Throughout my years of classical music training, I’ve come across many great composers, but Florence Price was not one of them. I only found out about this genius composer in my final year at the University of Toronto. I soon began to learn as much as I could about Price and her musical works. I discovered that she was a pianist, organist, teacher, and composer extraordinaire who lived from the late-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. I was particularly struck by the beauty of the second movement of her Sonata in E Minor, and I have since had the joy of performing this work on multiple occasions for equity-focused organizations. Beautiful as it is, her music is a reflection of the times.
As a Black woman in classical music, Florence Beatrice Smith Price overcame significant racial and gender barriers, paving the way for African American women composers. In Little Rock, Arkansas, where she grew up, Jim Crow laws and political disenfranchisement of Black people were widespread. After experiencing various forms of discrimination in the Deep South, she moved to the North, first to New England to study music, then to Chicago where she undertook teaching posts at different universities. While racial discrimination was not as pervasive in northern cities, gender discrimination knew no bounds.
She was a very shy and reserved person. This was regarded as a feminine quality, and one that could not possibly lend well to a career as a composer, which was seen as an exclusively male profession. While performing at different venues in Chicago, Price built networks of support among women musicians, such as the Musicians Club of Women, affirming her presence as a female composer in a male dominated space and defying rigid gender expectations. Later in life, she ended an abusive marriage with a very successful attorney and raised her children as a single mother, instilling the values of independence and strength in her two girls.
It is important to note that Price belonged to the Black elite. She was highly educated, surrounded by a circle of other Black professionals and intellectuals, and she had a fair skin complexion. These characteristics appealed to white society. Her identity as a Black woman nevertheless hindered her professional opportunities, especially when they mattered most. Looking to advance her position as a composer, Price wrote several letters to Serge Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, spanning nine years (1935-1944) to have her Symphony No. 3 in C Minor performed. Leaving behind her timid personality, she gradually became more insistent that her request be heeded. Although her third symphony showed many signs of a mature composer who was now weaving the story of Black life and psychology into a complex musical architecture, Koussevitsky ultimately refused to premiere the piece. This decision was likely predicated on Price’s double-edged identity as a woman and a Black person.
Turning to Price’s music, most of her compositions are in the European classical tradition with significant African American influences and a hint of American nationalism. She was also the first Black woman to have her symphony performed by a major orchestra. In addition to her Symphony No. 1 in E Minor which was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in June 1933, she received the top prize for the 1932 Wanamaker Competition for her Sonata in E Minor.
The first movement of the sonata opens with a dramatic introduction and moves to a lyrically dense spiritual theme which escapes to a lighter, more serene theme. The second movement has a rather conservative musical form with a rich textural substance. The main theme is an original African American folk melody which repeats in variations throughout the music. The third movement features the Juba, a Black folk dance in the antebellum south. The piece is punctuated by a dramatic close. Overall, the music has elements of jazz with its syncopated rhythms and inventive harmonies. The levels of nuance in the piece keep me coming back for more!
Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement is another piece to look out for. The work was performed in October 1934 by the Woman’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago at the Century of Progress Exhibition with Margaret Bonds, another esteemed Black woman pianist, as the soloist. This work is unique because its content suggests its own form. This also explains why it is longer than many of her other works. The concerto represents a shift away from conventional procedures and toward a new style that is fully her own. She embraces African American musical forms such as spirituals and call-and-response in which one musical voice carries the main melody (the “call”) and the other replies with a secondary melody (the “response”).
Despite widespread misconceptions of race and gender, Price used the art of composition to express herself authentically and free herself from the limiting discourses of the day. She carved out a space for herself in a field that denied her humanity. Today, her legacy remains alive.
Most of the information in this post comes from the wonderful biography on Florence Price, The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price by Rae Linda Brown. Price also composed a piece of the same name for piano and voice. The imagery of a caged bird that the music evokes reflects Price’s struggle to have her voice heard and respected in classical music.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned!