Thursday, January 17, 2013

Dominique-René de Lerma: 'A Patriarch of Musicology, Arthur Randolph LaBrew Turns 83'

Arthur R. LaBrew, AfriClassical Musicologist

The Musicologist-YouTube.mov (8:08)

CORRECTION
Dominique-René de Lerma notes that 
Arthur Randolph LaBrew is 83

On 18 January 1930, Arthur LaBrew was born in Detroit, a city whose history would be incomplete were it not for his research.  He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1952 with honors, having studied piano, organ, chamber music, and voice.  He followed this with enrollment in New York at the Manhattan School of Music.   This proved significant for several reasons.  For one, here was where he met Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and Noel DaCosta, both becoming life-long friends and major figures in music in their own right.  But he fell under the influence of Gustave Reese, a leading figure in the first generation of American-born musicologists, who had recently published two classic volumes, one on music of the Middle Ages, followed by the first major study in English of the Renaissance.  Under the guidance of Dr. Reese, he seemed headed for a career in music of the Counter Reformation, but more specifically, he learned the importance of consulting primary documents and developing an expansive and questioning horizon.  He also began to contemplate what had been left out of history, and that curiosity was intensified by his readings in Egyptian history.  His route was symptomatic of the American musicologist: accepting the skills and discipline of Musikwissenschaft, but applying these to subjects close at hand.
              He had not given up attention to the piano, however, having won an award from the Pro Mozart Society of Detroit, allowing him to go to Salzburg and enroll at the Mozarteum.  For a period he toured with the flutist Irvin E. Gilman and has maintained a piano studio that has attracted students who not only became professional musicians, but also those whose other professions were enhanced by their piano studies.  In the 1970s he accepted faculty appointments: at Detroit's Music Settlement School as choral conductor (at Manhattan he was also a student of Hugh Ross, another giant in his field); in Washington at the District of Columbia Teachers College, and in Louisiana at Southern University.  But he also served as curator of the E. Azalia Hackley Memorial Collection, one of the great riches of the Detroit Public Library.  All the while, he explored the archives and libraries of the regions, giving a focus on earlier African American music, and had begun publishing his findings.  
He quickly began attracting attention for his lectures, research, and interests in history.  In 1969 he headed a committee at Wayne State University that explored Detroit's 300-year past and in 1989 he represented the United States at the meeting in Caracas of the Organization of American States.  By this time he caught the notice of the senior scholar in music of the Americas, Robert M. Stevenson, who lauded his work, now conducted at the Michigan Music Research Center (Michigan Building, Suite 840, 220 Bagley Avenue, Detroit MI 48226).
That he elected to publish his research on his own means that, although he lacked the marketing, production,  and other advantages available from major publishers, he was free to write exactly what he wanted, liberated from external editing,[1] guidelines, and extended peer evaluations.  He has discussed the concept of research and his own applications on the web at http://eliswashingtonreport.com/labrew/the-musicologist/, splendidly articulated.  He has relied on primary sources in libraries and archives on his travels, where many items had been held unnoticed, some located through a chain of obscure informational associations.  He has been merciless in signalling those instances of works by others that repeat errors provided in unreliable sources (see for example his 78-page errata-review, Perspectives in Black music¸ mainly of Eileen Southern's Biographical dictionary of African and Afro-American musicians) issued originally as v2n2 of the Afro-American music review.  In more than one instance, he reported his findings long before others, who then presented their work as if  it had previously been undiscovered, or repeated his work without credit.  He also made rich use of the memories of older observers and participants, e.g. his grandmother, Colleen Lamar, a native of Biloxi and 1905 graduate of Southern University, who had been a classmate of Camille Nickerson, and Charles Castaing, grandson of Basile Barès.
His honors and awards include first place winner in the competition of the National Association of Negro Musicians (1958), with which he has been official pianist and historian, National Guild of Piano Teachers (1947, 1948, 1954), Beltran Award, Carlotta Dreyfus Award (1953, as outstanding student at the Manhattan School of Music) and the Tanglewood Music Festival (1953-1956).  As primary consultant for the Smithsonian Institute's travelling exhibit, Played with success, he was named an honorary citizen of New Orleans in 1977 by Mayor Moon Landrieu and in 1976 named honorary colonel by Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards (related to his work as consultant for the 1976 production of Porgy and Bess at Southern University).  Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young presented him with a bicentennial certificate in 1976.  Further honors include  recognition in 2001 by the Société of the Culturally Concerned in Detroit and in 2004 by the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society. 
Catalogs of research libraries whose patrons include established or embryonic specialists owe it to them to hold a strong collection of LaBrew's works.  Educators and scholars whose work relates to any of the hundreds of musicians he has given attention to should proceed with caution if LaBrew's work is not consulted.  Information on the titles cited below (not yet exhaustive) may be secured at detroitmusic1865@yahoo.com
One more honor is due: it is clearly time for him to be awarded a doctorate, in honoris causa.

