Best Known As: The woman who sang at the Lincoln Memorial
Marian Anderson was 42 when she sang her legendary open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial on 9 April 1939. Anderson was a famous contralto of the day, and the concert was arranged after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her perform at Constitution Hall because she was black. (First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and helped arrange the concert at the Lincoln Memorial.) The concert is legendary in the American civil rights movement and, despite Anderson's many other musical successes, became the signature moment in her long international career. Anderson broke many other color barriers, including becoming the first African-American to sing at the White House and at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Anderson was the aunt of former Oregon Symphony conductor James DePriest... Contralto is the lowest female singing voice, pitched between alto and tenor... Anderson was honored on a stamp from the U.S. Postal Service in 2005... Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
Anderson, Marian (1897–1993), recitalist, opera singer, and diplomat. Marian Anderson's 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., marked the symbolic beginning of the civil rights movement. Born to a poor family in Philadelphia, Anderson came to public attention in 1924 as the winner of a New York Philharmonic voice competition. Because the color line impeded American bookings, the contralto studied and performed in Europe for several years. In 1935, the impresario Sol Hurok brought Anderson back for a successful New York concert. Thereafter, she toured the United States as an acclaimed soloist and sang at the White House in 1936. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow the singer to perform at Constitution Hall, stating explicitly that their auditorium was available to “white artists only.” First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from the DAR in protest. African American leaders from Howard University and from the NAACP arranged for Anderson to sing instead at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. Broadcast over national radio and attended by 75,000 people, the recital was a symbolic triumph that inspired a generation of African American activists and artists. Never a political activist, Marian Anderson nonetheless continued to overturn racial barriers. In 1955, thirty-one years after her New York debut, she became the first African American to sing a role at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1957, she toured India and Asia as a singer and cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State; later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed her an alternate representative to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. Anderson performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, and in 1963 she returned to the Lincoln Memorial to sing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and gave her farewell concert in 1965.
Bibliography
Marian Anderson, My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography, 1956; rpt. 1984.
Allan Keiler, Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey, 1997
(click to enlarge) Marian Anderson. (credit: Courtesy of RCA Records)
(born Feb. 27, 1897, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. — died April 8, 1993, Portland, Ore.) U.S. singer. She was immediately recognized for the beauty of her voice and her artistry at her New York City debut in 1924, but the fact that she was black made a concert or opera career in the U.S. impossible. Her London debut in 1930 and tours of Scandinavia established her in Europe, where she worked exclusively until 1935. When she was denied use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for her to sing at the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert was broadcast to great acclaim. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, the first performance there by a black singer, took place in 1955, when she was in her late 50s.
(b Philadelphia, 17 Feb 1902; d Portland, or, 8 April 1993). American contralto. She went to Europe in 1930, gave recitals and was much admired by Toscanini; her New York début followed in 1936. In 1955 she became the first African-American to sing at the Met (Ulrica). She had a large, rich voice and high artistic integrity.
Marian Anderson (1902-1993) is remembered as one of the best American contraltos of all time. She was the first African American singer to perform at the White House and also the first African American to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on Feb. 17, 1902, and was educated in the public schools. She displayed a remarkable flair for singing when very young. Local supporters provided funds for study with Agnes Reifsneider and, later, Giuseppe Boghetti. When Anderson was 23, she entered a competition and won first place over 300 other singers, gaining her an engagement with the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium. Further sponsorships enabled her to continue her studies in the United States and, after winning the Rosenwald Fellowship, in Europe.
Following debuts in Berlin in 1930 and London in 1932, Anderson concertized in Scandinavia, Germany, South America, and the Soviet Union. In Salzburg, Austria, she gave a sensational performance at the Mozarteum with famous conductor Arturo Toscanini in the audience. Upon hearing her sing, Toscanini reportedly told her she had "a voice heard but once in a century."
Return to the United States
At the end of her European tour, Anderson was an acclaimed sensation in the capitals of Europe, and American impresario Sol Hurok signed her to 15 concerts in the United States. On December 30, 1935, she opened her American tour at New York's Town Hall. The program was typical for Marian Anderson, consisting of songs by Handel, Schubert, Giuseppe Verdi, and Sibelius as well as several black spirituals. The performance was a resounding success, with critics welcoming her as a "new high priestess of song." In the words of a New York Times contributor, the concert established her as "one of the great singers of our time."
Over the next several years Anderson sang for U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House, and she returned to perform for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England during their 1939 visit to the United States. She made several cross country tours and soon was booking engagements two years in advance. In one year she covered 26,000 miles in the longest tour in concert history, giving 70 concerts in five months. After World War II ended, she again performed in major European cities. By 1950, it was estimated that she had performed before nearly 4 million listeners.
Marian Anderson's contralto voice was notable for its power and exceptionally dark texture, particularly in the lowest register. The high voice changed quality - not unusual in a contralto of prodigious range - but idiosyncracies never obliterated the fine musicality and sincere emotion that marked her performances.
Victory Over Racial Discrimination
With Roland Hayes and Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson pioneered in winning recognition at home and abroad for black artists. In 1939, an incident involving the Daughters of the American Revolution did much to focus public attention on racism. The DAR denied Anderson use of their Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. for an April concert. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest, and the U.S. government placed Lincoln Memorial at Anderson's disposal. Her concert there, on Easter morning, drew a live audience of 75,000, and millions more heard it over the radio.
In 1942 she established the Marian Anderson Award for talented young singers; among the recipients were Camilla Williams, Mattiwilda Dobbs, and Grace Bumbry. Anderson married Orpheus H. Fisher, a New York architect, in 1943.
In 1948 Anderson underwent a dangerous operation for the removal from her esophagus of a cyst that threatened to damage her voice. For two months she was not permitted to use her voice and was unsure if she would ever be able to sing again. When she was finally allowed to rehearse, her voice returned free of impairment. Following her recovery, Anderson made her first post-World War II tour of Europe, including stops in Scandinavia, Paris, London, Antwerp, Zurich, and Geneva.
Her Operatic Debut
On Jan. 7, 1955, Anderson sang Ulrica in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (The Masked Ball) at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, and she returned the following season in the same role. This was the first time an African American person had sung with the Metropolitan since it opened in 1883.
