Florence Price (1887-1953) USA
- andreachamizoalber
- Aug 31
- 1 min read
Composer, pianist, organist, and teacher. Price is known as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a composer and the first to have a work performed by a major orchestra.
Here's Fantasie Negre. You can see the score in the video.
She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Initially, she passed herself off as Mexican to avoid racial discrimination against African Americans and listed her hometown as "Pueblo, Mexico." She then wrote her first symphony, which later won first place in the Wanamaker Foundation Awards. I couldn't find the score, but I'm sharing this Symphony No. 1 in E minor.
In 1931, she divorced and became a single mother to her two daughters. To make ends meet, she began working as an organist for silent film screenings and composed songs for radio commercials under a pseudonym. During this time, she lived with friends, eventually moving in with her student Margaret Bonds, also a Black pianist and composer.
Here is her work The Oak for orchestra, the link to download the score is included.
She wrote four symphonies, piano and violin concertos, orchestral and choral works, chamber music, solo piano, and organ pieces. I'm sharing "Adoration" for organ and the link to the score.
Here's the link to IMSLP where you can find more of Price's music.
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