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University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California William Duncan Allen TEACHER, PIANIST, AND ACCOMPANIST TO CONCERT ARTISTS Introduction by Dr. Ruth Love Interviews conducted by Caroline Crawford in 1995 Copyright 1996 by the Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a modern research technique involving an interviewee and an informed interviewer in spontaneous conversation. The taped record is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The resulting manuscript is typed in final form, indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and William Duncan Allen dated July 19, 1995. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with William Duncan Allen requires that he be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: William Duncan Allen, Teacher, Pianist, and Accompanist to Concert Artists, an oral history conducted in 1995 by Caroline Crawford, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1996. Copy no. William Duncan Allen, 1994 Photograph courtesy William Duncan Allen San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 6, 199 William Duncan Allen William Duncan Allen, a concert teacher pianist, and music critic, died of natural causes August 19 at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Rich mond. He was 92. Mr. who earned an honor Allen, During his lengthy career, Mr. ary doctorate in music from the Allen also toured with Adele Addi- for Black be Center Urban Studies, son, Camilla William, Vahan Khan- the at 5. His gan studying piano age zadian, William Warfield, the late last performance was July 19 at the Paul Robeson and other prominent Four Seasons Concerts' Yachats musicians. Music Festival in Oregon. As a music columnist and critic, Mr. Allen wrote for the Black Music Mr. Allen was born in Portland, Research and several news Ore. His father, William Duncan Journal the Post Allen Sr., owned Portland's 100- papers, including Berkeley and Oakland Post. room Golden West Hotel, once the black-owned hotel on largest the Survivors include a nephew, An West Coast. thony Allen of Portland, Ore.; a and grandniece, Although Mr. Allen was accepted grandnephew Chris and Nicole Allen of Portland, to Harvard and Yale universities, his Ore.; a sister-in-law, Dorothy Allen mother, seriously ill with diabetes, of Los and friends. begged him to attend Oberlin Col Angeles; many so he would be closer to home. lege A memorial service will be held at He graduated from Oberlin Conser 5:30 p.m. on September 26 at Uni in 1928 and attended vatory the Jul- tarian Universalist Church of Berke liard School of Music for one year ley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. until the Great Depression forced him to find work. Memorials may be made to the Bach Festival He obtained a job teaching music Junior Association, P.O. Box the at Howard Universityi. 590, Berkeley, 94701; Young Musicians Program, 19 Mor Mr. Allen went to England in the rison Hall No. 1204, UC-Berkeley, fall of 1935 to study with Dutch Berkeley, 94720; the ACT-SO Music pianist Egon Petri He returned to Scholarship Program of the Nation Oberlin in 1936 and received his al Association for the Advancement master's degree. of Colored People; or the Golden Gate Branch of the National Associ Mr. Allen moved to San Francis ation of Musicians. co in 1953. He served as minister of Negro music at South Berkeley Communi-. ty Church for 26 years and director of Berkeley's Junior Bach Festival for 20 years. He also was active in the San Francisco Boys' Chorus, the Young Musicians' Program at the University of California at Berkeley and other music programs. Cataloging information ALLEN, William Duncan (b. 1906) Musician Teacher, Pianist, and Accompanist to Concert Artists, 1996, iv, 135 pp. Family history and early childhood in Portland, Oregon; music in the churches and the Church of Christ, Scientist; studies at Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School of Music in the 1920s; teaching at Howard University, Washington, D.C., and Fisk University, Nashville, and studying with Egon Petri in Poland in the 1930s; segregation in the United States; segregated unions for musicians; accompanying American baritone Todd Duncan, 