Over the years, Anderson continued to add to her accomplishments. She sang at the presidential inaugurations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. In 1957, as an emissary of the State Department, Anderson made a concert tour of India and the Far East that was filmed by CBS-TV. In 1958 President Eisenhower appointed her a delegate to the 13th General Assembly of the United Nations. Anderson gave her farewell concert at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday in 1965.
Describing the range and quality of her voice, New York Times music critic Harold C. Schoenberg wrote: "Those who remember her at her height … can never forget that big resonant voice, with those low notes almost visceral in nature, and with that easy, unforced ascent to the top register. A natural voice, a hauntingly colorful one, it was one of the vocal phenomena of its time."
Marian Anderson's honors included a doctorate of music from Howard University (1938) and honorary degrees from more than 20 other American educational institutions. She received the Springarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1939 and the Bok Award of $10,000 from her hometown of Philadelphia in 1941. In addition to decorations from many foreign governments, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. At age 89, in 1991, Anderson was honored as the subject of a 60-minute documentary broadcast over public television. She died on April 8, 1993.
Renewed accolades abounded in 1997, the centenary year of Anderson's birth. The Marian Anderson Study Center at the University of Pennsylvania was erected to hold her archives. On February 27, the day that would have been her 100th birthday, Robert Shaw conducted a tribute concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, joined by signers including Jessye Norman, William Warfield, and Roberta Peters. At noon the following Saturday, a gala of spirituals and art songs took place at Union Baptist Church, at 19th and Fitzwater Streets in Philadelphia - the church where Anderson prayed and sang as a little girl.
Further Reading
Information on Anderson can be found in the Philadelphia Inquirer (February 26, 1997); Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (Macmillan, 1986); Sims, Janet L., Marian Anderson: An Annotated Bibliography and Discography (Greenwood, 1981); and Tedards, Anne, Marian Anderson (1988).
Born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, PA; died on April 8, 1996, in Portland, OR; daughter of Annie (a laundress) and John Anderson (a coal and ice salesman); married Orpheus H. "King" Fisher (an architect) (d. 1985), 1943 Education: Studied with Mary S. Patterson, Agnes Reifsnyder, and Giuseppe Boghetti.
Career
Performed for modest fees as a teen; won first prize New York Philharmonic voice competition and debuted with the Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium, 1925; performed at New York's Town Hall; left for Europe on a Rosenwald Fellowship, 1930; debuted in London, 1930; toured Europe, 1930-35; returned to the United States, 1935; took Sol Hurok as her manager; performed at Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939; debuted as the first permanent African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, 1955; left the Met and published her autobiography, My Lord What a Morning, 1956; retired from singing, 1965; lecturer.
Life's Work
Concert singer Marian Anderson's rich contralto voice, wrote one critic in People, "was as perfect as a human instrument can be." The first major black female concert singer of the 20th century, Anderson was lauded by audiences and critics and honored by presidents and kings all over the world both for her phenomenal voice and for her contribution to the struggle for racial equality. As the first permanent African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, Anderson was known for her unfettered delivery--Anderson conveyed the music of Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, and many others without any distracting mannerisms. Shunned by racially prejudiced American audiences, Anderson left for Europe, where she was met with overwhelming success. In a field dominated by whites, she was known for maintaining her dignity in the face of the bigotry she was subjected to throughout her career.
While others were marching and making impassioned speeches during the Civil Rights movement, Anderson did not speak out publicly, but was still known as the "voice of the Civil Rights struggle." Because she was forced to pursue her art tenaciously in order to succeed, she challenged the racial barrier in her own courageous and heroic way. "It is my honest belief," Anderson was quoted as saying in Opera News, "that to contribute to the betterment of something, one can do it best in the medium through which one expresses one's self most easily." In a PBS documentary of her life, Anderson said, "I did not start out to change the world in any way, because I knew that I couldn't. And whatever I am is the culmination of the ... goodwill, the help and understanding of the many people that I have met around the world who have, regardless of anything else, seen me as I am, not trying to be somebody else."
Grew Up Poor, But Not Lacking
Marian Anderson was born February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, the oldest of three daughters of Annie and John Anderson, a coal and ice salesman. Annie Anderson began taking in laundry to support her children after their father died when Marian was still young. The family lived with Anderson's grandmother in South Philadelphia and she grew up poor, "though never lacking in love and support. My mother always encouraged me to do anything I wanted," she was quoted as saying in Billboard. She began singing as a toddler and joined the Union Baptist Church junior choir at age six. Though first turned away by a Philadelphia music school because of her color, she studied formally at age 15 with Mary S. Patterson, lessons she scrubbed floors to pay for. Many in her community acknowledged Anderson's exceptional talent, and contributed to her education--the Union Baptist choir raised money to further her training and, later, the black ensemble, the Philadelphia Choral Society, gave benefit performances to raise the funds that allowed her to study with voice coaches Agnes Reifsnyder and Giuseppe Boghetti. She then performed for modest fees, helping to support her mother and sisters. It is a little known fact that Anderson applied to Yale and was accepted, but was unable to raise enough money to cover tuition.
Boghetti entered Anderson into a New York Philharmonic voice competition when she was 28. She won first prize out of 300 competitors, debuted with the Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium that same year, and signed a management contract. A significant concert at New York's Town Hall followed, but Anderson was unable to break any ground in a country as bound by racism as the United States was at the time. Anderson left for Europe on a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1930, in hopes of developing her craft and confidence, perfecting her foreign-language skills, and finding a more accepting audience.
After her 1930 London debut, the singer took Europe by storm. She toured from Italy and Austria to Germany and Scandinavia, where she met composer Jean Sibelius, who was so taken by her "warm, burnished tone and interpretive sensitivity" that he dedicated his song "Solitude" to her, according to Billboard critic Susan Elliot. It was on this tour that famed conductor Arturo Toscanini first heard Anderson sing and said, "A voice like yours is heard only once in 100 years," according to Billboard.
A Reluctant Return to the States
Anderson returned to the United States in 1935, though very reluctantly, based on her chilly reception there the first time around. After impresario Sol Hurok--who became her manager--heard Anderson sing in Paris, he advised her to return to the States for another appearance at Town Hall. Hurok was right--the concert was to be the turning point in her U.S. career. This time, with the swell of her European success behind her, American audiences and critics paid attention. New York Times critic Howard Taubman wrote, "Let it be said from the outset, Marian Anderson has returned to her native land one of the great singers of our time." In 1936 Anderson became the first black to perform in the White House when the Roosevelts invited her, and returned later to sing for the Eisenhowers and the Kennedys.