Works:
"Harry P. Guy and the ragtime era of Detroit" by Arthur LaBrew and Nancy Bostick, in The rag-time ephemeralist at http://home.earthlink.net/ephemeraliast/guyo1.html.
Afro-American music review, v1n1 (1981/VII-XII).  The Caribbean and Latin American influences of Black musicians abroad and in the United States;  A brief history of Afro-American music journals, p5-8; Tributes: Elizabeth T. Greenfield, the Black Swan, p9-20; A composite: The Brindis de Salas family, p21-66; Julian, Nicasio & Manuel Jiménez, p67-94; Doña Maria Martinez, p95-103; Additional notes on Blind Tom and his music, p104-139; George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, 1778-1860, p130-173.
Afro-American music review, v1n2 (1982/I-VI).  Tribute: Melvin Charlton, 188-1973, Edgar Rogie Clark, 1913-1978, and Edward Hammond Boatner, 1897-1973; 150 years with the Lambert family of New Orleans; Edmond Dédé (dit Chartenton), 1827-1901, p75-98; Eugene Arcade Dédé, 1867-after 1912; Special features: The writings of Don Lee White, Two new works of Samuel Snaër, 1832-1968; Musician extraordinaire, Henri Salvador of Paris, France, 1917-.
Afro-American music review, v2n1 (1982/I-VI).  Tribute: R. Nathaniel Dett, 1882-1943, p5-56; Black musicians of the colonial period and their successor, Supplement I, p57-116; So-called Negro governors, p117-122; Run-away White musicians in colonial America, 1729-1801, p123-139; The legend of Sy Gilliatt, 17??-1819, p140-148; Part I A-L; musicians in the United States Colored regiments -- Civil War, p149-192, Special features: An unknown source for the hidden Afro-American musician's history, William Pleasant(s), p193-201; Biographical notices to the Harmon Foundation Awards, 1826-1930, p202-223.
Afro-American music review, v2n2 (1985/VII-XII).  Perspectives in Black music studies; a review of Eileen Southern's Dictionary of Afro-American and African musicians  [Offprint available]
Afro-American music review, v3n1 (1985/VII-XII).  Tribute: James Monroe Trotter; Notes toward a history of music in Louisville, Kentucky, p1-10; Nineteenth century Afro-American singing convention in Abbeville, South Carolina, p11-15; Hymnology among America's early Black communities, ca. 1855, p26-59; The Gillams of Detroit, Michigan, p58-69; Black opera, myth or reality?, p70-96;  The Cariolina Singers; Philadelphia Spirituelles of 1872, p97-140; Index, p141-145.
Afro-American music review, v3n2 (1986/I-VI).  The music of Jacob Sawyer, facsimile edition of spirituals and minstrel music.
Afro-American music review, v4n1 (1987/VII-XII).  International dictionary of musicians of color (Index), antiquity to 1800, p5-80; The Bantu composers of South Africa (index), p81-91; Sources for United States, p93-94.
Afro-American music review, v4n2 (1987/I-VI).  List of Black violinists and fiddlers in America, 1678-1800.  97p.
Afro-American music review, v5n1 (1993/VII-XII). Black musicians found in United States censuses and other records, 1800-1900.  400+p  [in progress]
Afro-American music review, v5n2 (1994/I-VI).  Trotter vindicated? An occasional paper on America's first Black music historian, p5-131
Afro-American music review, v6n1 (1996/I-VI).  Banneker Institute, ca. 1853-1860;  Credo for a new century.  William Appo, 1808-1880.  Roland Hayes in Detroit during the 20s.  Fifty years of programs given in memory of E. Azalia Hackley Collection, 1943-1994;  David Hurd, organist extraordinaire.  Necrology: Joseph Hayes, Leroy Boyd, John D. Carter, Dorris Berry.
An occasional report: A dream deferred; On the life of Elizabeth T. Greenfield.*   Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 2011.  17p. 
Before and after ragtime.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1978.  35p.  [paper]
Black composers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before the Civil War.  Philadelphia: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1974. [paper]
Black music and musical taste in New York City, 1800-1850.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1983. 113p. (Studies in 19th century Afro-American music, series 1)
Black music in a slave state; Nineteenth-century New Orleans before Storyville.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 2000.  550p.
Black musicians and family relationships found in United States nineteenth-century census and other records, 1800-1900.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1994.  222 leaves.  1995, 515 leaves.
Black music and musical taste In New York City, 1800-1850.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1981.  112p.  (Studies in Afro-American music).
Black musicians of and in the New World; The exodus to Europe.  Washington: American Musicological Society, Latin American session, 1974.  63p. [paper]
Black musicians of the American colonial period, 1700-1800; A preliminary index of names, with supplementDetroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1995. 1977.  Preface, p7-12; General commentary, p13-15; Eighteenth century antecedents, p16-17; Evidence of structure; religion and Blacks (pp59-69, Black in military unites, p70-74; Final summary, p70-74; Black musicians of the colonial period and their successors, 1652-1829, supplement 1, p75-86; Chronological listing, p91-192; An ode, p203-204; A grand concert, p205-206; Two new sources containing the Star spangled banner, p207-212; Pompey and Phyllis, p21-216; Jacob Craig, fiddler p217-218; Symbols in text, p219-220; Bibliography, p223-224; Inex,  p225-229.
