A few weeks ago she was kind enough to take a few moments from her busy schedule and talk with me about how this all came about.

Liane Curtis:  I just recently discovered what you are doing when I saw they were going to play the “Mississippi River” Suite in Chicago. So I want to ask you about her, about Florence Price.

MEI-ANN CHEN:  I have to admit I didn’t know much of Florence Price’s music before Martha Gilmer of the Chicago Symphony approached me with her Mississippi River.  Martha has been the Vice President for Artistic Planning and Audience Development with the Chicago Symphony for a long time, and obviously Florence Price being very special to Chicago Symphony’s history, I think she has been waiting for the right conductor to come along.  …  It will kick off the Rivers Festival that was sugested by Yo-Yo Ma.  Yo-Yo has an official role as a Creative Consultant with the Chicago Symphony now.

Martha has been following my career because she has family from Memphis…her family there has been sort of the ‘spy’ [laughs] for Martha and what’s happening with Memphis.  And one thing led to another.  So when Martha approached me and said “how would you like to do this piece?”  I said “Oh my gosh, I totally don’t know this composer.” …

I just read the blog that you have—it’s wonderful that you are continuing to advocate for women composers.  So, this year, as you know I have done “The Oak” [also by Florence Price] with Chicago Sinfonietta, and there’s one more piece that I’d like to mention because it’s a hidden jewel.  We had to change one of the programs in Memphis … so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to find another piece by Florence Price for our audience to learn about her work in preparation for the Mississippi River that we’re doing to end our Masterworks season.

And so I found another piece by Florence Price, I don’t know if you know, it was originally written for piano, called “Dances in the Canebrakes.”  William Grant Still orchestrated it for her, even though she knew how to write for orchestra, but I don’t know, maybe they were such good friends that William Grant Still thought this piece really deserved an orchestral treatment. It’s so delightful!  But I can tell you when we got the parts from the publisher our librarian was a little bit horrified … It just looked like it hasn’t really been performed with an orchestra.  So we actually got permission from the publisher to create a set [of parts] that our musicians can use.  That way the publisher could continue to use this very well-made set for other orchestras.

So I’m going to do that again with Chicago Sinfonietta coming up in June for our Annual Ball, which is the largest fundraising event for the Sinfonietta … a lot of African-American community leaders will be attending.  And in the same concert we will also be previewing our next season in which we will be doing the last two movements of Florence Price’s Symphony in E, which is Symphony No. 1; it was premiered by the Chicago Symphony in 1933.

LC:  Great!  That’s good to know! So you’re doing “Dances in the Canebrakes” in Memphis?

CHEN:  We just did it in January.  And I will be doing it also with the Chicago Sinfonietta coming up in June.  And they’re such delightful pieces, and really orchestrated well, but nobody knows!  We’re also trying to spread the word to other orchestras. It might be wonderful for people to consider programming it.

LC:  I know you did some Florence Price in San Diego because I sold a lot of CDs there [The Women’s Philharmonic CDs that we sell on our website]. 

CHEN:  Oh, wonderful!  Yes, I did Mississippi River in San Diego in February this year.  I’m scared to do anything for the first time in front of the Chicago Symphony.  And so it was actually a wonderful thing that San Diego had this response when I pitched it, they said “Sure, why don’t we do it here!”  And I have to tell you the librarian there, Courtney [Cohen] was so wonderful because she compiled a 10-page errata list for the piece.  You might be able to help us to solve this mystery, because it’s been recorded by The Women’s Philharmonic, so there must be a good set somewhere where all the wrong notes were caught…because the recording has the correct pitches compared to the many misprints in the parts she received for the San Diego program.   Courtney said she couldn’t find that set used by the recording used for the recording, so she actually had to start from a brand new set.  But the wonderful thing is this 10-page errata list compiled by Courtney will go on to the Chicago Symphony for my next performances in May and to Memphis as well; it will save a lot of rehearsal time for both—and future—orchestras.

LC: The thing about The Women’s Philharmonic, when they shut down in 2004, there’s been a dispersal of their collection and their knowledge.

CHEN:  I see.  Hopefully now the piece can become mainstream and at least we have done a lot of the footwork, the hard work for it, that will make it easier for other orchestras to do it now.

LC:  Just on another subject, I know that you’re traveling so much and you go back and forth between Chicago and Memphis?

CHEN: Right. Because I’m Music Director to both Memphis Symphony and the Chicago Sinfonietta, (the latter being the most diverse orchestra in the country, founded to promote minority musicians of all kinds).  The Chicago Sinfonietta is unique with its mission.  Soloists, conductor, musicians…and it was very specific when Maestro [Paul] Freeman founded it, to promote African-American musicians and Latino musicians, so my appointment as Maestro Freeman’s successor surprised a lot of people.   However, being in such a diverse world, it’s a goal for us to embrace  more of a global diversity.  But I think Maestro Freeman has also been promoting women composers and so it’s neat that even though Florence Price was probably not a composer whose music he had come in contact with, it fits nicely in terms of in my Chicago Symphony debut that I’m able to champion for an African-American woman composer.

