That Margaret Bonds possessed a deep and abiding Christian faith is well known. So is the fact that she turned to her faith in times of tribulation and viewed her abundant talents as God-given gifts that placed on her a great responsibility to use them for the betterment of others’ lives, especially by working for social justice. On 6 September 1954 she wrote to her friend Langston Hughes:
These things are all well known. But this post concerns another, and very beautiful, profession of faith that Bonds pencilled on the verso of a page in the final typed script of the “operetta in three scenes” Midtown Affair (1958). Jointly written by Bonds and her longtime friend and frequent collaborator Roger Chaney (1908-1991), the operetta is one of the least-discussed of Margaret Bonds’s many theatrical projects; most of her music for it is lost, and all of it remains unpublished. Latter-day commentators’ disinterest, though, should not be taken as a reflection on the work itself; the plain truth probably is simply that no one has troubled to look at it. Bonds and Chaney produced several copies of the book, and she herself thought enough of it to return to several of its musical numbers several times, most notably rewriting the duet “Mist over Manhattan” as an impressive composition for SSAATTBB chorus a cappella.
So Midtown Affair is in many ways a mystery, a question that remains to be answered as latter-day musicians work to better understand Margaret Bonds as artist and individual. And indeed, the religious reflection below is shrouded in mystery, for we don’t know what biographical or professional events prompted it or even exactly when it was written. What is clear from it, though, is the depth of the intersections among – it’s tempting to say the oneness of – Christian faith, personal and professional experience, and artistic creation for Margaret Bonds: they were, for her, inseparable.
Without further ado, then, here’s the reflection. Because the formatting of at least the first few lines seems material, this transcription preserves the line breaks and indentations of the original:
-- For my dear friend Dr. Shana Mashego
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