“My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” - Florence Price | Amplify Female Composer Fridays

“My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” - Florence Price
Sonya Headlam, Soprano
Julian Wachner, Piano
Recorded in July 2021 at Trinity Church Wall Street and presented by Amplify Female Composers in the Fall Female Composer Fridays series, coordinated by Carolyn Craig and Janet Yieh.
Florence Price is known as the first African-American woman to have a work performed by a major orchestra (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1933, First Symphony), but recent revival of her works has led to a more thorough and still-growing understanding of her substantial contributions to classical music.
This arrangement was made popular by Marian Anderson. Anderson was famously denied a concert in Constitution Hall on the basis of her race, in 1939, and instead sang a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for an audience of 75,000. Florence B. Price’s “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” closed the concert, with Price’s name being the only one on the program spelled out in full so her gender could be discerned. When one imagines Anderson singing this text in that situation, there infinite layers of poignancy. Powerfully, Anderson’s programming gave Black music pride of place and started “to undo with music what decades of sociopolitical inaudibility has done” (Alisha Lola Jones, Lift Every Voice).
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[@Verdidiva]

Brava! Wonderful. 😍

[@angiebarrett8780]

C’est Magnifique!!!