Myrtle Hart Society Promotes Classical Musicians of Color

The Myrtle Hart Society is a nonprofit organization whose Founder/Director is Rashida Black, an African American harpist and music researcher in Chicago. Its motto is: “Illuminating the Accomplishments of Classical Musicians of Color”. Ms. Black launched the website MyrtleHart.org in February 2007, and began publishing the monthly Myrtle Hart Society Newsletter online in March 2007.

The Myrtle Hart Society is a nonprofit organization which accepts charitable contributions. It has the ambitious objective of collecting information on all classical composers, conductors, musicians and vocalists of color. The website evolves from day to day as new biographies and works of music are added.

The Society is named in honor of a virtuoso African American harpist who was born in Chicago in 1878. Myrtle Hart was only 15 when she performed on the harp at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, we are told at the website. The MHS Newsletter has rapidly gained subscribers while adding new features such as CD reviews and guest columns. This informative resource is free. To read it, visit MyrtleHart.org and click on “eNewsletter” in the left column of the home page. If you would like to subscribe, send your E-mail address to: enewsletter@myrtlehart.org

Comment on "Dance Like The Wind: Music of Today's Black Composers"

The CD pictured above is Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still, Koch 3-7084-2H1 (1991).

Herdingcats makes this comment on "Dance Like The Wind: Music of today's Black composers" by Dominique-René de Lerma:

It's a shame you can't embed some sample clips so we can hear this music. Maybe if it's available on Amazon or another big site you could link to their clips.

How does their music sound differently from their white counterparts? Why a blog on this topic when you are not African-American? This is intriguing.

I appreciate the fact that the author of the comment took the time to raise these questions, and I am happy to respond. This blog is a companion to AfriClassical.com, so priority is given to music samples by composers featured there. The person making the comment is correct about audio samples being available at websites such as Amazon.com, which offers 18 samples of the CD.

The music of Black composers may or may not reflect African heritage, depending on their compositional philosophies. William Grant Still was chosen to compose the theme music for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair after the Theme Committee listened to recorded music on file at CBS Radio without knowing who wrote it, and chose two pieces as having the best sound. Both were by William Grant Still, and he composed the theme music. While some of his works contain references to African American spirituals, for example, much of Still's output is as all-American as that of his White contemporaries.

The reason for having a blog on this topic, as noted above, is that it is a companion to the website, AfriClassical.com The reviewer of the CD wrote his dissertation on Mozart, yet he is not Austrian and did not live in the 18th century! Professors, record label executives, biographers and webmasters who deal with the music of Black composers and musicians come from a wide array of backgrounds.

I listened to classical music for 30 years before learning of a single composer of African descent. By the time I discovered that I had been missing out on very beautiful classical music by Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington and hundreds of other Black composers, I had an academic and professional background in Civil Rights. I immediately resolved to do what I could to remedy the neglect of classical composers on the basis of race. My own heritage was not a factor in the decision.

This music belongs to all of us!

Joshua Nemith On Calliope's Saint-Georges CD

Dr. Joshua S. Nemith is a piano teacher and author of the blog Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist. He has written to Harmonia Mundi USA, the U.S. distributor for the Calliope record label, concerning the cover art on the Saint-Georges CD Calliope 9373 (2007), and has made his letter available to AfriClassical:

Subject: Cover art on Calliope 9373 (2007)
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:56:00 -0400

To Whom it may concern:

I am writing to express an opinion about the cover art on the following album: Monsieur de Saint-George: 4 Concertos pour violon, Calliope 9373 (2007), performed by Les Archets de Paris.

I understand that Harmonia Mundi USA is Calliope's US distributor. I learned of this relationship via William Zick's blog and companion website AfriClassical (http://africlassical.blogspot.com/ and http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/index.html).

I think it would be against the interests of all the parties involved to distribute this album with its current art cover, which depicts Saint-Georges in a caricature-like manner reminiscent of racist "blackface" techniques used decades ago. Saint-Georges is presented in clownish polka-dot attire which does not reflect accurately when compared to the portraiture of this artist in his own time. In my opinion, it is easy to interpret Saint-Georges' depiction as an "eyesore", admired as a talented entertainer by "normal" whitefolk who nevertheless see him as a freakish inferior.

While I remain adamantly against any condonement of censorship, I see this as addressing a different issue: one of sensitivity to the reality of racial injustices and prejudices of our recent history. Cover art like this reveals astonishing insensitivity and will convince too many that the classical music business continues to marginalize people of color.

Harmonia Mundi has an opportunity here to show the world that it is ready to move into the 21st century with renewed respect and admiration for musicians of color from any time period. I hope that Harmonia Mundi and Calliope will make the right decision by removing and replacing the current cover art on this album (Calliope 9373).

Sincerely,

Dr. Joshua S. Nemith
Visit my weblog: "http://joshuanemith.blogspot.com">Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist

Black Composer In Polka Dots

As webmaster of www.AfriClassical.com, I have closely followed CDs of the music of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799). He was born to a slave of African descent, on a Caribbean plantation owned by his father, a French aristocrat. Incredibly, this son of a slave rose to the top of French society through his mastery of fencing and his genius for classical music!

Monsieur de Saint-George: 4 Concertos pour violon, Calliope 9373 (2007), copyright of the Calliope label, is a new CD by the ensemble Les Archets de Paris. I find its cover art disturbing and bordering on ridicule. It clearly departs from the norm for CDs of the music of Saint-Georges.

Contemporary portraits of the Afro-French composer show him impeccably dressed in the finery of an 18th century aristocrat. A red jacket is entirely compatible with period portraits, but the Calliope cover art depicts Saint-Georges in a red jacket covered with white polka dots.

What is the historical basis of polka dots? They are absurd! The outfit resembles a clown suit more than a gentleman's formal attire! Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges is still unknown to many fans of classical music. Someone seeing his image for the first time in this cover art would have a highly unrealistic idea of him.

I have not yet seen the recording on sale at websites based in the U.S., but it is widely available on French websites. Calliope has a U.S. distributor, so it won't be surprising if this disc shows up soon at U.S. stores and websites.

Saint-Georges was educated in elite schools in France. Famous first as the finest fencer in France, he later emerged as a virtuoso violinist, a fashionable composer, and conductor of the best orchestras in Paris. Marie-Antoniette invited him to play music with her at Versailles on a regular basis, beginning in 1779.

It is only fitting that Les Archets de Paris and soloists Bertrand Cervera, Christophe Guiot and Thibault Vieux should lend their talents to interpreting four fine violin works of Saint-Georges. Dozens of CDs of his music have been released by other ensembles; the new recording is a welcome addition to the composer's works in print.

The best known portrait of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was painted by the American artist Mather Brown in London in 1787. To illustrate his two careers, the artist depicted Saint-Georges in formal concert attire, but holding a sword in place of a conductor's baton. This portrait is found on the above CD Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Concertos pour violon, Arion 68093 (1990), copyright of the Arion record label.

Calliope is based in France. I have respectfully informed its U.S. distributor that I believe the cover art on Calliope 9373 (2007) should be replaced.