Anderson's successful return to the States was met with racial prejudice in 1939. Hurok was denied when he attempted to schedule a recital for Anderson at Constitution Hall, which was owned by the Daughters of the Revolution (DAR). Hurok went public with the incident. The incident became a national affair--weeks of debate ensued and many high-profile members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, immediately resigned from the DAR. Anderson, whose only political statement was her talent, was terribly upset. "Music to me means so much, such beautiful things," she was quoted as saying in Billboard, "and it seemed impossible that you could find people who would curb you, stop you, from doing a thing which is beautiful. I wasn't trying to sway anybody into any movements or anything of that sort, you know. I just wanted to sing and share."
The singer became a household name when, after the U.S. government offered her the use of the Lincoln Memorial for her Easter Sunday recital, 75,000 citizens and political dignitaries descended upon the Washington D.C. site to hear her, and millions more tuned in to the performance on the radio. Her program included "America," Schubert's "Ave Maria" and the spirituals "Gospel Train," "Trampin'," and "My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord." Anderson was bolstered by the nationwide show of support. According to Jet, she told the racially mixed audience, "I am so overwhelmed, I just can't talk." The event was the largest public tribute since the one that welcomed Charles Lindbergh back from France ten years earlier. Whether she liked it or not, Anderson had become a symbol in the struggle for Civil Rights. The performance also secured her place among America's outstanding musical talents.
Anderson was best known for her recital repertoire, which ranged from Bach and Handel oratorio arias to the songs of Schubert, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky to spirituals. In all, Anderson's repertoire consisted of more than 200 songs in nine languages and, though labeled a contralto, her voice was effective over three octaves. Spirituals were among the most personal to Anderson. "They are my own music," she was quoted as saying in Billboard. "But it is not for that reason that I love to sing them. I love them because they are truly spiritual in quality; they give forth the aura of faith, simplicity, humility, and hope."
Became First Black Met Singer
At the invitation of General Manager Rudolph Bing, Anderson made her debut as the first permanent African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera Company on January 7, 1955, singing Ulrica in Verdi's Un Ballo In Maschera. At the age of 57, Anderson's velvety trademark tone was no longer at its peak, and a slight tremelo was audible, but "[h]er style and consistently majestic presence were still very much intact," wrote Billboard critic Elliot. A fellow singer remembered the night as an "electric" one where Anderson was met with a ten-minute standing ovation as soon as the curtain rose. After the concert, the contralto revealed she became nervous when the entire house erupted in applause. The audience repeated the ovations after each aria she sung. Anderson left the Met and published her autobiography, My Lord What a Morning, in 1956.
Throughout her transition from second-class citizen to opera royalty in the United States, Anderson kept her regal and elegant disposition. She was discriminated against repeatedly in her travels by hotels, restaurants, concert venues, many of which were blatantly closed to blacks until the late 1930s. She rarely spoke publicly about racism, but opened up in an interview in 1960. "Sometimes it's like a hair across your cheek," she said, according to Jet. "You can't see it. You can't find it with your fingers but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating." Anderson was also known to treat anyone who came in contact with her, from the lowest-ranking mailroom worker on up, with the same respect. Though she was presented with the key to Atlantic City, there was not a hotel in the city that would give her a room. Anderson always maintained her dignity, despite the injustices. "You lose a lot of time hating people," she told People.
A Rich Life, Rewarded
After she broke opera's color barrier, Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York in 1984, and the National Arts Medal in 1986. The Marian Anderson Awards, founded in 1943 and resurrected in 1990, have been awarded to such artists as soprano Sylvia McNair and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. In 1991 she received a lifetime achievement Grammy award and was the subject of a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) television documentary titled Marian Anderson. PBS's American Playhouse also developed a drama depicting Anderson's life, the first time an African-American singer's life had been dramatized for television. Anderson did so much for blacks in her field, screenwriter Martin Tahse told American Visions, but did so without making a fuss. "She simply said, 'I am black, and I am an artist. I want to sing.'" Many black singers, from Leontyne Price to Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, hold Anderson as a role model. As soprano Martina Arroyo, who debuted at the Met in 1961, attested in American Visions, "She has been a legend all my life. When I didn't know what opera singing was, I knew her name," adding that it was crucial that Anderson's legacy be kept alive.
Anderson retired in racially turbulent 1965 but continued to give lectures on her life and travels. Quoted in American Visions, Vincent Sheean, a correspondent in Europe who covered Anderson's triumphant early years, wrote of the artist at her retirement: "Rain or shine, war or peace, she has been before us now for 30 years as a living part of the national consciousness, the voice of the American soul. She came at a moment when a great Negro personality, which the whole nation could admire, esteem and love, had become very early an historical imperative, and in that mysterious way which destiny takes for its working, when she was needed, there she was."
After her retirement, Anderson lived on her farm, called Marianna Farms, in Danbury, Connecticut, to work with her "hands and heart and soul," she was quoted as saying in American Visions. A Steinway grand piano sat in the rural farmhouse, atop which sat signed photos of the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, the Carters, and Richard Nixon, next to her congressional gold medal, and various other medals, awards, and keys to a slough of cities worldwide. In 1992, her health failing at age 95, she moved to Portland, Oregon, to live with her nephew, conductor James DePreist. She died of congestive heart failure at home in Portland on April 8, 1993, one month after she had suffered a stroke. Her husband, architect Orpheus H. "King" Fisher, whom she married in 1943, died in 1985, and Anderson is survived only by DePreist. By the time of her death, Anderson told People, one of her greatest dreams, though bittersweet, had come true: "Other Negroes," she said, "will have the career I dreamed of." Though very few recordings of Anderson exist, the Metropolitan Opera Guild released a disc of the artist's songs, spirituals, oratorio, and opera after her death.
Awards
Rosenwald Fellowship, 1930; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1963; Kennedy Center Honors, 1978; Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award of the City of New York, 1984; National Arts Medal, 1986; lifetime achievement Grammy award, 1991; among many others.
