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Canon Busters: Black Classical Composers Finally Being Recognized
Canon Busters: Black Classical Composers Finally Being Recognized
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In the world of classical music, Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, among others, have long been recognized as the “crème de la crème” brilliant, prolific composers considered icons within a canon dominated by white men.
Now, after decades languishing in relative obscurity, four African American classical composers are gaining the respect they deserve and that was formerly denied because of pervasive racist and sexist ideologies.
William Grant Still, Jr. (1895–1978), George Theophilus Walker (1922–2018), Florence Beatrice (Smith) Price (1887–1953) and emerging artist Jessie Montgomery (born 1981), each had compositions performed by the New Orchestra of Washington (D.C.) during a concert on June 19.
The music of African American classical composers is rarely performed on concert stages in Europe and the US. Baritone Thomas Hampson wants to change this.
Berlin, city of music, goes online
Oxford plans to change curriculum
The University of Oxford has recognized the lack of diversity in its curriculum. Recently, Britain s
The Sunday Telegraph wrote that editors had seen proposals for changes to undergraduate courses at the elite university to include more diverse forms of music in its curriculum.
Professors and students had criticized that there were too many works by white European composers from the time of slavery, including music by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. According to
The
Black classical composers to listen to
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
He died of syphilitic dementia and was buried in an unmarked grave. His opera Treemonisha wasn t performed until seven decades later. But Scott Joplin s Maple Leaf Rag and 43 other ragtime piano pieces made him one of the 20th century s most influential composers. Melody in the right hand, accompaniment in the left, and those syncopations! Jazz? No, thoroughly classical i