Black musicians of the colonial period, 1700-1800; A preliminary index of names compiled from various sources.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1977. ix, 209p. (Studies in 18th century Afro-American music).
Boston: Music in an abolitionist state, 1800 to 1890.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 1989.  ca. 250p.                                                                              
Captain Francis Johnson, 1782-1844, great American bandsman; Life and works in two volumes; 200th birthday edition,  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 2006. (Studies in nineteenth-century Afro-American music).
Cartoons, blues, Black minstrelsy, bands, operatic and concert troupes, Black opera.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 2005. 700p.
Commemorative issue; Fifty years of progress, given in memory of the E. Azalia Hackley Collection, 1945-1994.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew.
Concert tribute to Detroit's Black prima donnas.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1989/VIII-IX.  13p.  Program of 8 August 1989 and DVD issued separately.
Documentary: Negro music and musicians, Detroit, Michigan.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1969.
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield; The Black Swan.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 1984, 1969.  Vol. 2, 93-266p. Alternate title: The Black swan; Elizabeth T. Greenfield, songstress, biographical study.  Convention issue 2005.
Fifty years of programs given in memory of the E. Azalia Hackley Collection, 1943-1944.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1999.  See also: Afro-American music review, v6n1.
Francis Johnson as a musical ambassador, his music repertoire.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1988.
Francis Johnson (1792-1844); A study in 19th-century military and terpsichorean music history.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 1974. [Out of print]
Free at last; Legal aspects concerning the career of Blind Tom Bethune, 1849-1908.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 1976.  68p.  New ed. in progress.
History of the National Association of Negro musicians, Inc.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 1996
International dictionary of musicians of color.  [in progress]
Marie Selika, America's first great Black coloratura soprano.  [in progress]
Musicians of color in England, Latin America, and America.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1996.
Scenes and episodes; The musical life of Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, 1932-2004, a musician of Afro-American heritage; Addenda for a new century.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 2012.
Selected works of Francis Johnson*; Bicentennial edition, A study in military and terpsichorean history.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1977;  p1-128; About the author, p129-132. OP
The Afro-American musical legacy in Michigan; A sesquicentennial tribute.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1987. 119p. (Studies in 20th century Afro-American music, series 2).
The collected works of Francis Johnson.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 20072nd ed.  Vol. 1 (600p); vol. 2, facsimile of complete oeuvre (500 p).
The complete life and works of Francis Johnson.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1994.Vol. 1: 550p.
The Detroit history that nobody knew, or bothered to research, 1800-1900.  Detroit: Arthur R. LaBrew, 2007 (300th year celebration, the Black community; Music and the fine and secular arts).  Part 1: (2001); Part 2: 589-1163p.
The image of Blacks as seen in music literature.  (Studies in 19th century Afro-American music, series 1) [in progress]
The published music of America's first Black harpist, Joseph L. Gordon, Philadelphia musician, 1805/15-1867.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 2007.  37p.  (Studies in 20th century Afro-American music, series 2).
The underground musical traditions of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1800-1900.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 2003.  372p.
They too shall pass; Biographies of older Detroit musicians deceased or in advanced age.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1990.  150p.  (Studies in 20th century Afro-American music, series 2).
Vignettes of Black musicians in Detroit and its surrounding area, 1900-1988.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1988.  251p.  (Studies in 20th century Afro-American music, series 2).
Who's raggin' ragtime.  Detroit: Arthur LaBrew, 1985.

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Dominique-René de Lerma


[1] Typos are inevitable.  Despite any author's critical eye, a second reader can be an advantage.

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