After graduation, Dett started teaching at Tennessee's
Lane College, followed by a tenure at the
Lincoln Institute in
Jefferson City, Missouri. During this period, his compositional activities included writing practical choral and piano pieces suitable for his students. His position as a major pianist-composer was earned in 1914. His piece
Magnolia was performed at the
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Club. On June 3 that year he performed
Magnolia and
In the Bottoms. The
Chicago Evening Post reported that among the works on the "All Colored" program, his works were the most innovative, and it praised his high level of piano skills. On December 27, 1916, Dett married
Helen Elise Smith. She was the first black graduate of the Institute of Musical Art in New York City, which became known as the
Juilliard School of performing arts. In 1918, Dett wrote of his compositional goals: We have this wonderful store of
folk music—the melodies of an
enslaved people ... But this store will be of no value unless we utilize it, unless we treat it in such manner that it can be presented in choral form, in lyric and operatic works, in concertos and suites and salon music—unless our musical architects take the rough timber of Negro themes and fashion from it music which will prove that we, too, have national feelings and characteristics, as have the European peoples whose forms we have zealously followed for so long. Throughout his lifetime, Dett continued to study music, including studies at many prestigious institutions such as the American Conservatory of Music, at Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard. He was buried beside his wife as well as his two daughters, in the town of his birth at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Legacy and honours In the 2000s, Dett is remembered most for his work in creating music in the style of the European Romantic composers that incorporated elements of African-American
spirituals. His music is still performed in the 2000s. Canada's
Nathaniel Dett Chorale, founded in 1998, was named for him and performs his music as well as that of other composers of African descent. The chorale is one of many that has recorded his music. In 2022 a previously unknown orchestral version of his Magnolia Suite Part Two: No 4 “Mammy” was found in a US archive. In 2014, his oratorio
The Ordering of Moses was revived by the Cincinnati May Festival, and performed the same week in Music Hall in Cincinnati and at
Carnegie Hall in New York. The incident from the world premiere in 1937, when the live broadcast was cut off by the NBC network during the performance, was re-created, using tapes of the announcer. There is no documented account of the reason for the interruption of the broadcast. In 1934 Dett, and/or his publisher, registered strong objections to saxophonist
Frank Trumbauer's swing band adaptation of "Juba Dance", from the suite
In the Bottoms. Brunswick Records was compelled to withdraw the recording (#6763) from release. Dett did little recording of his music. In 1912 he recorded five selections from the
Magnolia Suite for QRS piano rolls. These are believed to be the first commercial piano rolls ever made by a black pianist. In 1919 he recorded two selections for
Broome Special Phonograph Records, "Mammy" from
Magnolia Suite and "Barcarolle" from
In the Bottoms. The latter can be found on the CD
Lost Sounds, Archeophone ARCH 1005. The Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School in Chicago is named for him. ==Awards and honours==