The work of a woman composer: Florence Price

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

In November 1943, Florence Price wrote to Serge Koussevitzky, the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, asking him to consider performing her scores “Unfortunately the work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, froth, lacking in depth, logic and virility. Add to that the incident of race — I have Colored blood in my veins — and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.”

Koussevitzky never replied to her.

NAXOS will soon release an album of the music of Florence Price.

The Symphony No. 3 in C Minor of Florence Price is melodic, inflected with Afro-American religious melodies while embracing European tradition yet American in spirit, broadly Romantic, bluesy at times, jazzily syncopated at others. Divided into four movements – a noble opening Andante-Allegro, a slower Andante that welcomes haunting soli from the various woodwind principals, a Juba – a now lively, now sensuous dance of 19th century plantation Blacks – and a rousingly dramatic  Scherzo Finale.

The Mississippi River Suite is even more African-American in spirit and in its use of Afro-American tunes: “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Stand Still, Jordan,” “Go Down, Moses,” and “Deep River”  

Price lets us imagine a boat cruising down the Mississippi depicting scenes along the way, evoking sunrise, imitating nature, even summoning images of Native Americans, riffing jazz and blues.

Again, the incomparable ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra plays this music with complete commitment.

The Arrival of the Negro in America when first brought here as a slave…His Resignation and Faith… His Adaptation: a Fusion of his native and acquired impulses are the titles to  the three movements of Florence Price’s suite Ethiopia’s Shadow in America, a 1932 work in which Price continued her exploration of Afro-American music and its integration onto the European orchestral repertoire, here now in its world premiere.

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra led by John Jeter gives this joyful, all-American music its utmost care in elegant and loving readings, all to prove that Florence Price’s long-overdue recognition has finally arrived.

Rafael de Acha            ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”