spiritual

Religious song developed by slaves in the USA. The forerunner of gospel music, the spiritual was an 18th- and 19th-century hymn joined to the old African pentatonic (five-note) scale. ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen’ and ‘Deep River’ are examples. White folk hymns and religious ballads are also called spirituals.

The rhythms of work songs and the call and response of much African music, recreated in religious services, contributed to the development of spirituals and gospel. The songs often speak in biblical terms of release from bondage and the prospect of a better life in the hereafter. Spirituals were first brought to a wider audience in the 1870s as a fund-raising activity by southern black US universities, which sent out touring choirs called jubilee singers. In the early 20th century, the singer Paul Robeson recorded many spirituals.

spiritual

An African-American song of the southern states of the USA, with religious words and folk-song tunes. It is one of the chief influences from which jazz and swing have sprung, and the form has influenced many serious US and European composers. The English composer Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of our Time (1939–41) made use of spirituals.