Marian Anderson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Anderson in 1940 | |
| Born | (1897-02-27)February 27, 1897 |
| Died | April 8, 1993(1993-04-08) (aged 96) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Occupation | Operaticcontralto |
Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)[1] was an Americancontralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera tospirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965.
Anderson was an important figure in the struggle for African American artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, during the period ofracial segregation, theDaughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience inConstitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The incident placed Anderson in the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of First LadyEleanor Roosevelt and her husband, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert onEaster Sunday, April 9, 1939, on theLincoln Memorial steps in the capital. The event was featured in adocumentary film,Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert. She sang before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.
On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African American singer to perform at theMetropolitan Opera. In addition, she worked as a delegate to theUnited Nations Human Rights Committee[2] and as a Goodwill Ambassador for theUnited States Department of State, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in thecivil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Anderson was awarded the firstPresidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, theCongressional Gold Medal in 1977, theKennedy Center Honors in 1978, theNational Medal of Arts in 1986, and aGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.
Marian Anderson was born inPhiladelphia on February 27, 1897, to John Berkley Anderson and Annie Delilah Rucker.[3] Her father sold ice and coal at theReading Terminal in downtown Philadelphia and eventually also sold liquor. Before her marriage, Anderson's mother was briefly a student at theVirginia Seminary and College inLynchburg, and worked as a schoolteacher in Virginia. As she did not obtain a degree, Annie Anderson was unable to teach in Philadelphia under a law that was applied only to black teachers and not white ones.[4] She therefore earned an income caring for small children. Marian was the eldest of the three Anderson children. Her two sisters, Alyse (1899–1965) and Ethel (1902–90), also became singers. Ethel married James DePreist and their sonJames Anderson DePreist was a noted conductor.[5]
Anderson's parents were both devout Christians and the whole family was active in the Union Baptist Church, which, during her youth, stood in a building constructed by the congregation in 1889 at 709 S. 12th Street inSouth Philadelphia.[6] Marian's aunt Mary, her father's sister, was particularly active in the church's musical life and convinced her niece to join the junior church choir at the age of six. In that role, she got to perform solos and duets, often with her aunt. Aunt Mary took Marian to concerts at local churches, the YMCA, benefit concerts, and other community music events throughout the city. Anderson credited her aunt's influence as the reason she pursued her singing career.[7] Beginning as young as six, her aunt arranged for Marian to sing for local functions where she was often paid 25 or 50 cents for singing a few songs. As she got into her early teens, Marian began to make as much as four or five dollars for singing, a considerable sum for the early 20th century. At the age of 10, Marian joined the People's Chorus of Philadelphia under the direction of singerEmma Azalia Hackley, where she was often a soloist.[7][8]
When Anderson was 12, her father received a head injury while working at theReading Terminal before Christmas 1909. Soon afterwards, her father died following heart failure. He was 37 years old. Marian and her family moved into the home of her father's parents, Benjamin and Isabella Anderson. Her grandfather had been born a slave and was emancipated in the 1860s. He relocated to South Philadelphia, the first person in his family to do so. When Anderson moved into his home, the two became very close, but he died just a year after the family moved there.[5][8]
Anderson attendedStanton Grammar School, graduating in 1912. Although her family could not pay for any music lessons or high school, Anderson continued to perform wherever she could and learn from anyone willing to teach her. Throughout her teenage years, she remained active in her church's musical activities and was now involved heavily in the adult choir. She became a member of the Baptists' Young People's Union and theCamp Fire Girls, which provided her with some, though limited, musical opportunities.[7] Eventually, the People's Chorus of Philadelphia and the pastor of her church, Reverend Wesley Parks, along with other leaders of the black community, raised the money she needed to get singing lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson and to attendSouth Philadelphia High School, from which she graduated in 1921.[5][9]
Undaunted, Anderson pursued studies privately in her native city through the continued support of the Philadelphia black community, first with Agnes Reifsnyder, thenGiuseppe Boghetti. She met Boghetti through the principal of her high school. Anderson auditioned for him by singing "Deep River"; he was immediately brought to tears. Boghetti scheduled a recital of English, Russian, Italian and German music atThe Town Hall in New York City in April 1924; it took place in an almost empty hall and received poor reviews.[10]
In 1923 she made two recordings, "Deep River" and "My Way's Cloudy" for the Victor company.[11]
In 1925, Anderson got her first big break at a singing competition sponsored by theNew York Philharmonic. As the winner, she got to perform in concert with the orchestra on August 26, 1925,[12] a performance that scored immediate success with both the audience and music critics. Anderson continued her studies withFrank La Forge in New York. During this time,Arthur Judson became her manager. They met through the New York Philharmonic. Over the next several years, she made a number of concert appearances in the United States, but racial prejudice prevented her career from gaining momentum. Her first performance atCarnegie Hall was in 1928.[13]
