals, and sometimes she'd get so excited, she'd break dishes because what they meant to her.

I don't remember her singing spirituals in a fast manner, nor do I remember her ever sort of just flippantly saying the words.

They always really meant something to her.

They were always very heartfelt.

There was something about what she was singing.

There was a reason for it.

-My grandfather, I heard him singing once, and it was -- the song was kind of, it touched me, and it always stayed with me.

It wasn't, like, you know, he sang "la la la."

No, it was more like, ♪ Sitting down on a banks ♪ Like a sing-talking.

And I was like, "Oh!"

♪♪ -Sinner, please ♪ ♪ Don't let this harvest pass ♪ ♪ Sinner, please ♪ ♪ Don't let this harvest pass ♪ ♪ Sinner, please ♪ ♪ Don't let ♪ ♪ This harvest pass ♪ ♪ And die ♪ ♪ And lose your soul at last ♪ ♪ Sinner, oh, see the cruel tree ♪ ♪ Sinner, oh, see the cruel tree ♪ ♪ Sinner, oh, see the cruel tree ♪ ♪ See where Christ has died ♪ ♪ For you and me ♪ -Spirituals were sung by the slaves, and it was their way of communicating with God.

Singing and dreaming about their freedom.

Being taken away from their homeland.

And being a slave, you have to have hope of something better.

And a lot of times, the Spirituals came right out of the Bible.

They began to sing Spirituals and use it as a way of communicating with one another.

Like "Steal Away."

♪ Steal away ♪ ♪ Steal away ♪ ♪ Steal away to Jesus ♪ It was singing a Spiritual, but, this is a message.

We're going to get out of here.

-There are also spirituals that were sung as a way of instruction, from what I understand from that my family.

Is that there were also spirituals that were that were sung in terms of showing someone how to get something done.

You know, someone who's working out in the field, which is what my ancestors did.

They were field slaves.

Actually, my parents took me to, when I was a child, we visited the plantation where my where my ancestors were slaves, in Tennessee.

And I remember going there, and I remember seeing the house where they were and seeing this gorgeous house off in the distance way far away from where they lived.

It's something that is unfathomable to me.

-African-Americans are brought up in the church.

When you hear your elders in the church singing, when they were singing Spirituals, there was pain in that.

And that music begins to grow.

-♪ Lord, I can help from crying sometimes ♪ -I was listening to Kathleen Battle and also to Miss Jessye Norman.

And it can be something that's very meaningful that's deep inside that make me think about my people.

-♪ Lord, how come me here?

♪ ♪ Lord, how come me here?

♪ ♪ Lord, how come me here?

♪ ♪ I wish I never was born ♪ ♪ I wish I never was born ♪ ♪ I wish I ♪ ♪ Never was ♪ ♪ Born ♪ ♪ Born ♪ -Music for the slave was a survival tool.

Negro Spirituals definitely came before jazz, blues, gospel music.

The slaves created these songs before coming to freedom and then creating these other forms of music that were birthed out of the Negro Spirituals.

I don't think that the slaves who created the music would ever think anyone would be singing those same songs on concert stages.

Fisk University is, in the United State, one of the historically Black universities, established in 1866, right after slavery had ended.

Shortly after, the school was experiencing financial difficulties.

George White, who was the treasurer of the school, who was also teaching music, happened to come up with the idea of forming a choral ensemble, The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

They established a very unique form of American music, which is the Negro spiritual, which became a concert art form.

This is the photograph of Ella Sheppard.

As a little girl, her mother had wanted to kill her because of the challenges of slavery.

But along the way to drown her, an elderly woman came across them and realized what was about to happen.

So this elderly woman told Ella's mother not to kill her, but to look up at the skies, and that God had great things for her to do.

She would sing before kings and queens.

After years, she came to Fisk to teach and became one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, actually one of those who helped George White to collect the Negro spirituals and transform them into art forms.

-♪ Swing low sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ -The Fisk Jubilee Singers did open the door and made it possible for people like Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and others to continue singing the Negro spirituals in concerts.

