Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, Enslaved Pianist & Composer Born May 25, 1849

[The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius; Deirdre O’Connell; Overlook Press (2009)]

Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) is featured at AfriClassical.com, which presents a complete Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory. The most recent biography of the enslaved pianist is The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius, written by Deirdre O’Connell and published by Overlook Press (2009). The book's website is http://www.blindtom.org/ Two compositions of Thomas Wiggins which are discussed in the following article are also found on the recording John Davis Plays Blind Tom; Newport Classic 85660 (1999). They are: Cyclone Gallop and The Battle of Manassas.

New York Times

Music Review

Celebrating Mark Twain With a Piano

By Allan Kozinn

Published: November 29, 2010

"With so many pianists commemorating the bicentenaries of Chopin and Schumann this year, it is refreshing to find a player whose fascinations lie elsewhere. John Davis has been spending the year celebrating Mark Twain on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the centenary of his death.”

“Twain was also enthralled by Thomas Wiggins, a blind, possibly autistic former slave with a prodigious repertory and technique, who toured under the name Blind Tom. By Mr. Davis’s reckoning, Blind Tom, at the height of his career, earned the equivalent of $1.5 million a year in today’s dollars and was probably the first black musical superstar. Two works by Blind Tom, along with readings from Twain's magnificently detailed account of his performances and other musical feats (he could apparently play, perfectly, any piece of music after a single hearing) proved the program’s highlights.

“The first, 'Cyclone Gallop,' begins with a Chopinesque introduction and becomes a lighthearted dance piece, rich in the spirit and charms of the late-19th-century drawing room. Its companion, 'The Battle of Manassas,' is a bravura concert work of Lisztian pretensions and spectacular wildness. Though it begins with a sober evocation of the battlefield — a suggestion of a snare drum and a lively top line that quotes battle songs of the North and South — it becomes a freewheeling set of virtuosic variations on 'Dixie,' 'Yankee Doodle,' 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and, oddly, 'La Marseillaise.' Mr. Davis played these pieces powerfully and with a rich palette."

Flickr.com: Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins photographed in 1866 by Antoine Naudin of London

[Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) (Flickr.com: 1866 photo by Antoine Naudin)]

“'Blind Tom' Wiggins

Born into slavery in 1849, 'Blind Tom' Wiggins was an African American autistic savant with a prodigious talent for playing the piano. Although his vocabulary was only about 100 words, eventually he learned perhaps 7,000 pieces of music, mainly from classical composers. In 1866, at the age of 16, he went on a world tour, first appearing in London in July of that year. According to an advertisement which appeared in the Times, 'The extraordinary success which attended the private soirée of the Negro Boy pianist, Blind Tom, at the Queen's Consort Rooms, Hanover Square, on Wednesday evening last, has induced his guardians to give a few public performances, prior to the close of the London season, of which due notice will be given' (21 July 1866). He died in 1908 in Hoboken, New Jersey.

“Photographed by Naudin of Brompton Road, London. Entered at Stationers' Hall [part of the copyrighting process] on 1 August 1866 by Antoine Naudin of 124, Brompton Road, London.”

Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) is featured at AfriClassical.com, which presents a complete Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory. The most recent biography of the enslaved pianist is The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius, written by Deirdre O’Connell and published by Overlook Press (2009). The book's website is http://www.blindtom.org/

NYTimes.com: 'Twain was also enthralled by Thomas Wiggins, a blind, possibly autistic former slave'

[John Davis Plays Blind Tom, Newport Classic 85660 (1999)]

Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) is featured at AfriClassical.com, which presents a complete Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory. The most recent biography of the enslaved pianist is The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius, written by Deirdre O’Connell and published by Overlook Press (2009). Its website is http://www.BlindTom.org. Two compositions of Thomas Wiggins which are discussed in the following article are also found on the above recording, John Davis Plays Blind Tom: Cyclone Gallop and The Battle of Manassas.