During her fall 1929 concert schedule, Anderson sang atOrchestra Hall in Chicago, for which she received measured praise. Critic Herman Devries from theChicago Evening American wrote, "[Anderson] reached near perfection in every requirement of vocal art—the tone was of superb timbre, the phrasing of utmost refinement, the style pure, discreet, musicianly. But after this there was a letdown, and we took away the impression of a talent still unripe, but certainly a talent of potential growth."[14] In the audience were two representatives fromJulius Rosenwald's philanthropic organization, theRosenwald Fund. The organization's representatives,Ray Field and George Arthur, encouraged Anderson to apply for aRosenwald Fellowship, from which she received $1500 to study inBerlin.[15]
Anderson went to Europe, where she spent a number of months studying withSara Charles-Cahier andGeni Sadero[5] before launching a highly successful European singing tour.[13] In the summer of 1930, she went toScandinavia, where she met the Finnish pianistKosti Vehanen, who became her regular accompanist and her vocal coach for many years. She also metJean Sibelius through Vehanen after he had heard her in a concert inHelsinki. Moved by her performance, Sibelius invited them to his home and asked his wife to bring champagne in place of the traditional coffee. Sibelius complimented Anderson on her performance; he felt that she had been able to penetrate the Nordic soul. The two struck up an immediate friendship, which further blossomed into a professional partnership, and for many years Sibelius altered and composed songs for Anderson. He created a new arrangement of the song "Solitude" and dedicated it to Anderson in 1939. OriginallyThe Jewish Girl's Song from his 1906 incidental music toBelshazzar's Feast, it later became the "Solitude" section of the orchestral suite derived from the incidental music.[16][17]
In 1933, Anderson made her European debut in a concert atWigmore Hall in London, where she was received enthusiastically. In the first years of the 1930s, she toured Europe, where she did not encounter the prejudices she had experienced in America.[18] Anderson, accompanied by Vehanen, continued to tour throughout Europe during the mid-1930s. Before going back to Scandinavia, where fans had "Marian fever", she performed in Russia and the major cities of Eastern Europe.[19] She became a favorite of many conductors and composers of major European orchestras quickly.[20] During a 1935 tour inSalzburg, the conductorArturo Toscanini told her she had a voice "heard once in a hundred years."[21][22]
In 1934,impresarioSol Hurok offered Anderson a better contract than she had with Arthur Judson previously. He became her manager and persuaded her to return to America to perform.[23] In 1935, Anderson made her second recital appearance atThe Town Hall, New York City, which received highly favorable reviews from music critics.[24] She spent the next four years touring throughout the United States and Europe. She was offered opera roles by several European houses, but Anderson declined all of them due to her lack of acting experience. She did, however, record a number of arias in the studio, which became bestsellers.[20]
Anderson's accomplishments as a singer did not make her immune to theJim Crow laws in the 1930s. Although she gave approximately seventy recitals a year in the United States, Anderson was still turned away by some American hotels and restaurants. In the midst of this discrimination,Albert Einstein, a champion of racial tolerance, hosted Anderson on many occasions, the first being in 1937 when she was denied a hotel room while performing atPrinceton University.[25] Einstein's first hosting of Anderson became the subject of a play, "My Lord, What a Night", in 2021.[26] She last stayed with him months before he died in 1955.[27][28]
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 Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 |
In 1939,Sarah Corbin Robert, head of theDaughters of the American Revolution (DAR) denied permission to Anderson for a concert on April 9 atDAR Constitution Hall under a white performers-only policy in effect at the time.[29][30][31][32] In addition to the policy on performers, Washington, DC, was a segregated city, and Black patrons were upset that they would have to sit at the back ofConstitution Hall. Furthermore, Constitution Hall did not have the segregated public bathrooms then required by DC law for such events. Other DC venues were not an option: for example, theDistrict of Columbia Board of Education declined a request for the use of the auditorium ofCentral High School, a white public high school.[33]
The next day,Charles Edward Russell, a co-founder of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and chair of the DC citywide Inter-Racial Committee, held a meeting of the Marian Anderson Citizens Committee (MACC). This included theNational Negro Congress, theBrotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, theAmerican Federation of Labor, and the Washington Industrial Council-CIO, church leaders and activists in the city, and numerous other organizations. MACC electedCharles Hamilton Houston as its chairman and on February 20, the group picketed the Board of Education, collected signatures on petitions, and planned a mass protest at the next board meeting.[34]
In the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, includingFirst LadyEleanor Roosevelt, resigned from the organization.[35][1][36] Roosevelt wrote to the DAR: "I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist ... You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed."[37]
