| Contents |
Composers. A Chevalier rediscovered -- Creoles, negroes, and Gottschalk -- Coleridge-Taylor: 100 years later -- Jazz with a Ph.D. -- Fela Sowande's seventieth birthday -- The black experience in sound -- Ulysses Kay: new horizons -- George Walker's new piece -- Hale Smith's Rituals -- Olly Wilson and good company -- Folk music in symphonic garb -- Primous fountain and the Amaks -- Black Brazilian composers -- Black women in music -- Spotlight on black composers -- Kansas City and the jazz heritage -- Recordings: black piano music -- Rising pride in black music -- New music by black composers -- Singers. The art of Roland Hayes -- Miss Anderson's farewell -- Paul Robeson, the singer -- Roland Hayes's children -- The road to the Met -- Zelma George integrates Broadway -- Debut recital: Leontyne Price -- Martina Arroyo: a conversation -- Miss Bumbry's Met debut -- Miss Verrett as Lady Macbeth -- Prelude to Isolde -- A pair of sopranos -- Four outstanding sopranos -- High-powered Don Carlo -- Operas and opera companies. Operas by black composers -- The Met's new Aida -- Verdi's chocolate scheme -- The saints have returned -- Porgy and Bess revisited -- Carmen moves "Down home" -- Opera as ballet -- Black opera companies -- Opera ebony makes its bow -- Keyboard artists. Hazel Harrison remembered -- Philippa Schuyler at Carnegie Hall -- Miss Hinderas's philharmonic debut -- Andre Watts at Lincoln Center -- Miss Cole plays the harpsichord -- Instrumentalists. The African prince -- A master violinist -- Kermit Moore at Alice Tully Hall -- Distinguished music-making -- Conductors, orchestras, and choruses. Dean Dixon: a first -- Everett Lee's philharmonic debut -- Henry Lewis: another first -- James De Preist: a portrait -- Symphony of the new world -- Hall Johnson remembered -- Eva Jessye is honored -- An award for Leonard de Paur -- Triad and the black vocal quality -- Divertissements. Harlem gets a concert series -- The Cumbos: living music history -- Clyde Turner's cultural garden -- Attitudes. The critic and his cat -- The relevance of classical music -- A grave affair -- A nod to black creativity -- Was it the fish or the question?. |
| Abstract |
From the moment that Joseph Boulogne Saint-Georges poised his violin to play at the court of Louis XVI in eighteenth-century France, the Black presence has been felt in the world of classical music. Today, the names of Leontyne Price and Andre Watts are household words. These are only two of the hundreds of Blacks who have made important contributions to the concert and opera scene. For over a quarter of a century, the author's provocative and often witty review of musical events have appeared in the Black press. In this informal history, he uses some of these pieces as a point of departure for discussion of Blacks in classical music from the eighteenth century to the present day. Included are composers, singers, operas and opera companies, keyboard artists, instrumentalists, conductors, orchestras, choruses, and critics. |
