They "were never 'composed,' but sprang into life" declared H.T. Burleigh in the epigraph to his Negro Spirituals series, which consisted of forty-eight songs, arranged for solo voice. Burleigh was the first composer of spirituals for solo voice. His arrangement of Deep River, originally published in 1916 then reprinted as part of Burleigh's Negro Spirituals series the next year, was the first spiritual arranged for solo voice. This achievement gave concert singers their first opportunity to sing spirituals in the form of art songs on the concert stage.