Rev. Terence Lee, Prayer at Burleigh Saint Day-Harry T. Burleigh Society at St. Philip’s Church 2018

Rev. Canon Terence Alexander Lee, Rector of St. Philip’s Church, offers a prayer for musicians during the Harry T. Burleigh Society’s 2018 celebration of Burleigh's Saint Day at St. Philip's Church in Harlem.
Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 2pm
September 11th is Harry T. Burleigh’s Saint Day in the Episcopal Church. In celebration of Burleigh, and in honor of his relationship with St. Philip’s Church, the Burleigh Society hosted a program of reflection about Burleigh’s spiritual life, performance of his music, and fellowship with the St. Philip’s community.
Dr. Jean Snyder’s 2016 biography Harry T. Burleigh: From the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance states that:
“…Burleigh gravitated to the black Episcopal congregations where he would be most likely to find choral traditions similar to those he had enjoyed in Erie’s Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul. Eventually he joined the Men and Boys’ Choir at historic St. Philip’s Episcopal Church (not yet in Harlem)”(Snyder, 114).
“Exactly when Burleigh joined the Men and Boy’s Choir at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church has not been established. St. Philip’s was the financial and social pinnacle of black Episcopalianism in New York City, and characteristically Burleigh rose to the ecclesiastical and musical creme de la creme of the city’s black community. Descried as ‘perhaps the wealthiest congregation of Negroes in the country,’ the congregation at this time was located in the Tenderloin District at 161 West 25th Street”(Snyder, 115-116).
“Joining the St. Philip’s vested male choir gave Burleigh expanded entree to the social groups that could support his ambitions as a classical singer. From his first months in New York City, Burleigh’s connections with the city’s black social elite established his place among the network of artists who performed in the urban communities of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast”(Snyder, 116).
The Harry T. Burleigh Society (@burleighsoc) is a non-profit organization that advances studies of black art music through scholarship and performance. Grounded in African American history and culture and committed to social justice, the Society continues Burleigh’s radical legacy of disrupting boundaries and challenging social norms. Fortified by the beauty and bravery of his model, the Society consciously shapes arenas where encounters between disparate racial, religious, generational, national, and creative groups can thrive. Founded on the 150th anniversary of Burleigh’s birth, the Society follows generations of African American music-makers and intellectual laborers, working to center their foundational contributions to American music.
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