| Black Orchestras Part 9 |
| Sunday, 17 June 2007 | |
|
Let's conclude this Black Orchestras series, shall we? Until European instruments (mostly string instruments) and instructors became increasingly available to Black Americans during the 19th century, it is written that neither race entertained the notion of professional Black performers in concert music. But can we speculate that they did not? Can we say that the denial of European music to the Black race was justified by the lack of a precedent in America? Uh… NO. For there were Black instrumentalists in the 1700s too! Conductor/composer/violinist/fencer Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges and violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower were of African descent (although mixed race) and resided for a while in Europe. (See Guédé (2003), Banat (2006) and Fleming (1946) for more on Saint-Georges; Panton (2005) and Fleming (1946) for more on Bridgetower.) Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (nee Joseph Bologne) of Guadeloupe was a composer, violinist and conductor as well as Colonel of “colored” volunteers in the French Revolution. He is often referred to as The Black Mozart, which I personally detest but I understand the comparison as they were 18th century contemporaries and both produced lots of music of a high caliber. George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower of Poland was accompanied by Beethoven at the premier performance of the Sonata for Violin and Piano, which was later renamed Kreutzer Sonata. I don’t think Beethoven performed with just anyone, so I surmise Bridgetower was something special and/or well-regarded. Unfortunately, these two musicians, Saint-George and Bridgetower, unlike the musicians mentioned in the previous articles, did not pass on their musical tradition to others of their race by way of teaching or mentoring (that we know of). In fact, some authors speculate that they performed art music because, in addition to it satisfying their respective personal passion, it distinguished them from their African race. Many of us shuddered when we read that sentence, but the sad reality is that some are ashamed of what’s happened/happening with their people (by force or fate) and choose to disassociate. And it’s awful to think that race—even for a person of half African and half European descent living in 18th century Europe—was such a source of insecurity and perhaps misery like it is today, e.g. the stigma of being Black and concert music elevating social status. It’s depressing to make connections like that, to realize that not much by way of mentality has changed for some… It just further attests to classical music being more social status symbol than genre or style, depending on how you see it. No, wait a minute because remember how in “Amadeus,” (was there even ONE Black person in that whole entire movie??) concert music was just what everyone performed? (And why not? It’s how the style got it’s name regardless of whether it was composed in a completely different period. Check it out. Not all of what most people think of classical music is ACTUALLY classical music… The classical period by definition encapsulates only a few performers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, the way “classic jazz” is really only jazz from a brief moment around the 1960s that immortalizes Coltrane, early Miles, and Wes Montgomery.) Some of the music was serious. Some was less serious. Furthermore! Musicologist James M. Trotter refers to 18th century New Orleans as “the Paris of America.” The multi-ethnic colony oscillated between French and Spanish control; therefore, it seems natural that the city would be alive with European cultural influences, especially music. Entertainment consisted mainly of dances or balls, theatres, and operas. However, it was the social dances that held center stage in 19th century New Orleans: “Nearly every concert prior to 1830 was coupled with a ball, and occasionally a play or an opera was followed by a ball held right in the theatre” (Kmen 1966:5). Musicians were certainly needed for these social events and for the general performance of music. Musicologist Eileen Southern explains, “America wanted music teachers, and in some places the color of a person’s skin was less important than the ability to impart instruction” (1997:99). That’s cool, right? Southern’s argument, that someone needs to do it, also resides throughout historian Henry Kmen’s book Music in New Orleans: “In the dance field it is possible that [the Black musician] played more than Whites, as the trade of musician was not encouraged for the native born White male, even though the imported musician was respected” (1966:236). Wait, what? White musicians were DISCOURAGED from performing dance music? Or being performers. Hmmmm…. Sounds like we’re starting to separate those who are entertained from the entertainers by RACE. Although Kmen does not discuss exactly why the “native born White male” was discouraged from pursuing a career in music, his insight allows us the following conclusion: Black musicians were highly respected for their musical prowess, as they closely rivaled European masters who we all know were the prototype. Anyway, if the dances were to continue, and if American society was to continue with its extravagant entertainment, more musicians were needed. Political scientist, Cedric J. Robinson, claims: “The white man’s principal need is not a home but a satisfied and exploitable people