Carol Brice sings "Songs of a Wayfarer" (4)

Description

The great contralto, Carol Brice (1918-1985), whose career seems to have been dwarfed by Marian Anderson's (one black alto was all that the public could handle at the time?) sings Gustav Mahler's cycle "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen". Fritz Reiner conducts (1946). Brice had a gorgeous instrument and a real artistic sense. A shame more of her voice isn't on record.... She was the first African American to receive the prestigious Walter Naumburg award (1943). Here is an interesting article from "Time" magazine (11 March 1946): "Voice Like A Cello" -- Once a year the Friends of the Boston Symphony—some 1000 Back Bay Brahmins who pay the Symphony's deficits—get a concert free. To make things intimate, Boston's vast Symphony Hall is curtained off halfway back. Last week, at the annual club concert, Conductor Serge Koussevitzky led the orchestra through a typical free-treat program—a bit of Mozart, a bit of Berlioz. Then he shooed the orchestra off stage, began a short speech in Russian-coated English: "Our Boston Symphony discovered Dorothy Maynor. Today we discover another great singer—Carol Brice. I hope very soon this artist will also be as great as Dorothy Maynor." Then he led on stage 27-year-old Negro Contralto Carol Brice, a tall girl dressed in a simple black dress. She waited quietly while Koussevitzky scampered out front to listen. Then she sang Handel's My Father and Where Shall I Fly?; two lieder and a rhythmic Hall Johnson spiritual. Her singing brought the <b>...</b>

Keywords

porgy, bess, regina, blitzstein, marian, anderson, finian's, rainbow, saratoga, the, grass, harp

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