Florence Beatrice Pricesymphoniesno. 1 in e minorno. 4 in D minor

Fort smith symphonyJohn Jeter

AmericAn clAssics

The broad arc of Florence Price’s life in many waysresembled those of the millions of African Americans whomoved away from the southern United States in search ofnew professional opportunities and greater personalautonomy during the Jim Crow era. Born into a middle-class family in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887, Pricereceived a sound musical education from her mother afterthe city’s pre-eminent white instructors refused to teachher. Since opportunities for more advanced musicaltraining were largely unavailable for women of color in theSouth, her mother enrolled her at the New EnglandConservatory after she completed high school in 1903.There she pursued courses of study in organ and pianopedagogy while receiving tutelage in all musicaldisciplines from conservatory faculty, including directorGeorge Whitefield Chadwick. After graduating from the conservatory in 1906, Pricebegan her professional career as an instructor atsegregated academies in Arkansas and Georgia. Shemarried an attorney, Thomas Jewell Price, six years later,and the two remained in Little Rock until a brutal lynchingand financial difficulties prompted the family to relocate toChicago in 1927. During this 15-year period, shemanaged a large private piano studio, composed anextensive collection of pedagogical music for children,and began raising her two daughters, Florence and Edith.Price’s career as a composer erupted after she moved toChicago, where she had developed contacts while takingsummer courses at the Chicago Musical College. With theadded support of leading figures within the Chicago BlackRenaissance, especially Estelle Bonds, whose homeserved as a central gathering place for artists, Price’sworks won several contests designed to support blackcomposers. These victories propelled her into the nationalspotlight and garnered attention from musical luminarieslike contralto Marian Anderson, with whom shecollaborated extensively, and Chicago SymphonyOrchestra director Frederick Stock. Over the course of herlater career, Price wrote in a variety of genres for the

classical and popular marketplaces and participatedactively in local chapters of the National Association forNegro Musicians (NANM) and the National Federation ofMusic Clubs. With few connections to a local orchestra beforemoving to Chicago, Price had little incentive to pursuesymphonic composition. But the Rodman Wanamakerprize sponsored by the NANM, which featured anorchestral music category, afforded her a potentiallygainful opportunity to explore symphonic writing withoutthe need to secure a performance. Her Symphony in Eminor won the $500 first prize in 1932. Frederick Stocktook an interest in the piece and agreed to give itspremiere with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at thecity’s Century of Progress International Exhibition in June1933. This concert marked the first time a major Americanorchestra had performed a piece written by an AfricanAmerican woman. Price wrote at least two other symphonies (No. 3 andNo. 4), while a fourth (No. 2) is presumed missing orincomplete; only a few finished measures survive. Thecircumstances surrounding the composition of her FourthSymphony, which is featured on this recording, areopaque, for it remained unperformed during her lifetimeand no evidence suggests that she wrote it for a contest.Price faced health complications during the 1940s and1950s that might have prevented her from pursuing aperformance as actively as she might have otherwise. Inthe months leading up to her sudden death, she waspreparing for opportunities abroad and might haveattempted to secure a premiere overseas had she beenable to complete the journey. As musicologist Rae Linda Brown has shown in hercritical edition of the Symphony in E minor, which wasused for this recording, the piece owes a stylistic debt toAntonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor “From theNew World” (1893), and to the music of SamuelColeridge-Taylor. Both composers integrated elements ofthe Negro spirituals and traditional Negro dances into

Florence Beatrice Price (1887–1953)Symphony No. 1 in E minor (1932) • Symphony No. 4 in D minor (1945)

their large-scale symphonic works, and Price followedsuit. She once wrote, “We are waking up to the factpregnant with possibilities that we already have a folkmusic in the Negro spirituals – music which is potent,poignant, compelling. It is simple heart music andtherefore powerful.” Like Dvořák, Price did not tend toquote from Negro spirituals or dances directly, but ratherinfused the symphony with idiomatic gestures drawn fromtheir melodies and rhythms. The symphony follows the standard four-movementplan: an allegro in sonata form; a slow, lyrical secondmovement; a dance-like rondo; and a presto finale. Theopening Allegro ma non troppo combines a broodingagitation reminiscent of Johannes Brahms’ orchestralmusic in minor keys (the Tragic Overture or the FirstSymphony, for example) and a flair for the grand gestureakin to William Grant Still’s roughly contemporary “Afro-American” Symphony. The movement’s broad, lyricalthemes openly draw from Negro folk idioms with theheavy use of the pentatonic scale and judicioussyncopation. The stately, hymn-like theme of the secondmovement, Largo, maestoso, presented by a full chorusof brass instruments, draws from Price’s experiences asan organist. A series of call-and-response units betweenvarious soloists and the brass chorale culminates in agrand restatement of the opening, replete with tubularbells. Whereas symphonists in the Germanic traditiontypically included a scherzo (literally, “a joke”) in the thirdmovement, certain composers used vernacular dances inits place. The American composer George FrederickBristow, for example, used a polka in his SecondSymphony. As in many of her works in conventionalgenres, here Price drew from the wellspring of Negrovernacular dance by writing a “juba,” an antebellum slavestyle characterized by complex body percussion (footstomping, chest patting) and syncopated melodies.Price’s colorful treatment, which includes a slide whistle,fully captures the style’s lighthearted character. Therollicking Finale is another example of one of the oldestsymphonic traditions: a light, propulsive perpetuum

