Silas Seth Weeks (September 8, 1868 – December 1953) was an American composer who played

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

.Oxford African American Center, ''Weeks, Seth''
/ref>Sampson, Henry T.
"Seth Weeks" From ''Banjo World'', Vol. 8, No. 73, December, 1900, p. 20
in ''Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows'', Scarecrow Press, October 30, 2013, pp. 1439-1440. Although he played many instruments he concentrated professionally on the mandolin. He is considered to be the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to play mandolin during its golden period and was considered instrumental in bringing the mandolin to the prominent national standing that it had in the early 1900s. He was the first American known to write a mandolin

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

(in 1900) and led a mandolin and guitar orchestra in Tacoma, Washington.

Biography

Weeks was born in

Vermont, Illinois Vermont is a village in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 570 at the 2020 census. History The village was founded in 1835 by James and Joseph Crail. According to local tradition, it was named after the state of Vermont by ...

. One of his musical goals was to make the mandolin independent of other instruments, and his playing emphasized the duo style, a way of playing in which the mandolin takes the

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

counter melody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the prima ...

and

harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...

parts all at once. Properly done, duo style produces what sounds like "two or more instruments" instead of only one.ARCHIVED TOPIC: "Duo Method?"
''Banjo Hangout''. A review of his music by Lyon and Healy of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

indicated success, saying that he had included harmony with the melody in most of his arrangements. He toured America in "circuits" performing and teaching, including in public schools in Chicago,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He also performed in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, and internationally in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. He composed and arranged as well, performing his own works on tour. He became prominent enough that he was able to tour Europe (England, France and Russia) and live there periodically. He settled temporarily in Europe, living first in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when he returned with his family to New York and played in jazz bands. When he returned to Europe in 1920, he went to France, playing at the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. His place of death is unknown, but was reported in the January 9, 1954, edition of the ''

New York Amsterdam News The ''Amsterdam News'' (also known as ''New York Amsterdam News'') is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by s ...

'', on page 9. He was an admirer of the performances of America's other mandolinists of his day,

Samuel Siegel Samuel Siegel (born 1875, Des Moines, Iowa — died January 14, 1948, Los Angeles, California) was an American mandolin virtuoso and composer who played mandolin on 29 records for Victor Records, including 9 pieces of his own composition and two ...

, W. Eugene Page,

Valentine Abt Valentine Abt (born Pittsburgh June 13, 1873 – died Mayview, Pennsylvania July 16, 1942) was an American composer who specialized in the mandolin. In the book ''Popular American Composers'', Frank L. Boyden named Abt one of America's most "pro ...

, J. W. Marler, W. L. Barney (a Chicago musician in the 1890s–1920s), and Fred Lewis.

Recordings

Weeks made recordings with

Edison Records Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important and successful company in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by ...

in London and with

Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner's invention, the ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

while touring Europe. His recordings are mostly unknown or lost today and are available on compact disk only as part of box set about Black-people who made music in Europe.Lotz, Rainer
"Black Europe, Some early African-American recording artists outside the United States"
(presented at the 2011 IAJRC Convention), ''IAJRC Journal'', December 1, 2011. Recordings which have survived include:Black Europe compact disk track list
/ref> (Record companies and dates come from a list of lost music published by the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board, and not from the Black Europe compact disk set.) * ''Poet And Peasant'' * ''Concert Polka'' (Pioneer/Columbia/Edison) (1901/1903/1904) * ''Handicap March'' (Pioneer/Edison Bell/Pathe) (1901/1903/1904) * ''Georgia Camp Meeting'' (Pioneer/Columbia) (1901/1903) * ''Hungarian Dance'' (Pathe) (1904) * ''Poet And Peasant'' * ''Soldiers In The Park'' (Pioneer) (1903), (Pathe) (1904) List by the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board of recordings feared lost: * ''Allegro'' (Pioneer/Columbia/Edison) (1901/1903) * ''The Charlatan March'' (Berliner) (1900) * ''Donauwellen'' (Pioneer) (1903) * ''Jeunesse Doree'' (Nicole) (1904) * ''Laburnum Gavotte'' (Pioneer/Columbia) (1903) * ''Lumbrin' Luke'' (Columbia) (1904) * ''Mazurka de Concert'' (Pioneer/Edison) (1901/1903) * ''Overture'' (Pioneer/Columbia/Edison) (1903) * ''Popular Airs Medley'' (Pioneer) (1903) * ''The Washington Post March'' (Pioneer/Pathe) (1903/1904) * ''Whistling Rufus'' (Pioneer) (1903)

Personal life

He is the father of Fay E. Allen, an accomplished musician in her own right. Father and daughter would frequently play together with on at least once occasion they were invited to perform before King Gustav of Sweden. She would later become a distinguished music educator and the first African American to serve on the

Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States count ...

References

External links

List of published works. Also reprint of Banjo World article about Weeks.

mandolin and piano compositions edited by Neil Gladd. Still being edited. Will contain sheet music for three of Seth Weeks' works: ''Grand Concert Polka'', ''Laburnum Gavotte'', and ''Polka Caprice''.
Sound samples that include Seth Weeks, as part of the sales literature for the compilation albums
''Black Europe''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Seth 1868 births 1953 deaths 19th-century African-American educators 19th-century African-American musicians 19th-century American composers 19th-century American educators 19th-century American guitarists 19th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American educators 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American jazz composers African-American jazz composers African-American jazz guitarists American jazz guitarists African-American male composers African-American mandolinists African-American music educators American classical mandolinists American jazz bandleaders American jazz mandolinists American male guitarists American male jazz composers

Biography

Recordings

Personal life

See also

References

External links