LC:  Great.  Wonderful.  So are both cities home for you now? 

CHEN:  Yes, Memphis is larger in budget size and so the longer season requires more of my residency.  I spend 18 weeks in Memphis, and 12 of the 18 are conducting weeks.  Now, in Chicago I spend eight to ten weeks a year and I consider myself also a Chicagoan.  Our Sinfonietta season is a lot smaller in size.  I conduct four concerts with the Chicago Sinfonietta, but there are other projects.  For example we have a program called Project Inclusion, which is about to really gain national recognition from major foundations. It’s probably the only program that creates opportunity not only in small ensembles but also in side-by-side opportunity for music students who haven’t yet garnered enough experience to land a professional position in either an orchestra or a teaching position.

And so it’s really a small orchestra, but with mighty impact in the industry.  For example, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, which is quite well known, serves the Chicago Millennium Park with free concerts in the summer. We are going to begin a partnership as part of our Project Inclusion; participants will be playing side-by-side with their professional musicians this upcoming summer season.   And so we are hoping to use my professional network, and our wonderful Executive Director Jim Hirsch’s professional network, to pitch a similar concept to other professional orchestras to encourage more presence of minority musicians among the symphonic world in our country, and to also encourage those …who don’t really grow up with classical music—it’s so important that they get exposed to it as much as possible.

LC:  That’s fantastic! 

CHEN:  And I hope you will include “Dances in the Canebrakes” on your blog because they’re really delightful pieces.  There’s a recording of the piano version but there is no commercial recording yet available of the orchestra version.  My first commercial disc is coming out very soon, featuring the Harlem Quartet [and the Chicago Sinfonietta], with one world premiere and pieces that are out of print.  I already told Jim Hirsch my hope for the next recording project: to include Florence Price, at least the “Dances in the Canebrakes” for sure.

LC:  Oh great, fantastic.  Excellent!  I’ll look forward to that and thank you so much again. 

CHEN:  Thank you for all you’re doing to advocate for women composers!

[And thanks to Susan Brown for her help in transcribing this interview.]

The Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein enthuses that “Chen clearly believes in the musical merits of ‘Mississippi River,’ and she succeeded in transferring her admiration to the orchestra”—and the audiences as well!  Dating from 1934, ” the suite is attractive, tuneful, nostalgic, cannily scored, direct of expression,”  and and example of   “unabashed populism.”   “Is a Florence Price renaissance upon us?”  asks von Rheim.  Clearly the answer is “yes,” if we follow Chen’s activities—she led the San Diego Symphony in the Mississippi River Suite in February, and will bring the work to her Memphis Symphony next weekend.  She already performed Price’s “Dances in the Canebreaks” (as orchestrated by Price’s friend William Grant Still) in January in Memphis, and will bring it to the Chicago Sinfonietta on June 1.

Describing the Mississippi River Suite, Wynne Delacoma  (writing in the Chicago Classical Review) was moved to write in detail:

 In the last movement, solo instruments came and went like musicians heard on a nearby shore, a moody trumpet or glowing horn or ardent cello playing snatches of such spirituals as Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen and Go Down, Moses. Spiced with bits from popular songs of the 1900s, the musical layers came together in a jaunty mashup. But in the closing bars the river once again smoothed out into a gently flowing undercurrent and the call of a lonely harp.  …  The concert was an auspicious CSO subscription concert debut for Chen … With luck, we’ll see her again on the CSO podium.

And with luck, more ensembles will be bringing Florence Price’s music to life!
 

On Sunday, April 14, 2013, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, along with members of the Long Island University Post Chorus, gave the New York premiere of Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D Major.  The 150+ voices of the choruses were joined by a 55-piece orchestra and vocal soloists Felicia Moore, soprano; Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; Eric Barry, tenor and Matthew Treviño, bass.  The performance was led by Mark Shapiro, music director & conductor of both choruses and, as befits the worth and importance of Smyth’s Mass, it was given a superb performance by the collected forces at Carnegie Hall.

I was unfamiliar with this Mass prior to hearing this performance, and had no idea that it is such an outstanding piece of music.  From the opening Kyrie I was struck by the power of the music, and as the work unfolded I was also struck by the highly imaginative use of the choral forces, orchestral forces and solo voices.  In addition to the sections for full chorus and orchestra there were sections of music so transparent and intimate (and used so few musicians) that they could only be described as chamber music.

