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Marian Anderson: Gracious Grand Diva
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I have never been able to analyse the qualities that the audience contributes to a performance. The most important, I think, are sympathy, open-mindedness, expectancy, faith, and a certain support to your effort. I know that my career could not have been what it is without all these things, which have come from many people. The knowledge of the feelings other people have expended on me has kept me going when times were hard. That knowledge has been a responsibility, a challenge, and an inspiration. It has been the path to development and growth. The faith and confidence of others in me have been like shining, guiding stars. Marian Anderson's musical education and performing experience were the product of personal, familial, and communal determination and faith. Through the financial support of her church--the Union Baptist at Fitzwater and Martin--and her community, she was able to take voice lessons in Philadelphia, first with soprano Mary Saunders Patterson around 1915, then with contralto Agnes Reifsnyder from 1916 to 1918, and finally with Giuseppe Boghetti in 1920. The latter was made possible through a benefit concert held on 14 May 1920 and sponsored by the Union Baptist Church. In the summer of 1919 she studied with Oscar Sanger at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. From 1914 Marian Anderson was performing in public concerts and by 1917 was giving solo performances. She even appeared as soloist in productions of Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah in Philadelphia and Boston. However, although Marian was extraordinarily talented, because of discrimination success in America was not realized. As many other African American artists have had to do, she went to Europe where she won fame, and then returned to America. Although she was globally recognized as a great singer, in 1939 she was turned down by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) when she sought to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. When Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest, Marian performed on Easter Sunday to an audience of 75,000 people. Marian Anderson was the gracious grand diva whom Arturo Toscanini called the greatest contralto in the world. In her career, which spanned over 30 years, Marian performed before the royalty of the world. In They Had A Dream (by George Reasons and Sam Patrick, Signet, 1965) it is noted that: "She had a repertoire of over 1,500 songs from Negro spirtuals to the works of Bach, Brahms, Handel, and Schubert. She sang in nine languages. Her concerts took her to every major city in the nation, to Europe, South America, and the Far East. Everywhere she won acclaim."Marian Anderson realized her dream and became the first African American when she perform at the Metropolitan at the height of her career. She gave her farewell performance at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday in 1965. Special thanks to Classical Insites: www.classicalinsites.com/ |
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