African American novelistZora Neale Hurston, however, criticized Roosevelt's failure to condemn the simultaneous decision of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, now theDistrict of Columbia State Board of Education, to exclude Anderson from singing at the segregated whiteCentral High School. Hurston declared "to jump the people responsible for racial bias would be to accuse and expose the accusers themselves. The District of Columbia has no home rule; it is controlled by congressional committees, and Congress at the time was overwhelmingly Democratic. It was controlled by the very people who were screaming so loudly against the DAR. To my way of thinking, both places should have been denounced, or neither."[38]
As the controversy grew, the American press overwhelmingly supported Anderson's right to sing. ThePhiladelphia Tribune wrote, "A group of tottering old ladies, who don't know the difference between patriotism and putridism, have compelled the gracious First Lady to apologize for their national rudeness." TheRichmond Times-Dispatch wrote, "In these days of racial intolerance so crudely expressed in the Third Reich, an action such as the D.A.R.'s ban ... seems all the more deplorable."[39] With the support of Eleanor Roosevelt,[40] President Roosevelt andWalter White, then-executive secretary of the NAACP, and Anderson's manager, Sol Hurok, persuadedSecretary of the InteriorHarold L. Ickes to arrange an open-air concert on the steps of theLincoln Memorial.[35] The concert was performed on Easter Sunday, April 9. Anderson was accompanied, as usual, by Vehanen. They began the performance with a dignified and stirring rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". The event attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 in addition to a national radio audience of millions.[41]
Two months later, in conjunction with the 30th NAACP conference inRichmond, Virginia, Eleanor Roosevelt gave a speech on national radio (NBC and CBS) and presented Anderson with the 1939Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement.[42] In 2001, adocumentary film of the concert was chosen for theNational Film Registry, and in 2008,NBC radio coverage of the event was selected for theNational Recording Registry.[1]
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| Anderson performing withDimitri Mitropoulos atLewisohn Stadium in 1952 |
DuringWorld War II and theKorean War, Anderson entertained troops in hospitals and at bases. In 1943, she sang at theConstitution Hall, having been invited by the DAR to perform before an integrated audience as part of a benefit for theAmerican Red Cross. She said of the event, "When I finally walked onto the stage of Constitution Hall, I felt no different than I had in other halls. There was no sense of triumph. I felt that it was a beautiful concert hall and I was very happy to sing there." In contrast, the District of Columbia Board of Education continued to bar her from using the high school auditorium in the District of Columbia.[1]
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On June 15, 1953, Anderson headlinedThe Ford 50th Anniversary Show, which was broadcast live from New York City on bothNBC andCBS. Midway through the program, she sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". She returned to close the program with her rendition of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". The program attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years after the broadcast, television criticTom Shales recalled the broadcast as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s".[43]
On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African American to sing with theMetropolitan Opera in New York. At the invitation of directorRudolf Bing, she sang the part of Ulrica inGiuseppe Verdi'sUn ballo in maschera (oppositeZinka Milanov, thenHerva Nelli, as Amelia).[44] Anderson later said about the evening, "The curtain rose on the second scene and I was there on stage, mixing the witch's brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot." Although she never appeared with the company again, Anderson was named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera company. The following year, her autobiography,My Lord, What a Morning, was published, and became a bestseller.[1]
In 1957, she sang for PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration,[45] and toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassador through the U.S. State Department and theAmerican National Theater and Academy. She traveled 35,000 miles (56,000 km) in 12 weeks, giving 24 concerts. After that, President Eisenhower appointed her a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The same year, she was elected Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[46] In 1958, she was officially designated a delegate to the United Nations, a formalization of her role as "goodwill ambassadress" of the U.S.[1]
On January 20, 1961, she sang for PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's inauguration, and in 1962 she performed for President Kennedy and other dignitaries in theEast Room of theWhite House and toured Australia.[47] She was active in supporting the civil rights movement during the 1960s. She performed benefit concerts in aid of theAmerica-Israel Cultural Foundation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and theCongress of Racial Equality. In 1963, she sang at theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. That same year, she received one of the newly reinstitutedPresidential Medal of Freedom, which is awarded for "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, World Peace or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." She also released an album,Snoopycat: The Adventures of Marian Anderson's Cat Snoopy, which included short stories and songs about her beloved black cat.[48] That same year, Anderson concluded her farewell tour, after which she retired from public performance. The international tour began at Constitution Hall on Saturday October 24, 1964, and ended on April 18, 1965, atCarnegie Hall.[1] In 1965, she christened the nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarineUSS George Washington Carver.[49]
