Brava! the Challenges and Triumphs of African-‐American Female Opera
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Brava! The Challenges and Triumphs of African-American Female Opera Singers Lauren Hensley Teaching Project, Spring 2011 The Ohio State University, EPL 834, Professor Beverly Gordon OVERVIEW Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Barbara HendricksͶthese remarkable women, born decades apart, have in common soaring voices, talent and presence, and great resilience. The life of each singer uniquely contributes to a shared legacy that provides inspiration for countless others through the present day. Through the curricular unit on the challenges and triumphs of African-American female opera singers, teachers will have the opportunity to address history, music, art, foreign language, and literature through a range of investigative, reflective, and interactive activities. The unit will guide students through in-depth biographical study, synthesis and evaluation of historical events and trends, and music appreciation. This overview provides a glimpse into the lives of two influential African-American opera singers with the expectation that students will have much more to learn and to express through participation in the related curricular activities. Contralto Marian Anderson, born in Philadelphia three years before the turn of the twentieth century, was a pioneering figure in the world of classical vocal music. tŝƚŚŚĞƌĂƵŶƚ͛Ɛ encouragement, six-year-old Anderson had her start singing in her ĐŚƵƌĐŚ͛ƐũƵŶŝŽƌĐŚŽŝƌ͘ƐĂ child and then as a young teen, she sang a number of solos in various choirs and also received payment for solo performances at community events. Though her father and then grandfather tragically passed away when Anderson was twelve and thirteen, respectively, she continued to Brava! p. 1 have the support of the women in her family. i At fifteen years of age, she graduated from grammar school but was unable to progress to high school or undertake voice lessons due to ŚĞƌĨĂŵŝůLJ͛Ɛfinancial constraints. With the generous fundraising efforts of her church and community, she received the monetary support necessary both to attend high school and to study voice.ii In her pursuit of singing, Anderson faced discrimination on various fronts. Her application to the Philadelphia Music Academy, an all-white institution, was rejected on the basis of her skin color rather than upon appraisal of her musical abilities.iii She continued private vocal lessons and sought to develop her skills by performing publicly, though a poor showing at the Town Hall of New York in 1924 caused her to break from singing for a few months as she reassessed her desire to become a renowned classical singer. With the personal support of her mother and artistic support of her voice instructor, she continued to train her voice and increased her diligence in foreign-language study. An important performance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925 featured Anderson on the national level and was very well reviewed, but over the next several years her career did not take off in the United States, due partly to prejudice and partly to the Great Depression.iv In the early- and mid- thirties, Anderson͛ƐĐĂƌĞĞƌďĞŐĂŶƚŽƚĂŬĞŽĨĨŝŶƵƌŽƉĞ͘Toward the end of that decade, Anderson was performing approximately 70 times annually for audiences in the United States and abroad.v Despite Anderson͛s growing prominence, in 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) ǁŽŵĞŶ͛ƐŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶblocked plans for her to perform for an interracial audience at Constitution Hall, a move for which the organization is still remembered today. As a Brava! p. 2 testament to the support that Anderson was beginning to gain with other segments of the population, though, Eleanor Roosevelt arranged a concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which 75,000 people attended and millions of others heard over the radio.vi This triumph is one of the ďĞƐƚƌĞŵĞŵďĞƌĞĚĞǀĞŶƚƐŝŶŶĚĞƌƐŽŶ͛ƐĐĂƌĞĞƌ͘ Embodying hope, grace, and wisdom, Anderson famously stated, ͞I forgave the DAR many years ago. You lose a lot of time hating people͟ and, on a separate occasion, ͞I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.