[ Applause ] -♪ I got a crown up in-a the kingdom ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ I got a crown up in-a the kingdom ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ I'ma gonna lay down this world ♪ ♪ Gonna shoulder up-a my cross ♪ ♪ Gonna take it home-a to my Jesus ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ I got a robe up in-a the kingdom ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ I got a robe up in-a the kingdom ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ I'ma gonna lay down this world ♪ -♪ Gonna shoulder up-a my cross ♪ ♪ Gonna take it home-a to my Jesus ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -Fisk Jubilee Singers is one of those choirs, I should say one of the first, to actually take the Spiritual to Europe.

When I did research on the Fisk Jubilee, I said, "Now, that's where it starts, where it becomes a more European sound."

-♪ Gonna take it home-a to my Jesus ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ -♪ Good news, good news, good news, my lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that good news ♪ ♪ Good news, good news my lord ♪ ♪ Now ain't that good news ♪ [ Applause ] -The Spiritual, it stems from the motherland of Africa.

And that moan type of singing.

[ Moaning melody ] Is something that comes out of the African tradition.

And they have very different ways of singing their colors.

When we come to America and we begin to use those same colors, but then we begin to hear those who are trained in the European tradition, and so that goes more to a concert type of color, which is more European.

What you're hearing from Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman is the European approach.

So, what I tried to capture as much as possible are the harmonies that I've heard in my church and various African-American churches.

In fact, in the texture of writing "Swing Low".

Because I remember singing that as a little girl, because I had a little part... ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ At the end, when my family sang it.

[ Applause ] -♪ Swing low ♪ ♪ Sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ ♪ Oh, swing low, sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ -Yes, "Sweet Chariot."

-♪ Oh, swing low, sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ ♪ Oh, swing low, sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ -Beautiful, beautiful.

-♪ I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?

♪ -♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ ♪ A band of angels comin' after me ♪ -♪ Coming for to carry me home ♪ -And here, we also have something not to overlook.

We have the challenge with the classical training.

The mouth is shaped different, the vowels, how the sound is produced through the head voice.

The chest voice was really not part of the training.

There is a naturalness, there's an authentic color that comes through the chest voice.

You know, as we talk, we use our chest voice.

For me, it would be, in my chest voice, ♪ Swing low ♪ ♪ Sweet chariot ♪ So, I can imagine there was a bit of a challenge.

How much do we open up the gates?

But, of course, you know, with her skills and her technique, who could do a concert better with the orchestra and these classical voices on this level?

-♪ Oh, swing low ♪ ♪ Sweet chariot ♪ ♪ Coming for to carry me ♪ ♪ Home ♪ ♪♪ -My junior year of college, we went to Carnegie Hall and every time I think about it, it just gives me like chills.

I performed in the same hall they've performed in.

It just makes me smile, like it's crazy.

It's absolutely crazy for them that paved the way so we could have that opportunity in that space to really be authentically ourselves.

They basically walked so we could run.

-♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ In Gilead ♪ ♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ -♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ In Gilead ♪ ♪ To heal the sin sick soul ♪ ♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ In Gilead ♪ ♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ -♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ In Gilead ♪ ♪ To heal the sin sick soul ♪ -One thing that always astounded me was their two blends between Miss Norman and Miss Battle, how they can control the speed of their vibrato is amazing.

And for them to be on the same pitch, same time, same speed of vibrato at times is amazing.

-♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ ♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ In Gilead ♪ ♪ To heal ♪ ♪ The sin sick soul ♪ -♪ In Gilead ♪ -♪ Oh, in Gilead ♪ -♪ There is a balm ♪ ♪ To heal ♪ ♪ The sin sick ♪ ♪ Soul ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] -I haven't heard that in a long time.

And I wasn't up close.

To see their faces is a real shock.

[ Applause ] It was not just a glamorous event, it was a moving event.

At one point, I can't remember which song it was, but I looked over and I saw these people holding hands, just grabbing hands.

They were so, you know, in the moment.

[ Applause ] That's Marian Anderson.

That's her.

-I said, "Oh, my gosh, this is historical.

You know, for her to come was an historical event.

You know, it just meant the world to me.

[ Applause ] -Just as Jackie Robinson broke the color line in American baseball, she was the artist who broke the color line in opera.

She was the first African-American singer ever seen on the stage of the Met.

