I learned that another state – Illinois – is now onn the bandwagon of keeping Trump off the ballot. Good luck to all of us.
Heather Cox Richardson is reminded in our time of the times of the “Know Nothing” Party in the 1850s. And with good reason. The actual party name was “the Native American Party,” and later just “the American Party.” Just as misidentified as today’s “Patriots.”
(I have multiple sources for all of this – Wikipedia is the main one but Performance Today deserves mention.) Today being the second day of Women’s History month, and on the heels of Black History month, it seems to me a good day to bring up Florence Beatrice Price, an American woman of color who was a composer in the 20th Century. She was told many times she was “not a good fit” by publishers – but the Chicago Symphony played her works and they were met with appreciation. Wanamaker’s there (the first retail department store in the U.S.) would hold annual composition contests for local composers, and she was a consistent winner, in one year winning first, second, and third place. But all her manuscripts were kept in the home she used as a summer residence, and when she died, it was abandoned. It was not until 2009 that someone interested in purchasing the home discovered them, and fortunately, was musical enough to know what they had. The works included four symphonies, two violin concertos, a piano concerto, other orchestral works, songs, choral works, chamber music, arangements of spirituals, and probably more piano solos than anything else. According to Performance Today, she is not the most performed female composer in America. And that happened in the 15 years between 2009 and now. I am so glad that I have lived to hear at least some of it. I am listening to one on the radio as I type – her Symphony #3. And it is beautiful.
