spiritual

spiritual. Folk-hymn which developed during Amer. religious revival of c.1740 and took its name from ‘spiritual song’, the term by which publishers distinguished it from hymns and metrical psalms. Negroes attended revivalist meetings and their characteristic adaptations of spirituals became the religious folk-songs of the Amer. Negro, e.g. Swing low, sweet chariot, Go down Moses, Deep River, etc. Became prominent c.1871 in concerts by Fisk Jubilee Singers, but even better known in 20th cent. through singing of Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson. Dvořák was deeply touched by Negro spirituals, though their influence on his Amer. works is arguable; and Tippett used some very effectively as chorales in his oratorio A Child of Our Time.