Further Reading
Books
Anderson, Marian, My Lord, What a Morning, Viking Press, 1956.
New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Second Edition, Volume One, Macmillan Publishers, 2001.
Sadie, Stanley, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Macmillan Press, 1992.
(1902-1993), contralto. Eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the infamous color line in professional baseball, contralto Marian Anderson made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House on January 7, 1955. Her successful performance of the role of Ulrica, the soothsayer, in Giuseppi Verdi's Un ballo in maschera paved the way for singers of color to appear at the Met and other major houses in the United States. According to Variety, "Miss Anderson--like Joshua, but more quietly--had fought the battle of Jericho and at last the walls had come tumbling down."
Anderson's Metropolitan performance came late in her career, after years of acclaim as a solo performer and a champion of racial equality. A native of Philadelphia, she studied and performed there prior to winning a competition that led to a performance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925. She sang extensively in the United States and made her London debut in 1930. After performing in Europe, she sang in Town Hall in New York City to critical acclaim in 1935.
But it was a scheduled performance at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1939 that brought Anderson's voice and her color to the attention of a broader public. Denied the right to perform in the hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Anderson, with the public support of Eleanor Roosevelt who resigned from the dar in protest, sang instead to an audience of seventy-five thousand at the Lincoln Memorial. The public outcry over the dar's action, particularly at a time when the United States was supporting the fight against Nazi doctrines of racial supremacy, brought this issue of justice to the forefront of public attention.
Anderson's Metropolitan Opera career lasted only one year, as her voice had lost some of its exceptional power by the time she appeared on the operatic stage in the United States. But she continued to perform works from the operatic repertoire along with lieder and African-American spirituals in concert.
Anderson performed at the White House for the Roosevelts in 1936 and again in 1939 for the king and queen of England. She performed for the Eisenhower family and served on the Advisory Committee on the Arts that contributed to the realization of the National Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., later named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Anderson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from John F. Kennedy in 1963 and a Congressional Gold Medal in 1978. She established a scholarship fund to assist young artists in 1972 and was the first recipient of New York City's Human Rights Award named in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt (1984). Anderson's reputation rests not only on the quality of her voice but also on the dignity with which she asserted her right to be heard.
Bibliography:
Marian Anderson, My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography (1956); Kosti Vehanen, Marian Anderson: A Portrait (1941; rev. ed., 1970).
Contralto Marian Anderson was born on this date in 1897. The opera singer was the first black to sing in the White House (1936) and at NY's Metropolitan Opera House (1955). In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution prevented her from performing in a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest, and arranged for Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial, instead, where 75,000 turned out to hear her sing "America."
Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993, American contralto, b. Philadelphia. She was the first African American to be named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, as well as the first to perform at the White House. Anderson first sang in Philadelphia church choirs, then studied with Giuseppe Boghetti. She began her concert career in 1924 and achieved her first great successes in Europe. Her rich, wide-ranged voice was superbly suited to opera, lieder, and the spirituals that she included in her concerts and recordings. In 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow her to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned her DAR membership in protest against the racist snub and sponsored Anderson's landmark concert at the Lincoln Memorial. In 1955 Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera. She was appointed an alternate delegate to the United Nations in 1958 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Bibliography
See her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning (1956); biography by A. Keiler (2000); R. Arsenault, The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America (2009).
A twentieth-century African-American contralto, known for her roles in opera and also for her performances of spirituals.
In 1941, a planned concert by Anderson at Constitution Hall was blocked by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), who owned the hall, because she was black. With the support of the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor, Anderson gave a free concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which was attended by more than 75,000 people.
Born February 17, 1902, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of a coal and ice vendor and a former schoolteacher; married Orpheus Fisher (an architectural engineer), July 24, 1943. Education: Studied with vocal teachers Giuseppe Boghetti, Frank LaForge, and Michael Raucheisen.
Classical, spiritual, and opera singer. Debuted professionally, with Union Baptist Church junior choir, Philadelphia, 1910; won vocal contest and performed with the New York Philharmonic, c. 1925; studied in Europe, 1929-30, 1931; performed throughout Europe; signed contract for U.S. performances, 1935; performed at the White House and at presidential inaugurations; performed at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C., 1939; established Marian Anderson scholarship awards; made operatic debut at Metropolitan Opera, New York City, 1955; served as U.S. delegate to the United Nations; gave farewell concert performance at Carnegie Hall, New York City, 1965. Author of My Lord, What a Morning (autobiography), Viking, 1956.
Selected awards: Rosenwald scholarship, 1931; decorated by King Gustaf of Sweden, c. 1933; Prix de Chant, Paris, 1935; Spingarn Medal, NAACP, 1939; Bok Award (Philadelphia), 1941; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1963; Presidential Medal of Arts, 1988.
Addresses:Home—Portland, OR. Management—ICM Artists, Ltd., 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
Classical, spiritual, and opera singer
Acclaimed as much for her gentle demeanor as for her rich voice, Marian Anderson effectively bridged entrenched racial gaps with her powerful renditions of classical, spiritual, and operatic songs. At age 89, as always, Anderson’s characteristic grace, nobility, and modesty were evident; honored as the subject of a 60-minute 1991 PBS documentary, she was described as "a queen, a national treasure, an inspiration, a great lady and an icon," according to the New York Times. Yet the singer portrayed herself in typically humble fashion, saying, "I hadn’t set out to change the world in any way. Whatever I am, it is a culmination of the goodwill of people who, regardless of anything else, saw me as I am, and not as somebody else."
Anderson’s nearly 40-year career as a classical singer was, in fact, marked by racial prejudice and discrimination. Although she won an important singing contest in 1925, she was for years unable to advance her career in America; it was in Europe that Anderson first became a star. She captured the attention of millions of Americans, however, when in 1939 she was refused the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). Her operatic debut was delayed until 1955, when she became the first African-American to sing with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera.
Supported Family Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 17, 1902. Her father sold coal and ice, and her mother, who had been a schoolteacher before marrying, took in laundry and did housework to make ends meet. Anderson’s father died when she was 12; five years later, her mother contracted a serious case of influenza, leaving young Marian to take over support of the family.
