The female ensemble Her Tyme 20XX celebrates rediscovered Black composer Florence Price with a concert during Black History Month.
The Arkansas native was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, then moved to Chicago and contributed to the Chicago Black Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s. She was also the first Black woman recognized as a symphonic composer and the first to have her compositions played by a major orchestra.
But after her death in 1953, most of her work disappeared.
Then, in 2009 "… a house was being demolished and it had some of her papers and works inside and the new residents discovered this and had the presence of mind to alert important music professionals about this discovery.”
Her Tyme 20XX's Director Rosaria Macera says Price composed more than 300 works, including four symphonies and four concertos.
The female ensemble Her Tyme 20XX recalls the popular “lady orchestras” of over a century ago.
As professional orchestras developed in the United States during the 1800s, men were the exclusive players.
According to Macera, in 1871, the Austrian women’s ensemble the Vienna Damen Orchestra toured the US.
"…and that gave women the idea to start their own orchestras, because they were prohibited from performing with men and professionally, so all the professionals were men."
“Florence Price – Snapshots of My Soul” is Sunday, February 18th at the Newark United Methodist Church.
The event also serves to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