New York Times

NYTimes.com

“Music Review

Celebrating Mark Twain With a Piano

By Allan Kozinn

Published: November 29, 2010

With so many pianists commemorating the bicentenaries of Chopin and Schumann this year, it is refreshing to find a player whose fascinations lie elsewhere. John Davis has been spending the year celebrating Mark Twain on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the centenary of his death.”

“Twain was also enthralled by Thomas Wiggins, a blind, possibly autistic former slave with a prodigious repertory and technique, who toured under the name Blind Tom. By Mr. Davis’s reckoning, Blind Tom, at the height of his career, earned the equivalent of $1.5 million a year in today’s dollars and was probably the first black musical superstar. Two works by Blind Tom, along with readings from Twain's magnificently detailed account of his performances and other musical feats (he could apparently play, perfectly, any piece of music after a single hearing) proved the program’s highlights.

“The first, 'Cyclone Gallop,' begins with a Chopinesque introduction and becomes a lighthearted dance piece, rich in the spirit and charms of the late-19th-century drawing room. Its companion, 'The Battle of Manassas,' is a bravura concert work of Lisztian pretensions and spectacular wildness. Though it begins with a sober evocation of the battlefield — a suggestion of a snare drum and a lively top line that quotes battle songs of the North and South — it becomes a freewheeling set of virtuosic variations on 'Dixie,' 'Yankee Doodle,' 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and, oddly, 'La Marseillaise.'

“Mr. Davis played these pieces powerfully and with a rich palette. He did much the same for two Gottschalk works — 'The Banjo: Grotesque Fantasie' (with its gloss on Stephen Foster’s 'Camptown Races') and the more dramatic 'La Savane: Ballade Créole' — and a set of variations on 'Nearer My God to Thee' by the early ragtime pianist John William Boone, best known as Blind Boone.”

'The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist,' by Deirdre O’Connell, Tells of Musical Genius Born May 25, 1849

[The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius; Deirdre O’Connell; Overlook Press (2009)]

Deirdre O'Connell is an Australian writer whose biography, The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius has been featured in print and broadcast media in many places, renewing interest in Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (1849-1908) since its publication in 2009. Performances of piano works composed by Wiggins have become steadily more numerous in recent years.

Wiggins was an African American pianist and composer. He was a blind and autistic slave who nevertheless was a musical genius. His profile at AfriClassical.com is based primarily on the book Blind Tom, The Black Pianist-Composer: Continually Enslaved, by the late Professor Geneva Handy Southall, who devoted her academic career to Wiggins. She points out that he never really gained his freedom or the control of his own earnings, even after the Civil War.

Professor Dominique-René de Lerma has compiled a complete Works List which is featured on the Thomas Wiggins page at the website. He also wrote the Introduction for Blind Tom, The Black Pianist-Composer: “Reading through this important volume will evoke pain, grief, and outrage. In that respect we find a ready parallel to Sam Dennison's Scandalize My Name (Garland Publishing, 1982). But these stories must be told. The message is not only music or biography, it is not even only American history. Sentient readers will know how far the implications can reach.”

In 1850 Tom, his parents, and two brothers were sold to James Neil Bethune, a lawyer and newspaper editor in Columbus, Georgia. Tom was fascinated by music and other sounds, and could pick out tunes on the piano by the age of four. His concert debut in Atlanta took place when he was eight years old. In 1858 Tom was hired out as a slave-musician, at a price of $15,000.

In 1859, at the age of 10, he became the first African American performer to play at the White House, for President James Buchanan. His piano pieces “Oliver Galop” and “Virginia Polka” were published in 1860. During the Civil War he was back with his owner, and proceeds from his concerts were donated to the Confederate relief effort. By 1863 he played his own composition, “Battle of Manassas.”

By 1865, 16-year-old Tom Wiggins, now “indentured” to James Bethune, could play difficult works of Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, and Thalberg. He also played pieces after one hearing. Blind Tom Wiggins became an internationally recognized performer. By 1868 Tom and the Bethune family lived on a Virginia farm in the summer, while touring the United States and Canada the rest of the year, averaging $50,000 annually in concert revenue. James Bethune eventually lost custody of Tom to his late son's ex-wife, Eliza Bethune. Charity Wiggins, Tom's mother, was a party to the suit, but was bitterly disappointed when she did not win control of her son or his income.

