Maxwell Anderson,
Dubose Heyward,
Ira Gershwin,
Kurt Weill,
George Gershwin
Genre: Vocal Music
Instrument: Vocals, Sax (Alto), Saxophone
Biography
Todd Duncan was one of the groundbreaking figures in American art-song, as the first Black performer to join the New York City Opera, and also the original Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Born Robert Todd Duncan in Danville, KY, he earned a B.A. from Butler University in Indianapolis, and an M.A. from Teacher Collegew at Columbia University, before joining the music department faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He began his operatic career in 1934 with a production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with the Aeollian Opera, and sang with various black opera companies, in the days when that stage was still as segregated as most others in the world of high art. The music critic Olin Downes, who had seen Duncan perform, urged George Gershwin to audition Duncan in 1935, when he was trying to cast the role of Porgy in his opera Porgy and Bess. The composer had already auditioned more than 100 baritones but offered Duncan the part after hearing him sing 12 bars of an aria from an Italian opera. Ironically, Duncan wasn't enthusiastic about accepting the role--he identified Gershwin as a Tin Pan Alley composer, of popular songs, whereas his repertory and preference lay with the works of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms.
He heard what Gershwin had written, accepted the part, and sang 124 performances of Porgy and Bess in 1935, and did it in revival in 1937 and 1942. Porgy and Bess opened up concert stages to Duncan throughout the United States while he, in turn, opened up the world of art-music to Black performers. He joined the City Opera in 1945, making his debut in Leoncavallo's Il Pagliacci, the first Black singer ever to sign with the company, and the first Black performer ever to work in an opera with an otherwise all-white cast. His work heralded the desegregation of that part of the musical world.
Duncan left Howard University in 1945, as his operatic and concert career demanded ever more of his time. In 1949, he played the role of the Zulu minister in the Maxwell Anderson-Kurt Weill musical Lost In The Stars. As a recitalist, Duncan sang more than 2000 performances in 56 countries over a period of 40 years, and was in constant demand for operatic productions and the theatrical stage. He made a recording of the key songs from Porgy and Bess with Anne Brown, the original Bess, for Decca in the early 1940's.
Duncan later returned to Washington, D.C. and also joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, becoming a renowned teacher. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Robert Todd Duncan (February 2, 1903-February 28, 1998) was an Americanbaritone opera singer and actor.
Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky. He was George Gershwin's personal choice as the first performer of the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess in 1935. Duncan played the role more than 1,800 times.
He was also the first performer for the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill's
Lost in the Stars and was a noted concert singer. Duncan taught voice at
Howard University in Washington, D.C. for
more than fifty years.
He obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.A.
in music followed by an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College. In 1933,
Duncan debuted in Mascagni's Cavalleria
Rusticana at the Mecca Temple in New York with the Aeolian Opera, a black opera company. In 1945, he became the first
African American to sing with a major opera company singing the role of Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with the New York City Opera Company. In the same year he sang as Escamillio in Bizet's Carmen.
While teaching at Howard, he continued touring as a soloist with concert pianist William Duncan Allen
(1906-1999). He a very successful career as a concert singer with over 2,000 performances in 56 countries. He retired from
Howard University in 1945 and opened his own voice studio teaching privately and giving periodic
recitals. In 1978, the Washington Performing Arts Society presented
his 75th birthday gala.
Duncan was awarded the George Peabody Medal of Music from the Peabody Converatory of
Music of Johns Hopkins University in 1984. Other awards he received
include a medal of honor from Haiti, an NAACP award, the Donaldson Award, the New York Drama Critics'
Award for Lost in the Stars, and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso University and Butler University.
Duncan was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letterfraternity established for African
Americans. [1]