to develop the resources of the country” (1983:179). Sounds a little bitter, but think about it: Someone needs to do it. As previously stated, European musicians were an expensive import. Perhaps Black musicians who played just as well looked like cheap labor, benefiting both the dancers’ pockets and their penchant for social gatherings. Therefore, dance managers could avoid paying for the import of European musicians, and pay much less for a free Black musician to perform at a social dance. Also, given the popularity of the dances and their growing demand, new dances appeared all over town. With the wax and wane of clientele, a dance manager could not always afford to import new European musicians at a moment's notice, hence the hiring of Blacks. (See Henry Kmen (1966) Music of New Orleans.) As a result, Black musicians began to dominate the production of music in America. Southern confirms that Black musicians dominated the performance of dance music especially: “Indeed, Black bands had a monopoly on providing dance music for the aristocracy in urban areas during most of the nineteenth century, particularly in the South” (1997:110). Blacks dominate popular music? Not much has changed, has it? The dominance of Black American musicians must have signaled an imbalance in power. With this power shift, did the Black American cease to be a voiceless, nameless, stereotyped entity? Well, it’s nice to dream. But in this instance of becoming a concert musician, some Black Americans took on a disconnected “you’re not like the rest of them” positive identity that, until that time, had not been associated with many in the race. Add musician amongst the ranks of Black doctors? Maybe not, but definitely more respected than others. So then how did/does concert music elevate the status of Blacks but not of Whites?
Share your thoughts.
 No. 5 : Use of Black source materials Delores, If you know of any books or articles that should be added to this running bibliography (http://myrtlehart.org/content/category/25/41/170/), please share it with us. Thanks. No. 4 : Re: re: No. 2 Yes, it indeed was a very interesting period. Some of my research has been to interrogate distinctions and blurrings of "private and public spaces" for Black performancers during that era. Though late in coming, American music history discoure is beginning to open up to the inclusion of Black music makers (slave/free, men/women, instrumentalist/vocalist, soloist/choral as a valid area of research. The early works of Trotter, Maud Cuney-Hare, the Johnson Brothers, Harry T. Burleigh, and later, Eileen Southern, John Storm Roberts, Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje and Eddie Meadows to name but a few) modeled the importance of using information gleaned through critical examination of varied sources from extant Black newspaper archives, concert programs, Black church writers on the condition of music production at the time,to field research. It is, I think, necessary for us as African American researchers to include Black source materials in addition to the "canonic" as a way to gain multiplanar knowledge of 21st century Black musicians and those from our past. In regards to Black women musicians,I have found D. Antoinette Handy's work on Black women orchestras a helpful introduction to Black gender instrumentalists studies. Delores Fisher SDSU Lecturer Africana Studies
\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
'>  Submitted by Guest User • 2008-10-03 12:20:50 No. 3 : re: No. 2 Absolutely. This topic can be examined from many different angles. It would be quite interesting to examine who performed more, freed men or slaves, since both were trained and hired for parties. It seems to me that freed man toured more exclusively than slaves who performed for their master and guests in the home. From my research, there weren't a great many female instrumentalists, or perhaps they weren't as visible as the female vocalists. Many women formed bands that included brass instruments. I'm interested in the luthiers, actually. Where did everyone get these instruments from? Anyway, the female soloists tended to be vocalists. At the time, classical was popular music--one was just beginning to distinguish itself from the other. Although a new classical, the ragtime/jazz infusion, was being birthed. The market accommodated dance music. Blacks formed their Sunday Congo circle and imitated whites (cakewalk, etc.) in their own parties. Whites tried to recall their familial European dances and The Castles were making up new steps. Very exciting time in history. No. 2 : Lecturer: African American Music Thank you for this website; I have a couple of comments: Perhaps we also need to consider the implications of Black musicians who performed in an urban or a rural environment in conjunction with an interrogation of their ability to navigate specific driving forces of the nascent music consumer market "economy" of the time. We could then add other inquiry layers: infuse the research inquiry with parameters of slave or free, classical or popular, or even gender inflected constraints on Black musicians of the given era. Delores Fisher, MA San Diego State University
\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
'> Submitted by Guest User • 2008-09-11 14:06:43 No. 1 : Is it because classical music is purportedly white and white is in America superior to black so blacks playing classical music puts them on a white level?? |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|