Anderson’s earliest vocal training came at Philadelphia’s Union Baptist Church, where she began singing spirituals and hymns in the junior choir at age six. Her early experience there helped develop her astonishing range, which embraced three octaves at its peak. Singing "The Lord Is My Shepherd," Anderson made her debut performance at the age of eight and received 50 cents for her recital. She studied with local voice teachers in Philadelphia, but by the time she was 18 she had outgrown them. Almost single-handedly supporting her family, she could not afford expensive vocal coaches. Knowing this, the parishioners of Union Baptist Church collected a "Marian Anderson Fund" to pay for instruction by Giuseppe Boghetti, a famous voice teacher who worked in Philadelphia and New York City. In 1925, following a recital at New York’s Town Hall, Boghetti was sufficiently encouraged by his pupil’s performance to enter her in a vocal contest. Competing
against three hundred singers, Anderson took first prize in the contest and won the opportunity to sing at Lewisohn Stadium with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a victory she long considered a keystone of her career. Singing "O Mio Fernando" from Donizetti’s opera La Favorite, she gave a smashing performance that was widely acclaimed.
Studied in Europe In spite of her triumph, though, Anderson’s career did not advance as expected. Studying and under contract with Frank LaForge, her concerts were given primarily under the auspices of black organizations for black audiences. Despite the racial prejudice she encountered daily, she refused to abandon the high musical road upon which she had set out. In the summer of 1929 she sailed to England and studied there with various teachers. But she returned to the United States the next year, the trip to Europe having had little impact on her career.
Then, after a 1931 concert in Chicago, Anderson was approached by a representative from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, a foundation set up to advance higher education for blacks. At the time, Anderson desperately wanted to study in Germany. With the aid of a Rosenwald scholarship, she returned to Europe that year and stayed with a German family in Berlin. She studied with Michael Raucheisen, a German vocal coach, to learn the language and lieder.
Success came more quickly to Anderson in Europe than in America. She gave concerts in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, then returned briefly to America. In 1933 she went back to Europe for a 20-concert Scandinavian tour financed by the Rosenwald Fund. Anderson sang before King Gustav in Stockholm, Sweden, where she was decorated by him. She also sang before King Christian in Copenhagen, Denmark. In Finland she received a rare invitation from the great composer Jean Sibelius, who later dedicated his song "Solitude" to her. In 12 months, she gave 108 concerts.
"A Voice Heard but Once in a Century" Following her Scandinavian tour, Anderson gave concerts in Paris and London and toured Italy, Austria, Spain, Poland, Latvia, and Russia. She was particularly well received in Russia, where the famous theater director Constantin Stanislavsky requested that she study Bizet’s opera Carmen under his direction. In Salzburg, Austria, she gave a spectacular performance at the Mozarteum with revered conductor Arturo Toscanini in attendance. On hearing her sing, Toscanini reportedly told Anderson that she had "a voice heard but once in a century."
By the end of her tour on the Continent, Anderson was a widely heralded sensation throughout the capitals of Europe. In Paris, American impresario Sol Hurok signed her to 15 concerts in the United States. She was also awarded the Prix de Chant in Paris, where she was known as "The Black Venus." Hurok managed Anderson’s career from 1935 on, once telling a reporter that she was the only artist he’d ever handled who never became temperamental with him.
At Last, Triumph at Home Anderson’s first recital on returning to the United States was given at New York’s Town Hall on December 30, 1935. She had fractured a bone in her left foot on the ocean liner before she landed; at the concert, the cast on her foot was hidden by her gown. Despite this encumbrance, the performance, which included songs by Handel, Schubert, Verdi, and Sibelius, as well as a group of spirituals, was glorious. After the recital, critics welcomed her as a "new high priestess of song." The New York Times called Anderson "one of the great singers of our time."
Within the next few years Anderson became so popular that she was invited to sing at the White House for U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, where she had her only attack of stage fright. She was invited back to perform for King George and Queen Elizabeth of England during their state visit. She embarked on several cross-country tours and was soon being requested for engagements two years in advance. Every appearance was an automatic sellout, and one year Anderson covered 26,000 miles in the longest tour in concert history, giving 70 concerts in five months. When touring the deep South, her theater contract specified equal, though separate, orchestra seating for blacks.
Snubbed by D.A.R. In 1939, an incident involving the Daughters of the American Revolution, members of which are directly descended from soldiers or patriots of the Revolutionary period, brought Anderson’s name to the attention of millions of Americans, many of whom would never have been acquainted with her otherwise. The D.A.R. denied her use of their Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., for an April 9 concert. A huge outcry ensued, and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt subsequently resigned from the organization. With permission from the federal government, Anderson instead gave a free Easter Sunday outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial. A live crowd of 75,000 and a radio audience numbering into the millions heard the performance, which began with the patriotic song "My Country 'Tis of Thee."
Later that year, Mrs. Roosevelt presented Anderson with the Spingarn Medal. The prestigious award, named for NAACP president Joel E. Spingarn, is awarded by the NAACP to the black American who "made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field of human endeavor," as defined in the New York Times; she used the $10,000 award accompanying the medal to set up the Marian Anderson awards—cash scholarships given each year to ten aspiring young singers regardless of race or creed.
In 1942 the D.A.R. again refused to let Anderson use Constitution Hall, this time reportedly over her demands that the audience for her war benefit concert not be segregated on the basis of color. The issue was finally resolved in 1943, when Anderson sang at Constitution Hall for a China Relief Fund benefit. The following year, the singer gave a performance at Carnegie Hall that included the spiritual "My Lord, What a Morning," which Anderson would later adopt as the title of her autobiography. An enthusiastic New York Times reviewer proclaimed of the appearance: "It became apparent that something very unusual was taking place, one of the rarest of things—a really great song recital." Of the spirituals, the reviewer observed, "[They] displayed a pathos and a profundity of feeling that made them possibly the most moving music of the evening."
In 1948 Anderson underwent a dangerous operation for the removal from her esophagus of a cyst that threatened to damage her voice. For two months she was not permitted to use her voice and was unsure if she would ever be able to sing again. When she was finally allowed to rehearse, her voice returned free of impairment. Following her recovery, Anderson made her first post-World War II tour of Europe, including stops in Scandinavia, Paris, London, Antwerp, Zurich, and Geneva.
