Florence B. Price
Margaret Allison Bonds
Theodore Charles Stone
Barbara Wright-Pryor writes:
Dear
Bill,
The
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) will convene a multi-week,
multi-genre festival entitled “RIVERS: Nature. Power. Culture”
beginning Thursday, May 9, 2013.
The
Festival begins with performances by The Chicago Symphony Orchestra on May 9, 11
and 14 featuring Florence B. Price’s The Mississippi
River which portrays the majestic river’s history in music through
orchestrated Negro spirituals, folk song and original
material.
In
1933 at the Chicago World’s Fair, Florence B. Price (1887-1953) was the first
black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major U.S. orchestra
when her Symphony No. 1 in E minor was played by the CSO conducted by music
director Frederick Stock. William Grant Still (1895-1978), recognized as “The
Dean of Black Classical Composers,” became the first black composer to have a
work played by a major American orchestra when his Symphony No. 1
“Afro-American” was performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra conducted
by Howard Hanson in 1931
I will present the pre-concert lectures for
each of these programs as the current president of Chicago Music Association
(CMA), Branch No. 1, NANM, Inc., the organization that championed Price’s
compositions and UNDERWROTE THE JUNE 15, 1933 PERFORMANCE of her symphony by the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Henry
Pleas, tenor accompanied by Charles Hayes, piano will perform two art songs by
Florence Price, Night and Songs to the Dark Virgin. Both
performers are members of CMA.
Florence Price joined the R.
Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and Allied Arts (NANM, Inc.) shortly after arriving
in Chicago in 1927. She met Theodore Charles Stone (1912-1998) at Chicago
Musical College (now Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University)
where they were both students and he encouraged her to join Chicago Music
Association, Br. No. 1, NANM, Inc. There she met Estella Bonds and her daughter
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) resulting in a musical alliance that would
last her entire lifetime.
The New Black Music Repertory Ensemble (of
the Center for Black Music Research) conducted by Leslie B. Dunner recorded
Price's Concerto in One Movement, Karen Walwyn, pianist, and Symphony No. 1 in E
minor at Chicago's Harris Theater for Music and Dance in 2011. It is available
through Albany Records. It has been 80 years since a composition by Florence
Price has been played by the CSO.
Musically yours,
Barbara
Barbara
Wright-Pryor
PRESIDENT
Chicago Music
Association,
Branch No. 1, NANM Inc. (since 1919)
[Margaret Allison Bonds, R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence B. Price and William Grant Still are
profiled
at
AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works list for each of the four composers by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma,
www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.]
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