I have enjoyed looking up information about, reading, listening to, and certainly, performing the music of Florence Price for several years, so I was thrilled to read a recent article in the NYTimes about her.....also an article in The New Yorker magazine, and on NPR. Florence Price was the first African-American classical composer to have her music played by a major American orchestra when the Chicago symphony premiered her Symphony in E Minor in 1933. She was widely cited as one of the first black classical composers to be recognized, yet she is mentioned more often than she is heard........hopefully, this may change. Through happy accident, I discovered her music several years ago as I was learning a piece by one of Florence Price's students, Margaret Bonds, called "Troubled Water". I found a short character piece by Florence called "The Goblin and the Mosquito".....many of my students also enjoyed learning! Then, this summer I heard a recording of Ms. Price's "Fantasie Negre" and did much research to try and find the score as I was determined to learn. I located it in the Library of Congress, but it is in manuscript and quite difficult to read, so back to research and this time successfully found a cleaner copy in print. I'll be happy to play an excerpt for my students this week as we celebrate Black history month! Hope you enjoy exploring the music of this composer as much as I have! How about the Piano Concerto in One Movement? Or the first movement of her Piano Sonata? Or listen to Lara Downes play "Fantasie Negre".........enjoy!
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