"A Streetcar named Desire" w/ Cottbus Ballet - Florence Price
For the creation of my ballet “A Streetcar Named Desire” with the Cottbus Ballet, one aspect of the original play that is not explicitly addressed is the theme of “Blackness” or the elements associated with black culture. I thought it was important to underline its importance as the story happens in one of the most influential cultural environments, “New Orleans” - a city deeply rooted in black culture, particularly in jazz music.
This concept was first initiated by the Nardal sisters Paulette and Jeanne, and later developed further by Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor, who coined the term “négritude”.
To do so, I focused my musical choices on Afro-American composers and singers and discovered some truly amazing compositions.
I will share their stories with you and shed light on their work, which, unfortunately for most of them, remains in the shadows.
First on the list is Florence Price
Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887 and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music before settling in Chicago, where she worked until her death in 1953. She became the first African American woman to have her symphony performed by a major orchestra, breaking ground in a musical world that systematically excluded Black artists and particularly Black women.
Despite composing over 300 works spanning symphonies, concertos, choral pieces, art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments, much of Price's catalog remained in the shadows of classical music history. In 2009, decades after her death, a substantial collection of her works and papers was discovered in her abandoned summer home, offering us a second chance to encounter music that should never have been lost in the first place.
Here are the works I selected for my ballet
“Adoration”
“String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, III. Juba”
The third movement, “Juba”, starts at 19’52’’ in this video
I invite you to take a closer look at her work. She has some beautiful and powerful compositions.
For example, you can find more about her on this website dedicated to her and the website of the International Florence Price Festival.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you enjoyed it. In the next post, I will tell you about another artist who is part of the musical landscape of my creation.
- Martin