Comment by email:

Hello Bill, I'm glad the publicity is taking effect. Thanks for the plug. And Happy Birthday to Tom! Best, Deirdre

Australian Radio National Airs 'Blind Tom, slave pianist sensation' Dec. 12, 2009

[The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius; Dierdre O'Connell]

ABC.net.au
The Dec. 12, 2009 broadcast of Australian Radio National's weekly music program Into the Music is Blind Tom, slave pianist sensation. Audio of the program is available online, as is a video:
“All but forgotten since his death in 1908, Blind Tom's reputation is being restored with the advent of recordings of his remarkable piano compositions on the CD John Davis Plays Blind Tom, and a riveting new biography, The Ballad of Blind Tom by Deidre O'Connell in which he is acknowledged as America's lost musical genius and most likely an autistic savant.

"Appearing in the program are biographer Deidre O'Connell, artist Martin Sharp, Professor Allan Snyder, Director of the Centre for the Mind at Sydney University, and concert pianist John Davis who performs The Rainstorm and The Battle of Manassas for the program." [Professor Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory has compiled a complete Works List which is featured on the Thomas Wiggins page at AfriClassical.com]

'Incorrect Pleasures: Different but not disabled' Writes of Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins

[The Ballad of Blind Tom: Slave Pianist, America's Lost Musical Genius by Deirdre O'Connell; Overlook Press (2009)]

A blogger in Australia links to AfriClassical.com and other websites on the African American pianist and composer Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908):
IncorrectPleasures.blogspot.com – Different but not disabled
Monday, July 13, 2009
“Did you know that the first African-American person to perform at the White house was an autistic person?
I didn't know that. He was popularly known by the name Blind Tom Wiggins, and he was a black, blind autistic musical prodigy/savant who had an amazing talent for music and imitation of sounds. He wasn't just a human pianola, he could perform music brilliantly and he was also an accomplished composer. He was hugely popular and successful as a touring musical performer, but sadly he was also a slave, so his extraordinary talent made someone else rich. An Australian author, Deirdre O'Connell, has written a biography of Blind Tom, and you can hear her interviewed yesterday on Australian radio through the internet (see below). You Americans have some interesting history!"

"LoPresti, Linda (2009) Blind Tom: a lost musical genius. The Book Show. ABC Radio National. July 13th 2009.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2621009.htm" [Full Post]
[A complete Works List for Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins has been compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma and can be found at AfriClassical.com]

East Village History Project Links to “Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins” at AfriClassical.com

[Blind Tom, The Black Pianist-Composer: Continually Enslaved; Geneva Handy Southall; Scarecrow Press (2002)]

The “East Village History Project Blog” explores a part of New York City in which the African American pianist and composer Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) lived for several years. This post links to the page on Wiggins at AfriClassical.com:
Friday, July 10, 2009
EVHP.blogspot.com
“The story of Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins, former slave and musical genius
Thomas Greene Wiggins (1849-1908) was a former slave and indentured servant who began playing piano by the age of four and became one of the most celebrated musicians of the Civil War era. Thomas was born autistic and without sight on May 25, 1849 to Mungo and Charity Wiggins, two Georgia plantation slaves owned by Wiley Edward Jones. His family was sold soon after to Colonel James Neil Bethune, and Tom was 'thrown in as a bargain.' By all accounts, because of his disabilities, Thomas was treated like a 'household pet,' but Bethune's daughter Mary recognized talent in the young boy and became his first music teacher. Thomas learned fast and began performing publicly by the age of eight.”

“John G. Bethune had himself appointed Thomas's legal guardian on July 25, 1870, and soon moved to New York City to live with his new new wife, the owner of the boarding house where they lived (7 St. Marks Place). Over the following nine years, while living here on St. Marks Place, Thomas Wiggins studied music with Professor Joseph Poznanski, who wrote down and collected many of Thomas' original compositions.” [A complete Works List for Thomas “Blind Tom” Wioggins has been compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma and can be found at AfriClassical.com]