Long Delayed Operatic Debut Although Anderson had once expressed a desire to sing opera, she later revealed in a press release, "When some of the things I did in concert gratified me, it did not become a necessity." And so, it was not until January 7, 1955, at the age of 52, that Anderson made her operatic debut in the role of Ulrica in Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera ("The Masquerade Ball"). It was the first time an African-American had sung with the company of New York’s Metropolitan Opera (Met) since it opened in 1883; her presence in the company opened the doors for many black opera singers. When Anderson was offered the chance to sing Verdi’s opera at the Met, she made a point of carefully examining the score with conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos to determine whether it was within her vocal range. Commenting in the New York Times on winning her first opera role, Anderson exclaimed, "Ever since [I] was in high school in Philadelphia, [I] wanted to sing opera—at the Metropolitan, if that could be. Now [I am] speechless."
Over the years, Anderson continued to add to her accomplishments. She sang at the presidential inaugurations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations, and toured the Far East in a 40,000-mile trek sponsored by the U.S. State Department and filmed by CBS-TV. On Easter Sunday of 1965, Anderson gave a farewell concert at Carnegie Hall. The audience of 2,900 included actor Montgomery Clift, who remarked in the New York Times of Anderson’s gift, "This marvelous thing comes across and it’s so rare, so beautiful." The program was typical for Anderson, consisting of songs by Handel, Haydn, Schubert, Samuel Barber, and a selection of spirituals. She gave four encores, including "Ave Maria" and "Let My People Go."
On the occasion of her farewell concert, New York Times music critic Harold C. Schoenberg wrote: "It was Miss Anderson who stood as a symbol for the emergence of the Negro; and while she herself never militantly participated in the civil-rights movement, she was revered as one who, by the force of her personality, talent and probity, was able to become a world figure despite her humble birth and minority status. In a way, she was part of the American dream. And her success story was an inspiration to younger Negro musicians." Describing the range and quality of her voice, Schoenberg noted, "Those who remember her at her height … can never forget that big, resonant voice, with those low notes almost visceral in nature, and with that easy, unforced ascent to the top register. A natural voice, a hauntingly colorful one, it was one of the vocal phenomena of its time."
Selected discography (Gustav Mahler) Kinder-Tontenlieder (title means "Songs on the Death of Infants"), Victor, 1951. Marian Anderson Sings Beloved Songs of Schubert, Victor, 1951. (Giuseppe Verdi) Un ballo in maschera (title means "The Masquerade Ball"), Victor, 1955. Marian Anderson (songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Straus, and Haydn), Victor, 1964. Jus’ Keep on Singin’ (spirituals), Victor, 1965. Spirituals, Victor, 1976. Marian Anderson: Bach, Brahms, Schubert (recorded 1924-55), Victor, 1989. Marian Anderson, Pearl, 1990.
Sources Books Anderson, Marian, My Lord, What a Morning (autobiography), Viking, 1956. Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Macmillan, 1986. Sims, Janet L, Marian Anderson: An Annotated Bibliography and Discography, Greenwood, 1981. Tedards, Anne, Marian Anderson, Chelsea House, 1988. Vehanen, Kosti, Marian Anderson: A Portrait, McGraw-Hill, 1941.
Periodicals Christian Century February 21, 1940. Detroit Free Press, May 8, 1991. National Review, September 29, 1989. New York Times, July 3, 1939; March 18, 1941; November 13, 1944; October 8, 1954; April 19, 1965; May 8, 1991. New York Times Magazine, December 30, 1945. Stage, December 1938. Time, December 30, 1946. Additional information for this profile was obtained from a press release, c. 1949, housed in the E. Azalia Hackley Collection of the Detroit Public Library.
A legendary African-American interpreter of both operatic and concert repertoire, Marian Anderson was possessed of one of the finest contralto voices in living memory. Her career was notable not only for her artistic achievements -- which were many -- but also for a dignified tenacity in the face of discrimination. She opened doors for subsequent generations of black American singers.
Having sung since childhood, and subsequently studied with a number of teachers in her native Philadelphia, Anderson first rose to prominence when she appeared with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925. In the early '30s she made a successful concert tour of Europe, and solidified her growing reputation with further appearances in New York and London.
In 1939, Anderson scheduled an appearance at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., but was denied the use of the building by its owners, the Daughters of the American Revolution, who objected to the presentation of a black performer. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership in the DAR in protest of this decision and then scheduled an appearance for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. The resulting concert, attended by thousands and broadcast nationwide, forever established Anderson as an ambassador for racial progress -- a role she embraced with great pride and success for the remainder of her career. Fittingly, Anderson's 1955 appearance at the Metropolitan Opera marked the first by an African-American singer, preparing the way for such future stars as Leontyne Price and Shirley Verrett.
Marian Anderson's voice was dark, rich, and possessed of great power and agility. Her repertory ranged from opera and concert material to Negro spirituals, and she brought to all things a great sense of commitment and integrity. Arturo Toscanini is noted to have remarked that a voice like hers only appears "once in a hundred years." Her extraordinary range extended all the way down to the D below middle C -- as displayed in her performances of Schubert's song Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen) -- as well as upwards into soprano territory (as an exercise, she even sang the devastatingly difficult "Casta diva" from Bellini's Norma). While her voice was most distinctive in the lower range, she was also capable of lightening it almost to leggiero proportions -- as she did in works of Handel and other Baroque composers -- and of bringing a near-ideal combination of classical training and folk-like spontaneity to the spirituals that were an integral part of her concert and recording repertoire. ~ All Music Guide, Rovi
Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)[2] was an African-Americancontralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Music critic Alan Blyth said "Her voice was a rich, vibrant contralto of intrinsic beauty."[3] Most of her singing career was spent performing in concert and recital in major music venues and with major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965. Although she was offered contracts to perform roles with many important European opera companies, Anderson declined all of these, preferring to perform in concert and recital only. She did, however, perform opera arias within her concerts and recitals. She made many recordings that reflected her broad performance repertoire of everything from concert literature to lieder to opera to traditional American songs and spirituals.[3]
Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. The incident placed Anderson into the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.. She performed before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson continued to break barriers for black artists in the United States, becoming the first black person, American or otherwise, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 7, 1955. Her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on stage.
Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Berkley Anderson and the former Annie Delilah Rucker. Her father sold ice and coal in downtown Philadelphia at the Reading Terminal and eventually opened a small liquor business as well, oddly for a man who did not drink alcohol himself. Prior to her marriage, Anderson's mother had briefly attended the Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg and had worked as a schoolteacher in Virginia. However, having not completed a degree, she was unable to teach in Philadelphia, a law that was applied only to black teachers and not white ones. She therefore earned an income looking after small children. Marian was the eldest of the three Anderson children. Her two sisters, Alice (later spelled Alyse) (1899–1965) and Ethel (1902–1990), also became singers. Ethel married James DePreist and their son, James Anderson DePreist is a noted conductor .[4]
Anderson's parents were both devout Christians and the whole family was highly active in the Union Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. Marian's Aunt Mary (John Berkley's sister) was particularly active in the church's musical life and, noticing her niece's talent, convinced her to join the junior church choir at the age of six. As a part of the choir she got to perform solos and duets, often with Aunt Mary who also had a fine voice. Marian was also taken by her aunt to concerts at local churches, the YMCA, and other community music events throughout the city. Anderson credited her aunt's influence as the reason she pursued a singing career. Beginning as young as six, her aunt arranged for Marian to sing for local functions where she was often paid 25 or 50 cents for singing a few songs. As she got into her early teens, Marian began to make as much as four or five dollars for singing; a considerable amount of money for the early 20th century. At the age of 10, Marian joined the People's Chorus under the direction of singer Emma Azalia Hackley, where she was often given solos.[4]
When Marian was 12, her father was accidentally struck on the head while at work at the Reading Terminal, just a few weeks before Christmas of 1909. He died of heart failure a month later at age 34. Marian and her family moved into the home of her father's parents, Grandpa Benjamin and Grandma Isabella Anderson. Her grandfather had been born a slave and had experienced emancipation in the 1860s. He was the first of the Anderson family to settle in South Philadelphia, and when Marian moved into his home the two became very close. Sadly he died only about a year after the family moved in.[4]
Marian Anderson (1920)
Throughout her teenage years, Marian remained active in her church's musical activities, now heavily involved in the adult choir. She attended Stanton Grammar School, graduating from there in the summer of 1912. Her family, however, could not afford to send her to high school, nor could they pay for any music lessons. Still, Marian continued to perform wherever she could and learn from anyone who was willing to teach her. She joined the Baptists' Young People's Union and the Camp Fire Girls which provided her with some limited musical opportunities. Eventually the directors of the People's Chorus and the pastor of her church, Reverend Wesley Parks, along with other leaders of the black community, banded together to help Marian. They raised the money she needed to get singing lessons with Mary S. Patterson and to attend South Philadelphia High School, from which she graduated in 1921.[4]
After high school, Marian applied to an all-white music school, the Philadelphia Music Academy (now University of the Arts), but was turned away because she was black. The woman working the admissions counter replied, "We don't take colored" when she tried to apply. Undaunted, Anderson pursued studies privately with Giuseppe Boghetti and Agnes Reifsnyder in her native city through the continued support of the Philadelphia black community.[3] She met Boghetti through the principal of her high school. Marian auditioned for him singing 'Deep River' and he was immediately brought to tears.[1]
In 1925 Anderson got her first big break when she won first prize in a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. As the winner she got to perform in concert with the orchestra on August 26, 1925,[5] a performance that scored immediate success with both audience and music critics. Anderson remained in New York to pursue further studies with Frank La Forge. During the time Arthur Judson, whom she had met through the NYP, became her manager. Over the next several years, she made a number of concert appearances in the United States, but racial prejudice prevented her career from gaining much momentum. In 1928, she sang for the first time at Carnegie Hall. Eventually she decided to go to Europe where she spent a number of months studying with Mme. Charles Cahier before launching a highly successful European singing tour.[3]
European fame and the 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert
Anderson at the Department of the Interior in 1943, commemorating her 1939 concert
In 1930 Anderson made her European debut in a concert at Wigmore Hall in London where she was received enthusiastically. She spent the early 1930s touring throughout Europe where she did not encounter the racial prejudices she had experienced in America. In the summer of 1930 she went to Scandinavia where she met the Finnish pianist Kosti Vehanen who became her regular accompanist and her vocal coach for many years. She also met Jean Sibelius through Vehanen after he had heard her in a concert in Helsinki. Moved by her performance, Sibelius invited them to his home and asked his wife to bring champagne in place of the traditional coffee. Sibelius commented to Anderson of her performance that he felt that she had been able to penetrate the Nordic soul. The two struck up an immediate friendship, which further blossomed into a professional partnership, and for many years Sibelius altered and composed songs for Anderson to perform. He created a new arrangement of the song "Solitude" and dedicated it to Anderson in 1939. Originally The Jewish Girl's Song from his 1906 incidental music to Belshazzar's Feast, it later became the "Solitude" section of the orchestral suite derived from the incidental music.[6][7]
In 1934 impresario Sol Hurok offered Anderson a better contract than she previously had with Arthur Judson. He became her manager for the rest of her performing career and it is only through his persuasion that she came back to perform in America. In 1935, Anderson made her first recital appearance in New York at Town Hall which received highly favorable reviews by music critics. She spent the next four years touring throughout the United States and Europe. She was offered opera roles by several European houses but, due to her lack of acting experience, Anderson declined all of these offers. She did, however, record a number of opera arias in the studio which became bestsellers.[3]
Anderson, accompanied by Vehanen, continued to tour throughout Europe during the mid 1930s. She visited Eastern European capitals and Russia and returned again to Scandinavia, where "Marian fever" had spread to small towns and villages where she had thousands of fans. She quickly became a favorite of many conductors and composers of major European orchestras, and drew a large fan base among European audiences.[3] During a 1935 tour in Salzburg, the famed conductor Arturo Toscanini told her she had a voice "heard once in a hundred years." [8]
Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.