Indeed, in the Credo which followed the Kyrie solo tenor Eric Barry was accompanied by solo violin (concertmistress Deborah Wong), and later in the same movement solo soprano Felicia Moore was also accompanied by solo violin.  Then, in the Crucifixus section of the Credo the tutti forces were once again employed, but were then followed by a section employing a string quartet accompanying the voices.  As we approached the end of the movement tutti forces were once again used for the fugal “Et vitam venturi seculi”  and the movement then ended with a magnificent Amen – magnificently written and magnificently performed.

It was at the end of this Credo movement, however, that I started to realize what a major work the Smyth Mass is; for not only is it an outstanding piece of music, but at approximately 16 minutes in length, the Credo movement alone is as long (or longer) than some of the complete Mozart Missa Breve.

Another imaginative and highly effective movement was the Benedictus, with its muted strings accompanying the women’s voices of the chorus and solo soprano Felicia Moore.

The Benedictus was followed by an Agnus Dei set in minor.  One was first struck by the pathos which Smyth evoked with her move to minor, but as the movement progressed the music became increasingly dramatic.  Indeed, Eric Barry’s soaring tenor voice was gripping in its intensity of expression as he gave an inspired evocation of the pathos and drama of this movement.

As befits the Anglican liturgy, the final movement of this Mass is a Gloria—and what a glorious Gloria it is.  This multi-section movement is also approximately 16 minutes in length, with its various sections contrasting in tempi, orchestration, meter and employment of vocal forces.  Smyth herself said that the movement proceeds through “splendid outbursts.”  One of those “splendid outbursts” undoubtedly has to be the “Quoniam tu solus Sanctus” which I noted during the performance with a simple “FABULOUS”—fabulously written and executed by the performers.

And as befits an outstanding setting of a Mass, this work closes with a grand Amen that was given a superb performance.

In closing, BRAVO! to conductor Mark Shapiro and the Cecilia Chorus for programming Smyth’s Mass, and all the work so many people must have done to assure that it was given a New York premiere worthy of its outstanding merits.  Shapiro is also to be lauded for the excellent preparation of the choral forces and the inspired performance he gave of this work—a work he obviously believes in very deeply.  He and the performers with whom he worked certainly convinced me of its great merits.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

An internationally lauded conductor, Laurine Celeste Fox is Music Director/Conductor of Philharmonia New York and also is widely known for her musical scholarship, which has resulted in the discovery of a number of forgotten works that she and her ensembles have premiered.
 

Smyth, in her period of study in Leipzig, was introduced to Brahms and Clara Schumann, and became very friendly with Grieg and his wife.  But a focal point of Wood’s presentation was the role of Tchaikovsky.  He not only praised her chamber works (in particular the Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7), but also he emphatically urged her to turn to writing for orchestra, so that the grand scope of her musical vision could be better realized.  “Listen to the voices of people in intelligent conversation,” he urged her, “to engage with the nuances of tone color and articulation.”  Smyth took him very seriously, and threw herself into the study of orchestration, by following that unorthodox advice, and also by the more time-honored practice of attending symphonic concerts and turning her ear to the use of the orchestra.

Ethel Smyth

Another central issue in Wood’s presentation was Smyth’s turning to religion, in the face of personal crisis.  Smyth was overwhelmed by confusion after she was rejected by a lover, and consequentially also lost  her artistic supports and mainstays—the circle who had previously encouraged and nurtured her during her study in Leipzig.   To understand the intersecting love triangles/quadrangles one would surely need some kind of chart.   Then her emotional upheaval continued as she experienced death—of her mother, and then of the love interest who had spurned her.  The turmoil left her reeling and confused.  She turned to religion and the Mass is the result.  “That’s the answer,” she wrote to a friend, with a sense of revelation, “Angus dei, qui tollis pecata mundi, dona nobis pacem.”    After writing the Mass— and its successful premiere in 1893—Smyth returned to her secular belief system and wrote no more religious music.

Concerning her placing of the Gloria movement last, this allowed her to have a conclusion that was jubilant and triumphant.  It was also is (as Wood pointed out) a feature of the Anglican liturgy.

Chatting with the Cecilia Chorus’ music director Mark Shapiro, after Prof. Wood’s presentation, he was eager to express his enthusiasm and commitment to the work.  It will be his second time to conducting it—he led the Monmouth Civic Chorus (New Jersey) in it just over 20 years ago (celebrating the centennial of its premiere), and he is thrilled to have this opportunity to bring a new level of insight and experience to this piece, which he sees as a profound expression of the human soul.   Some of the chorus members (who were excited to be able to attend the talk and learn more about Smyth) also commented on how impressed they were with the Mass, and how happy they are to bring this great work it to New York and Carnegie Hall. 

In short—looks like it’s the place to be on April 14, tickets available here!
 