Although Anderson retired from singing in 1965, she continued to appear publicly. She often narratedAaron Copland'sLincoln Portrait, with her nephewJames DePriest conducting.[50] In 1976, Copland conducted a performance with thePhiladelphia Orchestra atSaratoga.[51] Her achievements were recognized with many honors, including theUniversity of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit in 1973;[52] the United Nations Peace Prize, New York City'sHandel Medallion, and theCongressional Gold Medal, all in 1977;[53]Kennedy Center Honors in 1978; theGeorge Peabody Medal in 1981; theNational Medal of Arts in 1986; and aGrammy Award forLifetime Achievement in 1991. A half-ounce gold commemorative medal was embossed with her portrait by theUnited States Treasury Department in 1980. Four years later, she was the first person to be honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York.[1] She was awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees, byHoward University,Temple University,Smith College,Saint Mary's College and many other colleges and universities.[50][54]
On July 17, 1943, Anderson became the second wife of architect Orpheus H. "King" Fisher inBethel, Connecticut. Fisher had asked her to marry him when they were teenagers, but she declined at that time because she feared it would have forestalled her music career.[55] The wedding was a private ceremony performed by United Methodist pastor Rev. Jack Grenfell and was the subject of a short story titled "The 'Inside' Story", written by Rev. Grenfell's wife, Dr.Clarine Coffin Grenfell, in her bookWomen My Husband Married, including Marian Anderson.[21][56][57] According to Dr. Grenfell, the wedding was originally supposed to take place in the parsonage, but because of a bake sale on the lawn of theBethel United Methodist Church, the ceremony was moved at the last minute to the Elmwood Chapel, on the site of the Elmwood Cemetery in Bethel, in order to keep the event private.[58][59]
By this marriage she gained a stepson, James Fisher, from her husband's previous marriage to Ida Gould, a white woman.[60]
In 1940, seeking a retreat away from the public eye, Anderson and Fisher purchased a three-story Victorian farmhouse on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm inDanbury, Connecticut, after an exhaustive search throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Through the years, he built many structures on the property, including an acoustic rehearsal studio he designed for his wife. The property remained Anderson's home for almost 50 years.[61]
From 1943, she resided at the farm that Orpheus had named Marianna Farm.[62] The farm was on Joe's Hill Road, in theMill Plain section of westernDanbury. She constructed a three-bedroom ranch house as a residence, and she used a separate one-room structure as her studio. In 1996, the farm was named one of 60 sites on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. The studio was moved to downtown Danbury as the Marian Anderson studio.[63][64]
As a town resident, Anderson wished to live as normally as possible, declining offers to be treated in restaurants and stores as a celebrity. She was known to visit the Danbury State Fair and sang at the city hall on the occasion of the lighting of Christmas ornaments. She gave a concert at theDanbury High School, served on the board of the Danbury Music Center, and supported theCharles Ives Center for the Arts and the Danbury Chapter of the NAACP.[63]
In 1986, Orpheus Fisher died after 43 years of marriage. Anderson remained in residence at Marianna Farm until 1992, one year before her death. Although the property was sold to developers, various preservationists as well as the City of Danbury fought to protect Anderson's studio. Their efforts proved successful, and theDanbury Museum and Historical Society received a grant from the state of Connecticut, relocated and restored the structure, and opened it to the public in 2004. In addition to seeing the studio, visitors can see photographs and memorabilia from milestones in Anderson's career.[65][66]
In 1992, Anderson relocated to the home of her nephew, conductorJames DePreist, inPortland, Oregon. She died there on April 8, 1993, ofcongestive heart failure, at the age of 96.[67] She is interred atEden Cemetery, inCollingdale, Pennsylvania.[68]
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| Anderson performing Brahms'Alto Rhapsody withPierre Monteux conducting theSan Francisco Symphony in 1945 |
The life and art of Anderson has been commemorated by writers, artists, and city, state, and national organizations. The following is a selected list:
Anderson established theMarian Anderson Award in 1943 after she was awardedThe Philadelphia Award in 1940, which included $25,000 in prize money (equivalent to $561,105 in 2024). Anderson used the money to establish a singing competition to help support young singers. The prize fund was exhausted in due course and disbanded in 1976. In 1990, the award was re-established and issued annually up to 2019, when the last award was granted toKool & the Gang.
In 1998, the Marian Anderson Award prize money was restructured to be given to an established artist, not necessarily a singer, who exhibits leadership in a humanitarian area.[98]
In 2020 and 2021, ceremonies were canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the Award moved from a private operation to a program administered byPlay On Philly, a classical music education organization aimed at local youth. Instead of an annual award ceremony, the funds were used to create theMarian Anderson Young Artist Program,[99] a tuition-free program with a mission to "serve those individuals whose communities have historically been excluded from the highest levels of musical excellence due to structural barriers in our country."[100]
With the conference reaching its climax Sunday Afternoon in the speech of Mrs. Roosevelt presenting to Marian Anderson the 24th Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement. Mrs Roosevelt's speech will be broadcast ofer both the National Broadcasting Company network and the Columbia Broadcasting chain of stations
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