In the late 1930s, Anderson gave about 70 recitals a year in the United States. Although by now quite famous, her stature did not completely end the prejudice she confronted as a young black singer touring the United States. She was still denied rooms in certain American hotels and was not allowed to eat in certain American restaurants. Interestingly, because of this discrimination, Albert Einstein, a champion of racial tolerance, hosted Anderson on many occasions, the first being in 1937 when she was denied a hotel before performing at Princeton University. She last stayed with him months before he died in 1955.[9]
In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. At the time, Washington, D.C., was a segregated city and black patrons were upset that they had to sit at the back of Constitution Hall. The District of Columbia Board of Education also declined a request to use the auditorium of a white public high school. As a result of the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, including First LadyEleanor Roosevelt, resigned.[10][11]
Marian Anderson entertains a group of overseas veterans and WACs on the stage of the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium
During World War II and the Korean War, Marian Anderson participated by entertaining the troops in hospitals and bases. In 1943, Anderson finally sang at Constitution Hall at the invitation of the DAR to an integrated audience as part of a benefit for the American Red Cross. She said of the event, "When I finally walked onto the stage of Constitution Hall, I felt no different than I had in other halls. There was no sense of triumph. I felt that it was a beautiful concert hall and I was very happy to sing there." By contrast, the District of Columbia Board of Education continued to bar her from using the high school auditorium in the District of Columbia.[11]
On July 17, 1943, in Bethel, Connecticut, Anderson became the second wife of a man who had asked her to marry him when they were teenagers, architect Orpheus H. Fisher (1900—1986), known as King.[13] By this marriage she had a stepson, James Fisher, from her husband's previous marriage to Ida Gould.[14] The couple had purchased a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm in Danbury, Connecticut, three years earlier in 1940 after an exhaustive search throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Many purchases were attempted but thwarted by property sellers due to racial discrimination. Through the years Fisher built many outbuildings on the property that became known as Marianna Farm, including an acoustic rehearsal studio he designed for his wife. The property remained Anderson's home for more than 50 years.
On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first African-American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. On that occasion, she sang the part of Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (opposite Zinka Milanov, then Herva Nelli, as Amelia) at the invitation of director Sir Rudolf Bing.[15] Anderson said later about the evening, "The curtain rose on the second scene and I was there on stage, mixing the witch's brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot." Although she never appeared with the company again after this production, Anderson was named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera company. The following year she published her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning, which became a bestseller.[11]
In 1957, she sang for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration and toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassadress through the U.S. State Department and the American National Theater and Academy. She traveled 35,000 miles (56,000 km) in 12 weeks, giving 24 concerts. After that, President Eisenhower appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The same year, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[16] In 1958 she was officially designated delegate to the United Nations, a formalization of her role as "goodwill ambassadress" of the U.S. which she had played earlier.[11]
On January 20, 1961 she sang for President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, and in 1962 she performed for President Kennedy and other dignitaries in the East Room of the White House, and also toured Australia.[17] She was active in supporting the civil rights movement during the 1960s, giving benefit concerts for the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1963, she sang at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. That same year she was one of the original 31 recipients of the newly reinstituted Presidential Medal of Freedom (which is awarded for "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, World Peace or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors"), and she also released her album, Snoopycat: The Adventures of Marian Anderson's Cat Snoopy, which included short stories and songs about her beloved black cat.[18] In 1965, she christened the nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine, USS George Washington Carver. That same year Anderson concluded her farewell tour, after which she retired from public performance. The international tour began at Constitution Hall on Saturday October 24, 1964 and ended at Carnegie Hall on April 18, 1965.[11]
In 1986, Anderson's husband, Orpheus Fisher, died after 43 years of marriage. Anderson remained in residence at Marianna Farm until 1992, one year before her death. Although the property was sold to developers, various preservationists as well as the City of Danbury fought to protect Anderson's studio. Their efforts proved successful and the Danbury Museum and Historical Society received a grant from the State of Connecticut, relocated the structure, restored it, and opened it to the public in 2004. In addition to seeing the studio, visitors can see photographs and memorabilia from milestones in Anderson's career.[21][22]
The life and art of Marian Anderson has inspired several writers and artists. In 1999 a one act musical play entitled My Lord, What a Morning: The Marian Anderson Story was produced by the Kennedy Center.[23] In 2001, the 1939 documentary film, Marian Anderson: the Lincoln Memorial Concert was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Anderson's 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial also forms a centre point of Richard Powers's novel The Time of Our Singing (2003).[11]
On January 27, 2005, a commemorative U.S. postage stamp honored Marian Anderson as part of the Black Heritage series. Anderson is also pictured on the US$5,000 Series I United States Savings Bond.[25]
Marian Anderson's picture appears in on the $5000 paper Series I Bond issued by the US Treasury.
Marian Anderson Award
The Marian Anderson Award was originally established in 1943 by Anderson after she was awarded the $10,000 Bok Prize that year by the city of Philadelphia. Anderson used the award money to establish a singing competition to help support young singers; recipients of which include Camilla Williams (1943, 1944), Nathaniel Dickerson (1944), Louise Parker (1944), Rawn Spearman (1949), Georgia Laster (1951), Betty Allen (1952), Shirlee Emmons (1953), Judith Raskin (1952, 1953), Miriam Holman (1954), Shirley Verrett (1957), and Joyce Mathis (1967). Eventually the prize fund ran out of money and it was disbanded. Florence Quivar was the last recipient of this earlier award in 1976.
In 1990 the award was re-established and has dispensed $25,000 annually. In 1998 the prize was restructured with the "Marian Anderson Award" going to an established artist, not necessarily a singer, who exhibits leadership in a humanitarian area. A separate prize, the "Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists" is given to promising young classical singers.[11][26]
^ Marian Anderson always claimed she was born on February 17, 1902, however her birth certificate is reported to give her birth date as February 27, 1897.[1]
^ Alice DuBois, "TRAVEL ADVISORY; A Place to Remember Marian Anderson", New York Times, September 26, 2004. Found at New York Times archives. Last accessed August 6, 2010.
^ Michael Schuman, "Singer Marian Anderson, who overcame racism, graced Danbury, Conn." Albany Times-Union, June 6, 2010, Travel section p. 5. Found at Times Union archives. Accessed August 6, 2010.
Raymond Arsenault, The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert that awakened America (2009). ISBN 1596915781
Freedman, Russell, The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle For Equal Rights (Clarion Books, New York, 2004) ISBN 978-0618159765
Houghton Mifflin Companion to US History. The Reader's Companion to American History, Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Marian Anderson. Read more