mobile in a dancelike compound meter that culminates ina satisfying climax. The Symphony No. 4 in D minor is cut from the samestylistic cloth, and it shares the standard four-movementarrangement, complete with a Juba Dance. The intensecharacter of the opening movement, Tempo moderato,closely matches that of the earlier work, but the primarymelody, sounded in the winds and brass after a briefintroduction, is less sweeping; it also contains a quickreference to the Negro spiritual “Wade in the Water.” Thiscompactness allowed Price to use specific motives (orbits and pieces of the tune) as the basis for extensivedevelopment and colorful elaboration throughout the restof the movement – as if she took three notes and turnedthe dial on her musical kaleidoscope. After a restatementof the main theme following this developmental process,the expected secondary theme appears in its full glory ina moment that sounds like Price pulled all the stops of herorgan. A grandiose coda provides a fitting close. The primary melody of the brief second movement,marked Andante cantabile and sounded first in the oboe,is reminiscent of a gentle lullaby. A series of compactvariations highlights Price’s penchant for tight ensemblewriting among the orchestra’s distinct instrumentgroupings. She returned to an upbeat but easygoing JubaDance in the next movement. The strings and woodwindsdrive the highly syncopated melody in the opening sectionwith the lower strings providing characteristic offbeatpunctuation. A contrasting middle section unlike anythingelse in Price’s symphonic oeuvre interrupts the dance. Along, sinewy melody in the oboe, underpinned bypizzicato strings, paints a portrait of a different time andplace altogether. The musical language strongly evokesDuke Ellington’s “jungle style,” which had become hissignature by this time. As in the First Symphony, thebreathless final movement, Scherzo, alternates betweenstern and playful moods that rise to an explosiveconclusion.

Douglas ShadleVanderbilt University

FIRST VIOLINEr-Gene Kahng, ConcertmasterLori Fay, Associate ConcertmasterKaren Jeter, Associate ConcertmasterCarol Harrison, Assistant ConcertmasterArthur BusbyMia CataniaMike BurkepileRaúl A. MunguíaBecky RathbunKlaudia CopChris PinkstonShannon BohallChristy PaxtonRandy LyleLaura PulcipherYuko Tatsumi Mansell

SECOND VIOLINPatrick Conlon, PrincipalDiane Halliburton, Assistant PrincipalSteven Hughes IIMichelle FraserHeather WickershamElizabeth VenegasKarina SimAnne BonnettSaralyn WorkmanGus WeaverNicole MelkiGreta LaneCarla GeterErika Burns

VIOLAJesse Collett, PrincipalAnitra Fay, Assistant PrincipalKathy Murray, Assistant PrincipalNed HornerCurtis HansenJennifer ScottImelda TecsonGenny TrianaSterling TylerAnthony VergeJuan Carlos FloresElijah EvansSabrina Mackenzie

CELLOJames Robert Bradshaw, PrincipalBarbara Godette, Assistant PrincipalDan MaysChas HelgeSteve FraserWilliam ElliottJose PalaciosKourtney NewtonNathaniel CookTess CrowtherJayne JostadMartyna Kolano

BASSJerry Lane, PrincipalJohn Schimek, Assistant PrincipalKirby Nunez, Assistant PrincipalBenji WilsonTalon DavisBrandon PattersonJoel Schimek