1943-1953, and Paul Robeson, Adele Addison, William Warfield, Betty Allen, William Parker, George Shirley, Camilla Williams; performances at Carnegie Hall and the White House; working as columnist for the San Francisco Sun-Reporter and the Oakland Post; thoughts on black composers William Grant Still, Robert Nathaniel Dett, Howard Swanson, singers, performers and music management; directing the Berkeley Junior Bach Festival and the East Bay Music Center; Minister of Music at South Berkeley Community Church; a visiting professorship at Talladega College in the 1980s. Introduction by Dr. Ruth Love, former Superintendent of Schools, Oakland. Interviewed 1995 by Caroline Crawford. Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Regional Oral History Office, on behalf of future researchers, would like to express its thanks to two individuals whose support have made possible this oral history: Ruth Teiser, 1915-1994, writer and Regional Oral History Office interviewer from 1965 to 1994, who donated the funds for this interview in memory of her friend Robert Beck. Robert E. Beck, 1924-1992, teacher and author of textbooks for English literature and drama at the secondary school level, and instructor in English teaching methods in Jiang Nan University, China, in 1990. Robert Beck was a longtime friend and supporter of the work of the Regional Oral History Office, and a supporter of classical music. TABLE OF CONTENTS- -William Duncan Allen INTRODUCTION- -by Dr. Ruth Love i INTERVIEW HISTORY--by Caroline Crawford ii BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION iv I EARLY YEARS: 1906-1924 Home and Family in Portland, Oregon 1 Music Education 4 First Assignment as an Accompanist The Golden West Hotel; Music in the Churches 9 The Allen Grandparents and a Summer Home in Washington 11 II THE TWENTIES: MUSIC STUDIES 14 Oberlin College: 1924-1928 14 Juilliard School of Music, and Life in New York: 1929-1930 Memories of Marian Anderson 19 III THE THIRTIES: WASHINGTON, D.C., NEW YORK CITY, NASHVILLE, AND A FELLOWSHIP IN POLAND 22 Working at Howard University, 1929-1935, and Performing at the White House 22 Bringing a Brother to Howard University in 1934 and Segregation in Washington, D.C. 25 American Federation of Musicians, Local 802 28 Going to Fisk University, 1936-1943, and a Year with Egon Petri in Poland 29 Back in New York, 1939: Isabella Vengerova and the Mannes School of Music 34 Career Aspirations 35 More about Fisk 37 IV THE FORTIES: TOURING WITH TODD DUNCAN 40 Todd Duncan, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess 40 Australia and New Zealand: 1945 and 1947 42 Touring in South American and the Caribbean: 1951 45 Touring and Segregation 46 A Family Album and a Family Cookbook 48 V THE FIFTIES: COMING TO CALIFORNIA 51 Settling in San Francisco and Touring the Coast 51 Remembering Leontyne Price and Paul Robeson 54 A New Generation of Black Artists 58 Thoughts about Black Music Critics and Composers 58 Teaching and Reviewing Music in San Francisco 61 Meeting William Grant Still and Howard Swanson 62 Associations and Activities: The National Association . of Negro Musicians 64 A Visit to Washington, D.C. 65 Elayne Jones and the San Francisco Symphony 67 Minister of Music at the South Berkeley Community Church: 1954-1979 69 The Junior Bach Festival: 1956-1976 70 Involvement with the NAACP and the East Bay Music Center 75 The Yachats Music Festival 76 VI THE SIXTIES AND ONWARD 78 More about New York City: 1943-1953 78 Performing at Carnegie Hall 80 Music Management: Artists' Representatives 81 Corresponding with Musicians and Friends 83 A Visiting Professorship at Talladega College: 1980-1982 84 Making a Gift to Howard University 86 An Eighty-Fifth Birthday Celebration: December 8, 1991 86 Tributes and Awards and Thoughts on Accompanying 90 Outstanding Musicians, Important Influences and Other Memories 93 Advice for Young Pianists 97 TAPE GUIDE 101 APPENDICES lOla A. "Musings of a Music Columnist" by William Duncan Allen, from The Black Perspective in Music (Vol. 1, No. 2, 1973) 102 B. "Hotel's Rich History Adds Charm to Reopening," article by Matt Bailey, The Oregonian (January 16, 1990) 107 C. Selected pages from The Black Perspective in Music Vol.

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