Tag Archives: violin

The Unwritten History of Peter M Slocum, American Luthier

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The history of making stringed instruments is a long and well documented one. However, if you look closer you will see that there seem to be a few gaps. This week as I was doing my research I came across a few summaries from the April 11, 1828 edition of Freedom’s Journal. One of which discusses a man named Peter M. Slocum and describes him as a man who had an ingenious method of crafting string instruments, even saying that his method made the instruments sound better than those from Cremona, Italy (this is in reference to the violins of Stradivari, Amati, Guarneri, etc).

The summary in question

As this is such a hefty claim, it immediately piqued my interest. Much to my dismay, there was almost nothing to be found. I began to wonder if this man ever existed. A quick visit to Google did show one result: that there is documentation of one of his violins. It’s quite interesting looking, with almost no edges and shaped more like a guitar than a traditional violin.

One of Slocum’s violins, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Since I had half determined that this was an actual person, I decided to continue on. An extensive search in the Afro-Americana Imprints from the Library Company of Philadelphia database proved to be no help as almost all mentions of the violin were parts of stories such as Swallow Barn by JP Kennedy, where the author is either writing about someone playing violin, using it to describe a certain sound, or other various uses. I then traipsed over to Google Scholar in hope of finding something. I got one result, which was from a dissertation on American Violin making by Sarah Gilbert Pickett, a student at Florida State University. She mentions Slocum and even gives his dates and a footnote. As I excitedly check the footnote I am left in despair as I click the link and am sent to an error, as the page does not exist anymore. Furthermore, the footnote was from the website of the Boston Fine Arts museum and would have simply been about the guitar shaped violin of his they had on exhibit. Pickett describes him as a “particularly interesting” violin maker but offers no solid proof that she has any information about him other than his interesting looking violin.

Drawing depicting the act of violin making

I have now been left with more questions than answers. Could it be due to his race or some other aspect about himself that there is such little information? Since I was unable to find out anything in that regard, I do not know. How does someone who has left entire instruments behind have almost no actual documentation? Could this possibly be a pen name someone was operating under? What can we do to uncover these lost histories and is there any way that can even happen?

Works Referenced:

Guitar-shaped violin – works – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/51310.

Kennedy, John Pendleton. Swallow barn, or A sojourn in the Old Dominion. By J.P. Kennedy. New York City: George P. Putnam, 1851. Readex: Afro-Americana Imprints from the Library Company of Philadelphia. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=AFAMER&docref=image/v2%3A13D59FCC0F7F54B8%40EAIX-147E02C84431E210%40-14BA4E5019A86BA0%4023.

Pickett, Sarah Gilbert. “Tradition and Innovation in American Violin Making.” Order No. 28320843, The Florida State University, 2021, https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/tradition-innovation-american-violin-making/docview/2547053260/se-2 (accessed October 11, 2024).

“Summary.” Freedom’s Journal (New York, New York), April 11, 1828: 5. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?http://p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A132FB88A16969E1C%40EANAAA-132FC8D8C1791728%402388824-132FC3AB84B04D58%404-1389CB5BB343DEC0%40Summary.

Eddie South, before de-segregation

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Classically trained in violin performance, Eddie South was born in 1904 in Louisiana.

Portrait of Eddie South

South was an extremely talented classical violinist who studied in America and European cities such as Paris and Budapest 1. When South returned home to Chicago, IL, he was met with the segregation of the thirties. This forced  South to transfer his classical skills over to jazz. This conversion allowed him to form his own band 2; during his playing, he utilized melodies, which he developed from his time spent around Romani People. This skill of interpreting several different styles of music is what stands out in several recordings of his spreads from Europe to Cuban music from his tours in the southern states of the USA 3. This style of music is what cemented South as one of the most prominent jazz violinists of his time. These achievements, however, were not without criticism; due to his classical upbringing, jazz critics found his music to be “formal” and to lack swing 2. Because of segregation, which lasted until the sixties, the South was not able to join any orchestras because the spots on them were reserved for white male players. Jazz was the only sector of music where African Americans were semi-respected for their playing ability and musicianship.

Through time, there has slowly been more diversity being gained in the orchestra as more diverse ensembles are assembled. However, African Americans are still largely not represented properly within the orchestra 4. Diversity is something classical music has been struggling with since its formalization hundreds of years ago. The diversification of the music has helped spread the music to several different cultures; however, it has not been picked up yet in mainstream music compared to the “cannon.”