-♪ Deep river ♪ ♪ My home is over Jordan ♪ ♪ My home is over Jordan ♪ -It's very funny because she referred to Jessye and Kathy, who were these two super divas at the time, as "these two girls", because in her mind, they were just, you know, young up-and-coming singers.

[ Laughter ] -♪ Well, I met my sister the other day ♪ ♪ I give her my right hand ♪ ♪ But just as soon as ever my back was turned ♪ ♪ She scandalized my name ♪ ♪ Now, do you call that a sister?

♪ -♪ No, no ♪ -♪ Do you call that a sister?

♪ -♪ No, no ♪ -♪ Do you call that a sister?

♪ -♪ No, no ♪ -♪ She scandalized my name ♪ -♪ Well... ♪ -When Jessye said, "Well..." and that's when the whole audience broke out, because women, no matter where they come from, women have a language of their own.

You know, when a woman just says, "And you know..." and then she stops, everybody knows what's coming.

[ Laughter ] -♪ Let me tell you ♪ ♪ I met my neighbor the other day ♪ -♪ You did?

♪ -♪ Gave her my right hand ♪ -♪ Go on ♪ -♪ But as soon as ever my back was turned ♪ ♪ She scandalized my name ♪ ♪ Now, wait a minute ♪ ♪ Let me tell you ♪ ♪ I met my deacon ♪ -♪ No ♪ -♪ The other day ♪ ♪ I give him my right hand ♪ ♪ But just as soon as ever my back was turned ♪ -♪ He scandalized your name!

♪ [ Laughter, applause ] -♪ Now do you call that a Deacon?

♪ -♪ Mnh-mnh ♪ -♪ Now do you call that a Deacon?

♪ -♪ No, no ♪ -♪ Do you call that a Deacon?

♪ -♪ No, no ♪ -♪ Scandalized my name ♪ -♪ You'll never believe this ♪ -And there's Sylvia Lee actually playing the piano.

That's the great Sylvia Lee.

Sylvia played a very important role in this program.

She was our kind of program advisor as well as Kathy's vocal coach.

She was kind of a compendium of all the Spirituals who had the oral tradition of this song in her head and gave it to to the two of them.

And this really is what, you know, the whole nature of the Spirituals and the whole history of the Spirituals is passing songs on in an oral tradition from generation to generation.

And here she was, Sylvia Lee, passing it on to these two great divas, and they loved it.

-♪ But just as soon as ever my back was turned ♪ -♪ Truly ♪ -♪ He scandalized my name ♪ ♪ Now, do you call that a preacher?

♪ -♪ Unh-unh ♪ -♪ Now, do you call that a preacher?

♪ -♪ No!

No!

♪ [ Laughter ] [ Applause ] -♪ Well, do you call that religion?

♪ -♪ No!

No!

♪ [ Applause ] ♪ He scandalized my name ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] -For me, the significance of the concert is Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman.

They paved the way for for all singers, not just for African-Americans or Africans, it's for everybody.

The spiritual is something that I do believe 100 percent is universal.

It's for all people, you know, and there's there's so much hope, joy, and life in that music.

-♪ He's got the birds and the bees right in ♪ ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in his hand ♪ -♪ He's got the sun and the moon right in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the sun and the moon right in ♪ -[ Vocalizing ] I still remember her part.

[ Laughs ] -♪ He's got the sun and the moon right in ♪ ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ He's got the whole world in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got you and me ♪ ♪ Right in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got you and me right in His hand ♪ ♪ He's got everybody in His hand ♪ -This is the part where my sister Heather and I would grab hands, actually.

[ Laughs ] And she would be singing Jessye Norman's part, and I'd go like this.

♪ You and me ♪ ♪ Right in his hand ♪ Because I was Kathleen Battle, so I sing Kathleen Battle's part.

-♪ He's got everybody in His hand ♪ ♪♪ ♪ He's got the whole world ♪ ♪ In His hand ♪ -♪ He's got the whole world ♪ ♪ In His hand ♪ -♪ His hand ♪ [ Laughs ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] -To find out more about this and other "Great Performances" programs, visit PBS.org/GreatPerformances Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

[ Applause ] -[ Vocalizing ] ♪ God's gonna build up ♪ ♪ Zion's ♪ -♪ Walls ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