Florence Price: Symphony in E minor (excerpt)
The talented composer who was consistently sidelined because of her gender and race.
In June 1933, the Chicago Symphony premiered a major orchestral work by a promising young local composer. The child of professionals, this composer had their first piano lesson at the age of four, their first composition published at the age of 11 and graduated top of their class in high school β so far, so unremarkable for the early years of a successful 20th-century composer.
But there were a couple of things about Florence Price that set her apart. βMy dear Dr. Koussevitzky,β she headed a letter in 1943. βTo begin with, I have two handicaps β those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins.β
Florence Price had left Arkansas, the site of regular racist attacks and lynchings, in the late 1920s. Once settled in Chicago, she found the courage to divorce her abusive husband and set out as a single mum and a composer. She won a major prize for her First Symphony, which caught the attention of the Chicago Symphony. Frederick Stock conducted the premiere in 1933 β the first work by an African American woman to be played by a major orchestra.
And yet after that premiere she was basically ignored. She wrote to Koussevitsky in Boston; she sent scores, but she never got a response. Even the Chicago Symphony didnβt programme another one of her pieces for 80 years. She saw what was going on. βUnfortunately,β she said, βthe work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, frothy, lacking in depth, logic and virility. Add to that the incident of race and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.β
This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3βs Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.
This is an excerpt from the Presto from Florence Price's Symphony in E minor, performed by the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble with conductor Leslie B Dunner.
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