Harry DearmanMark PhillipsIan Grems

FLUTEElizabeth Shuhan, PrincipalEmmaline SmythJennifer Peck

PICCOLOJennifer Peck, PrincipalMargaret Fischer

OBOETheresa Delaplain, PrincipalSuzanne McGowenFiona Slaughter

ENGLISH HORNSuzanne McGowen, Principal

CLARINETAndrew DeBoer, PrincipalChristina Giacona

BASS CLARINETRebecca Wenck, Principal

BASSOONBrent Fillmer, PrincipalCharles Hall

HORNAlex Shuhan, PrincipalEvan Mino, Assistant PrincipalRichard RuheJack Jackson IIJane Waters Showalter

TRUMPETAngela Richards, PrincipalPaul Hankins, Assistant PrincipalRandy GrahamPenny Schimek

TROMBONEBrian Haapanen, PrincipalVernon Howard

BASS TROMBONEPaul Johnston, Principal

TUBARyan Robinson, Principal

TIMPANIBenjamin Finley, Principal

HARPFaith O’Neal, Principal

CELESTARobert Mueller, PrincipalSaralyn Workman

PERCUSSIONDavid Ewing, Co-PrincipalTommy Dobbs, Co-PrincipalDustin ChambersChristine SouzaJamie Wind Whitmarsh

LIBRARIANDavid Ewing

STAGE MANAGERBecky YatesTony Yates, Assistant

Fort Smith SymphonyFounded in 1923, the Fort SmithSymphony is the oldest orchestra inthe state of Arkansas. The orchestra isa per-service professional ensembledrawn from musicians throughout theregion. The orchestra performsclassics, pops and educationalconcerts in the ArcBest PerformingArts Center in downtown Fort Smith.Committed to education, the orchestrapresents numerous educationalprograms including the “Kool Cats”Jazz Quartet, “Jolt™” Electric RockQuartet, Symphony-in-the-Schoolsand “Earquake!™” multi-mediaconcerts for school children.

www.fortsmithsymphony.org

John JeterJohn Jeter has been the music director and conductor of the Fort SmithSymphony since 1997. He is the recipient of the 2012 Governor’s Award for“Individual Artist of the State of Arkansas” as well as the 2002 Helen M.Thompson Award presented by the American Symphony Orchestra League.The Thompson Award is given to one outstanding music director in the UnitedStates every two years. He is the recipient of the Mayor’s Achievement Awardfor his services to the City of Fort Smith. Jeter has guest conducted numerousorchestras including the Springfield Symphony, the Indianapolis SymphonyOrchestra, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Arkansas SymphonyOrchestra, the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the CharlestonSymphony, the Gulf Coast Symphony and the Illinois Chamber Symphony,among many others. He has co-hosted numerous radio programs and isinvolved in many radio and television projects concerning classical music. Hereceived his formal education at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School ofMusic and Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts.

Photo: Bedford Camera and Video

Photo: Tommy Dobbs

FORT SMITH SYMPHONYJohn Jeter, Music Director

Florence Price at the PianoPrinted by permission of the University of Arkansas Libraries Colorization by Olga Shirnina

Florence Price was born in littlerock, Arkansas and studied at thenew england conservatory, but itwas in chicago that her composingcareer accelerated. The concert in1933 at which her Symphony No. 1 inE minor was premiered was the firsttime a major American orchestrahad performed a piece written by anAfrican American woman. influencedby Dvořák and coleridge-Taylor,she drew on the wellspring of negrospirituals and vernacular dances,full of lyricism and syncopation. The Symphony No. 4 in D minordemonstrates her tight ensemblewriting, her distinct sense oforchestral color, her ellingtonian‘jungle style’ language and herpenchant for the ‘juba’ dance.

symphony no. 1 in e minor (1932) 37:221 i. Allegro ma non troppo 16:362 ii. largo, maestoso 12:113 iii. Juba Dance 3:364 iV. Finale 4:45 symphony no. 4 in D minor (1945)* 31:345 i. Tempo moderato 15:106 ii. Andante cantabile 5:407 iii. Juba Dance 5:138 iV. scherzo 5:24

*WOrlD Premiere recOrDinG

Fort smith symphonyJohn Jeter

recorded: 13–14 may 2018 at ArcBest Performing Arts center, Fort smith, Arkansas, UsAProducer, engineer and editor: Tim HandleyBooklet notes: Douglas shadlePublisher: G. schirmer, inc.special thanks to mercy Fort smith, the University of Arkansaslibraries special collections, Dr. James Greeson and miho sasaki.cover: Portrait of Florence Price Printed by permission of the University of Arkansas libraries colorized by Olga shirnina

Florence BeatricePrice(1887–1953)

symphonies nos. 1 and 4 AmericAn clAssics

www.naxos.comPlaying Time:69:04