May 14, 2025, marked the 108th anniversary of the death of pioneering African American musician, composer, and performer Will H. Dixon (1879-1917). Musicologist and scholar John Michael Cooper and Custodian and Guardian of Dixon's archive collection Lawrence H. Levens celebrate his life and achievements by releasing the playsheet "Les Belles de Lausanne," a solo Walz for piano.

"I salvaged the manuscripts and had Cooper tweak and expand the notes of the original work to make it marketable and available for piano play," says Levens. Dixon created "Les Belles de Lausanne (The Beauties of Lausanne)" circa 1905. (Lausanne is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French-speaking canton of Vaud, Switzerland.)

Music historians in the United States often associate the Wheeling, West Virginia native with many prominent figures in the Black vaudeville and theatrical scenes in Manhattan and Chicago, including Bahamian-born Bert A. Williams. Dixon's contributions as the "original dancing conductor," as James Weldon Johnson dubbed him, and his involvement with Robert Mott's Pekin Theatre in Chicago highlight his essential place in American music history.

Motts, a prominent African American entrepreneur, founded the Chicago Theater in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood at 2700 South State Street in 1905. It was a groundbreaking institution, the first Black-owned and operated theatre in Chicago, and one of the first in the United States. Motts selected the performers and did not allow obscenity or vulgarity in the performances.

At the Pekin, Dixon became a cast member and assisted the music director, resident music director, and composer. Levens asserted, "Les Belles de Lausanne is one specimen of Dixon’s melodic and harmonic invention, as well as the remarkable charm and beauty of his music."

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Listen to Dixon’s music.