Saturday, March 20, 2010

'Nu Rho Sigma Eta Beta Mu Fine Arts Fraternity, Inc.: Negro Philharmonic Society of Historically Black Musicians'


[The Music of Francis Johnson & His Contemporaries: Early 19th-Century Black Composers; Diane Monroe, Violin; The Chestnut Brass Company and Friends; Tamara Brooks, Conductor; Music Masters 7029-2-C (1990)]

“Nu Rho Sigma Eta Beta Mu Fine Arts Fraternity, Inc.: Negro Philharmonic Society of Historically Black Musicians”
“Welcome to the Official Site of the ONLY Fine Arts Fraternity in the world. I bring you greetings on behalf of Nu Rho Sigma Eta Beta Mu Fine Arts Fraternity, Incorporated. We are a Fraternity made up of Men & Women to bring a common bond of the Arts to Cities and College Campuses.”

The 11 “Musicians of the Negro Philharmonic Society” are the same individuals listed as “Musicians of African Descent” by AfriClassical.com, except for the spelling of the surname of James DePreist. The 41 “Composers of the Negro Philharmonic Society” include two whose names have been deleted from the AfriClassical.com roster of “Composers of African Descent,” Juan Morel Campos of Puerto Rico and Solon Verret of Haiti. AfriClassical.com removed Juan Morel Campos from the website when his African heritage could no longer be substantiated. He was replaced by Irene Britton Smith (1907-1999), who taught Reading for more than 40 years in the Chicago Public Schools. So little documentation is available on Solon Verret that his former page has been incorporated into a new page on one of his students, Julio Racine of Haiti.

The correct year of publication of A Collection of New Cotillions by the Philadelphia musician and composer Francis B. “Frank” Johnson (1792-1844) is 1818. It is not our understanding that he was a founder of the Negro Philharmonic Society of New Orleans. Composers and Performers of Black Classical Music deserve much more recognition by fine arts organizations than they have received to date, and it is to be hoped that the Nu Rho Sigma Eta Beta Mu Fine Arts Fraternity, Inc. will help increase awareness of these artists among performers and audiences like.

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