Thus we applaud with great eagerness that the Cecilia Chorus of New York City will perform Smyth’s monumental Mass in D Major on April 14, in Carnegie Hall. Also, on Tuesday, April 2, there will be a lecture by the distinguished scholar Elizabeth Wood.

More information is found here

Mark Shapiro, the Conductor of the  Cecilia Chorus of New York, feels that it is an outrage that “Mass in D” has never been performed in New York.  After its premiere in 1893, none other than  George Bernard Shaw wrote to the composer “Your Mass will stand up in the biggest company! Magnificent!”

Shaw also observed  “It was your music that cured me forever of the old delusion that women could not do man’s work in art and all other things.”  Yet the persistence of that “delusion” can be observed in the endless struggle that Smyth faced to get her works performed, even after complete successes, such as the premiere of the Mass.

Smyth, after all, wrote six operas, as well as a wide range of orchestral and vocal works, chamber music and solo pieces.  Many of them have been recorded, yet, they remain too little known — and some completely unknown.  We hope this high profile performance of the Mass will do much to bring this piece, and others, more recognition.

The Waltham (MA) Philharmonic is performing Beach’s Gaelic Symphony on Saturday night. Info here.

Her Mass (1890) is being performed in Saratoga Springs, NY, by the Burnt Hills Oratorio Society on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.   A lecture with music performed at the piano, by Virginia Eskin, precedes the performance.  More info and tickets here.

Major orchestras, where are you??  This is music that people want to hear!!

Hosted by former Morehouse professor of music Terrance McKnight, the program is chock-a-block with excerpts of Price’s symphonic compositions, as well as her songs and works for piano and organ. It also includes an archived interview with student, friend and fellow composer Margaret Bonds.

Even Amy Beach is mentioned, albeit in the not-so-flattering context of discouraging Dvorak’s and others’ suggestions that African-American music would become the basis for an “American school of composition.”  Beach countered that Americans should focus instead on the music of their Irish and Scottish ancestors.

Dvorak’s prediction would seem to have prevailed when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuted Price’s prize-winning Symphony in E Minor, which contained melodies and dance rhythms found in Afro-American folk music, at the 1933 World’s Fair. The Price of Admission masterfully re-creates the rising sense of anticipation leading up to the climactic sold-out performance, which was attended by the likes of George Gershwin and Adlai Stevenson, and praised by President Roosevelt.

Price became the toast of the town, a figure of national renown in both black and white cultures whose “trajectory as a composer seemed promising.” Achieving this milestone only makes more poignant a letter she would later pen to the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1943. Having seen her publishing and performance opportunities dwindle in the intervening ten years, she wrote:

“I am a woman, and I have Negro blood in my veins. Now that you know the worst—will you be so kind as to look at a score of mine?”

Bonds, who died in 1972, would have celebrated her 100th birthday on Sunday, March 3. The story recognized her work, music, and collaborations (like with poet Langston Hughes and soprano Leontyne Price), and highlighted that Bonds was one of the most recognized female African-American classical composers of her time. And, like too many other women, her work is little-known today.

Among her accomplishments was being the first African American to perform with the Chicago Symphony (as a solo pianist during her senior year of college, no less!) She was also a student of Florence Price, who helped pave the way for women and African Americans in the classical music scene.

Last weekend a symposium was held in honor and memory of Margaret Bonds at the University of North Carolina. It was co-hosted by UNC and Videmus, a non-profit organization “committed to educational and collaborative projects on the repertoire of African Americans, women, and under-represented composers through the promotion and production of recordings, concerts, and other programs.”

Kudos to UNC and Videmus to what appears to be a fantastic weekend of shared music remembering the work of Bonds.

Be sure to listen to the whole story archived on NPR’s website which includes excellent examples of Bond’s work. But the most poignant part of the conversation happened at the very end:

HEADLEE: Describe for me that moment when you were 10 years old and your piano teacher sets a piece of music before you that’s not Bach and is not Mozart and wasn’t written by somebody from long ago or who looks nothing like you but was another dark-skinned American woman. What was that like?

TOPPIN: The fact that I can remember, it tells you the impact that it had on me. I was floored. It set me on the path to find out more about Margaret Bonds, believe it or not, as a child. So that pride and that interest in her started my path of looking for more of her stuff but also looking for women composers and recognizing that they are a rare commodity, but they have a voice in our musical culture and musical life. And she made very strong statements with the music that she wrote.

And isn’t that the point of it all? Shouldn’t more students be exposed to music as varied and diverse as they are? Though the “great masters” will always have a place in the repertoire, we cannot begin to measure the tremendous and positive impact of a young student having the opportunity to learn about and perform the works of a composer that they can relate to on a personal level. Insisting that students only learn the music of dead, white men just continues the false notion that the only “good” music was written by dead, white men.

Here is Bond’s “You Can Tell The World”: