{"id":7012,"date":"2022-11-14T15:52:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T21:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=7012"},"modified":"2022-11-14T15:52:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T21:52:59","slug":"hate-mail-to-koussevitzky-making-the-canon-a-home-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2022\/11\/14\/hate-mail-to-koussevitzky-making-the-canon-a-home-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate Mail to Koussevitzky: Making the Canon a Home for All"},"content":{"rendered":"

During her lifetime, the work of Florence Price, a Black woman composer, was often not performed on account of both her gender and race. She struggled to find conductors and musicians who would perform her work and recognize its merits. For instance, beginning in 1935 Price wrote a handful of letters to Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, urging him to examine some of her scores with the hopes of having them performed. Clearly aware of her positionality within the classical music sphere as a woman of color, Price implores Koussevitzky to judge her musical works on \u201cmerit alone\u201d (Brown, xxxv). While Koussevitzky never replied to Price\u2019s letters, others in the industry did identify Price\u2019s musical excellence. In 1932, Price\u2019s Symphony in E minor won first prize in the Wanamaker Music Contest. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Frederick Stock, performed the Symphony in E minor 1933. Price\u2019s work thus became the first symphony composed by a Black woman to be performed by a major American orchestra. By examining the attitudes and motivations that were behind Frederick Stock and Serge Kousevitzky\u2019s differing responses toward Price and her music, audiences and artists of today can recognize the how the reimagination of the canon is an ever-evolving process that has been occurring for many years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is clear from Koussevitzky\u2019s lack of action and Stock\u2019s decision to program and perform Price\u2019s piece that these two leaders in the classical music world had differing ideas and opinions regarding what music should shape the musical world of the time. We know that Stock had a great interest in performing \u2018American\u2019 music, and he likely saw Price\u2019s work as an example of such repertoire. His interest in Price\u2019s work can even be seen in Price\u2019s own diary entries, as he asks her what she is working on and even helps her to premiere a piano concerto with him and his orchestra. Koussevitzky\u2019s lack of action towards Price makes it challenging to understand his motivations or musical values, but we do know that he was interested in the creation and performance of new works through his founding of the Koussevitzky Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Florence Price\u2019s unfortunate experience as a case study, we can recognize how difficult it is for composers, especially historically underrepresented composers, to break into the classical music sphere. It is even more challenging for their work to become a part of the canon, or to see themselves in the canon which major performing arts organizations uphold today. But Price\u2019s story offers musicians and composers a great deal of hope. As disheartening as this history is, it shows that there is a desire to open up the classical music world to new works and ideas from those who have historically been pushed to the border of this genre. The work of reimagining the canon continues, and this process of rediscovery leads towards a musical environment which prioritizes representation and equity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bibliography:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Serge Koussevitzky”. <\/span>Encyclopedia Britannica<\/span><\/i>, 22 Jul. 2022, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Serge-Koussevitzky. Accessed 14 November 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brown, Rae Linda. \u201cBlack Satin Clothes at the Fair.\u201d <\/span>The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence Price, <\/span><\/i>edited by Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr, University of Illinois Press, 2020, pp. 108-117.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brown, Rae Linda. \u201cThe Women\u2019s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago and Florence B. Price\u2019s Piano Concerto in One Movement.\u201d <\/span>American Music, <\/span><\/i>vol. 11, no. 2, 1993, <\/span>https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3052554?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents<\/span><\/a>. Accessed 14 November 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Epstein, Dena J. \u201cFrederick Stock and American Music.\u201d <\/span>American Music, <\/span><\/i>vol. 10, no. 1, 1992, <\/span>https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3052142?sid=primo#metadata_info_tab_contents<\/span><\/a>. Accessed 14 November 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Price, Florence et al. “Lifting the Veil: The Symphonies of Florence B. Price.” <\/span>Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3. <\/span><\/i>Middleton, WI, A-R Editions, Inc. 2008.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ros, Alex. \u201cThe Rediscovery of Florence Price.\u201d <\/span>The New Yorker<\/span><\/i>, 29 January 2018, <\/span>https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2018\/02\/05\/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price<\/span><\/a>. Accessed 14 November 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During her lifetime, the work of Florence Price, a Black woman composer, was often not performed on account of both her gender and race. She struggled to find conductors and musicians who would perform her work and recognize its merits. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-1P6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7013,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012\/revisions\/7013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}