Johnson, (Francis) Hall
Johnson, (Francis) Hall
Johnson, (Francis) Hall, black American choral conductor, composer, and arranger; b. Athens, Ga., June 2, 1887; d. N.Y., April 30, 1970. He studied at the Univ. of Pa. (B.A., 1910), where he took a course in composition with Hugh A. Clark; later studied with Goetschius at the Inst. of Musical Art in N.Y. (1923-24). In 1925 he formed the Hall Johnson Choir, with which he gave numerous concerts; from 1938 to 1946 he conducted the Festival Choir of Los Angeles, and then settled in N.Y. as conductor of the Festival Negro Chorus, with which he toured Germany and Austria under the auspices of the U.S. State Dept. (1951). He composed a folk opera, Run Littol’ Chillun (1933), a cantata, Son of Man (1946), choral music, songs, and arrangements for film and television.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire