"Clearly, Florence Price's story is far from over."

January 21, 2019 7:44 PM

In 1933, Florence Price became the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major orchestra. Price died in 1953, and while much of her work was lost over the years, her legacy was not forgotten. Good fortune struck in 2009, when nearly 30 boxes of her manuscripts and papers--including dozens of scores thought to be long gone--were found, as The New Yorker reports. NPR's All Things Considered explores Price's music, which is described as a blend of African-American and European styles, including musical allusions to Dvořák, African folk traditions, and spirituals. Composer Jordan Randall Smith offers an excellent roundup, and cautions against the use of the term "rediscovered." (Previously on Metafilter: Violin videos: Women playing music written by women)
posted by duffell (5 comments total)

Looks like a few things on imslp, but not her major works it seems.
posted by Ansible at 9:01 PM on January 21, 2019

She was covered on the excellent Sticky Notes podcast last year too!
posted by silby at 9:27 PM on January 21, 2019

I wish I had known about Price when I had to assemble a program on "forgotten women composers" for Women's History Month at work. I just heard that piece on NPR and thought her music sounded genuinely fresh and interesting.

[For the record, I played selections from Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Wanda Jackson, and Janis Ian. Before you judge me, understand that few of the people I work with had heard of *any* of them, much less "forgotten" them. After that presentation, Wanda Jackson came to town, and a colleague and I went and you gotta know, you gotta know, our love was the real thang.]
posted by acrasis at 8:04 AM on January 22, 2019

I'm enjoying Elijah Stevens plays Fantasie Negre by Florence Price right now.
posted by Nelson at 9:23 AM on January 22, 2019

Thank you for this! I'm looking forward to listening to some of her work.
posted by LeftMyHeartInSanFrancisco at 2:18 AM on January 24, 2019