Black Voices at the BSO and Pops
Highlighting some of the stories and performances of Black composers and artists who worked with the BSO and Pops, this exhibit seeks to present a brief glimpse into Black activity in the classical music field, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s.
William Tortalano
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): First Black composer performed by the BSO
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
In 1902, the BSO performed its first work by a Black composer, the British composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. (Debenham & Gould, Bournemouth)
BSO program book for the first performance of a work by a Black composer
The first work by Coleridge-Taylor to be performed by the BSO was the song "Onaway! Awake, Beloved," from Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, at a concert conducted by Wilhelm Gericke in Symphony Hall on May 2, 1902, with Benjamin Gray Davies as tenor soloist. The BSO would perform the work again with the same soloist in 1906, and Arthur Fiedler programmed the work on the first African-American Night at the Pops in 1937 with soloist Wallace Thompson.
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
William Grant Still
The BSO and Pops have performed eight of Still's works a total of 35 times. (The Music Journal, Contemporary Composers Series)
The BSO's first performance of a work by William Grant Still took place in January of 1945 when guest conductor Georges Szell led two performances of In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
The envelope to a January 8, 1945 letter from William Grant Still to BSO program annotator John Burk concerning the BSO’s upcoming performance of In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
The first page of a January 8, 1945 letter from William Grant Still to BSO program annotator John Burk concerning the BSO’s upcoming performance of In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
The second page and signature from a January 8, 1945 letter from William Grant Still to BSO program annotator John Burk concerning the BSO’s upcoming performance of In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
African-American Night at the Pops: Featuring Black Composers and Artists
Pops program book for the first African-American Night at the Pops, June 21, 1937
Arthur Fielder conducted the very first African-American Night at the Pops. The program featured works by Black composers such as William Grant Still, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Clarence Cameron White, Harry Burleigh, and Wooten (first name unknown, possibly the Boston music teacher and conductor William H. Wooten). The event would repeat in 1938 and 1939.
Newspaper clipping from the Sunday Post discussing the upcoming African-American Night at the Pops on June 21, 1937
The inauguration of an African-American Night at the Pops was significant enough to merit more than a simple list of upcoming repertoire. (Sunday Post, June 20, 1937)
Newspaper clipping from the Sunday Advertiser describing the upcoming African-American Night at the Pops on June 21, 1937
(Sunday Advertiser, June 20, 1937)
Pops program book for June 25, 1945, Dean Dixon conducting African-American Night at the Pops
Dean Dixon was the first Black conductor to lead the Boston Pops in a full concert in 1945 (Clarence Cameron White conducted a single work in 1944). Boston music teacher Anna Bobbitt Gardner, also the first Black woman to obtain a Bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory, revived the African-American Night at the Pops by sponsoring and helping to organize the event starting in 1944. She would remain involved until 1949, and it is quite possible that it was her influence that led to Black conductors at the podium. During her tenure, the event was called “Colored Night at the Pops.” Also of note on this concert is the soloist Donald Shirley, who was 18 years old in 1945, well before the time period of his life that was dramatized by the film Green Book.
Anna Bobbitt Gardner, 1901-1997
Anna Bobbitt Gardner was the first Black woman to be awarded a Bachelor's degree from New England Conservatory in 1932. One of several music educators in a thriving Black classical music community in Boston, she founded the Academy of Musical Arts located at 1-3 Claremont Park in the South End, providing music education to hundreds of students. From 1944-1949, she sponsored and directed the African-American Night at the Pops.