Citations:

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. “Eddie South’s Alabamians,” accessed September 27, 2023, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/112577.

Gottlieb, William P. Portrait of Eddie South, Café Society (Uptown), New York, N.Y., Ca. Dec. 1946. 1946. Photograph. December 1, 1946. https://loc.gov/item/gottlieb.08001 (Accessed September 27, 2023)

1 “Eddie South, Jazz Violinist Born.” African American Regestry. AAREG, https://aaregistry.org/story/eddie-south-a-jazz-violinist-trailblzer/. (Accessed September 27, 2023)

2 “Eddie South.” All About Jazz. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/eddie-south April 18, 2008. (Accessed September 27, 2023)

3 Pelote. (2007). Eddie South and His International Orchestra: The Cheloni Broadcast Transcriptions — Recorded in Hollywood, 1933. ARSC Journal., 38(2), 294–295. https://bridge.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=01BRC_INST&vid=01BRC_INST:SOC&atitle=Eddie%20South%20and%20His%20International%20Orchestra:%20The%20Cheloni%20Broadcast%20Transcriptions%20–%20Recorded%20in%20Hollywood,%201933.&aulast=Pelote,%20Vincent&volume=38&issue=2&spage=294&pages=294-295&issn=21514402&title=ARSC%20Journal&sid=EBSCO:Music%20Index:27801770&genre=article&date=20070901 (Accessed September 27, 2023)

4 “Anti-Black Discrimination in American Orchestras.” League of American Orchestras. https://americanorchestras.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Anti-Black-Discrimination-in-American-Orchestras.pdf. (Accessed September 27, 2023)

 

The Life of John Curtis

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This week I found a newspaper article, listed as being released in 1829, advertising a concert to be performed in New York City. Not only does it advertise as was expected, it outlines the life story of the leading musician, a story that shed some light on the experience of a free Black man in the time of slavery who also happens to be a touring violinist accompanied by his adolescent children. They are also touring violinists.

Link to the original document: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&t=articletype%3A10%21News%2BArticle&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=concert&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=&docref=image/v2%3A132FB88A16969E1C%40EANAAA-132FC901F5179168%402389126-132FC8170D4A6B88%402-1389CBB8E38687B3%40Original%2BCommunication&firsthit=yes

The article describes the experience of Curtis from being blinding by his wife’s slaver, to purchasing his kids from bondage with money he earned performing music, to finally teaching them how to play violin as well. At first I was surprised at the sympathetic tone this article sported while telling the story, then remembered that the article is from an African American publication, one that would likely empathize quite a bit more than their white counterparts with the plight of a struggling black man. 

There isn’t much to be said about John Curtis. A pointed google search of the violinist followed by the publication year and the publication’s location in New York showed me very little. As the article very concisely summarizes the artist’s life up to the point of the concert, it reveals the concert’s exact location. It’s then that I searched up Laurent street, the street where John Curtis and his two children played the violin, and found that it was once referred to as “Rotten Row”, by a less than scholarly blog from 2011. 

Check it out: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&t=articletype%3A10%21News%2BArticle&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=concert&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=&docref=image/v2%3A132FB88A16969E1C%40EANAAA-132FC901F5179168%402389126-132FC8170D4A6B88%402-1389CBB8E38687B3%40Original%2BCommunication&firsthit=yes

While the source had some less than charitable things to say about the Laurent street that once was, it is very clear that John Curtis’ conditions for performance were less than ideal. Not only was he, a blind, black man in the time of slavery, a working musician. He was touring with two children, both taught in the art of the violin, both taught by a father who had never laid eyes on them. The opportunities for performance were, as we’ve studied, events for slavers and for run down concert halls in poor neighborhoods. 

With all our conversations about the origins of “American Music” and defining the term for ourselves, our conversations cannot understate the importance of black music to the overall scope of American music, undefined as it may be. Performers like John Curtis, and the stories that they leave behind, will likely go unstudied and their personal stamp on the world of classical music, in particular, will likely remain undiscovered. The tragedy of music history is the lack of information available to further recognize this man’s contribution to the world of music. 

(There isn’t much to say, I just wish that there was a movie about this guy)