͟vii In 1955, Anderson performed the role of Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball, sĞƌĚŝͿĂƚEĞǁzŽƌŬŝƚLJ͛ƐDĞƚƌŽƉŽůŝƚĂŶKƉĞƌĂ, considered to be tŚĞhŶŝƚĞĚ^ƚĂƚĞƐ͛ƉƌĞŵŝĞƌ stage. In this role, she became the first black person of any nationality to perform at the Met, opening doors for other black performers in the years to come. For the rest of her career, Anderson preferred to present recitals and concerts rather than performing in full-staged operas, though her audiences often included dignitaries, presidents, and foreign leaders. Equally talented at singing both classical arias and spirituals, she demonstrated great range and depth.viii For her contributions, she earned recognition including a Presidential Medal of Honor, more than two dozen honorary doctoratesix, and a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.x ŶĚĞƌƐŽŶ͛Ɛ life and career provided inspiration for soprano Leontyne Price, who ƌĞĨůĞĐƚĞĚ͕͚͞Her example of professionalism, uncompromising standards, overcoming obstacles, persistence, resiliency and undaunted spirit inspired me to believe that I could achieve goals Brava! p. 3 that otherwisĞǁŽƵůĚŚĂǀĞďĞĞŶƵŶƚŚŽƵŐŚƚŽĨ͛͘͟xi Born in 1927, three decades after Anderson, Price encountered a somewhat different world as she forged her career, though racial discrimination was not absent. Growing up in Mississippi, piano accompaniment, choral music, and solo singing were part of PrŝĐĞ͛ƐůŝĨĞĨƌŽŵĞĂƌůLJĐŚŝůĚŚŽŽĚxii. WƌŝĐĞ͛ƐĂƵŶƚǁĂƐƚŚĞůĂƵŶĚƌĞƐƐ for a white family, the Chisholms, who encouraged younŐWƌŝĐĞ͛Ɛmusical talents. After she received a degree in voice from Wilbeforce College/Central State University, Price attended the prestigious Julliard School of Music, made possible financially with the support of the Chisholm family and Paul Robeson, a renowned African-American bass singer.xiii In the early 1950s, she performed in integrated Julliard productions as well as all-black professional productions of Porgy and Bess and Four Saints in Three Acts, both in the United States and Europe. Price is often associated with her stunning performance of the eponymous lead role in Puccini͛s Tosca. Her first opportunity to embody this role came in a 1955 performance produced by NBC-TV. In an act of unconcealed racial discrimination, several affiliate stations prevented the program from airingͶyet Price received acclaim for this performance. Her reputation grew substantially over the next few years, though one more than one occasion her opportunity to play a lead role on a major stage occurred only when she was called in as an understudy. Price͛s debut at the Met occurred in 1961, as Leonara in Verdi͛s Il Trovatore, a role in which she famously received a standing ovation that lasted for more than forty minutes.xiv With many leading operatic stage roles over the next twenty-five years in such works as Verdi͛s Aida, Puccini͛s Madama Butterfly, Mozart͛s Die Zauberflöte, and Tchaikovsky͛s Eugene Onegin, Price attained the status of a ͞prima donna assoluta.͟xv In the decade following her retirement from Brava! p. 4 the opera stage in 1985, she went on to have a successful career as a recital and concert performer. A source of inspiration for others, she has stated ͞If you are going to think black, think positive about it. Don't think down on it, or think it is something in your way. And this way, when you really do want to stretch out, and express how beautiful black is, everybody will hear you.͟xvi As a testament to the recognition her life and her work have ultimately garnered, she has won 19 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and an array of other prestigious honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of the Arts.xvii Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price are two of the most widely recognized African- American female opera singers, but there are other singers whose lives and careers are worthy of appreciation. These historical and contemporary figures include: Marian Anderson (1897 ʹ 1993), contralto (low range) Camilla Williams (1919 ʹ present), soprano (high range) Mattiwilda Dobbs (1925 ʹ present), coloratura soprano (high range with exceptional agility) Betty Allen (1927 ʹ 2009), mezzo-soprano (middle range) Leontyne Price (1927 - present), soprano Shirley Verrett (1931 ʹ 2010), mezzo-soprano Reri Grist (1932 ʹ present), coloratura soprano Grace Bumbry (1937 ʹ present), mezzo-soprano Martina Arroyo (1937 ʹ present), soprano Jessye Norman (1945 ʹ present), dramatic soprano (high range with exceptional fullness) Kathleen Battle (1948 ʹ present), coloratura soprano Barbara Hendricks (1948 ʹ present), soprano Leona Mitchell (1949 ʹ present), soprano Brava! p. 5 As the authors of the Afrocentric Voices in Classical Music website describe: African Americans have had a profound impact on the development of music in the United States. While their role in the history of American popular and folk music is now generally acknowledged and appreciated, their influence within the ͞classical͟ music world has received little attentionͶeven within the African American community.xviii The intent of this teaching project is to, one classroom at a time, foster greater awareness of and interest in the extraordinary contributions of African-American singers. i Marian Anderson: A life in song <http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/anderson>. ii Keiler, A. (2002). Marian Anderson: A singer's journey. New York: Scribner. iii Grove music online <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com>. iv Marian