Please see passage from ‘In One Lifetime’, a personal perspective about composer William Grant Still by his wife Verna Arvey (pianist, librettist).
“This reminded us of R. Nathaniel Dett’s strong plea, when he visited groups of Negro musicians in Los Angeles, for Negroes to buy and perform works by Negro composers. At the time, we thought he was being a little chauvinistic, but later we realized that the more people buy and perform music, the more it is publicized and the better it is for everyone. We knew what he meant when we tried so hard to reach Marian Anderson, to ask if she would be willing to examine some of Billy’s (William Grant Still) songs, with a view to including a Still work on her concerts. We were not able to get near her-nor indeed, to any of the top Negro singers of the day, when their attention would have helped so much.”
Metropolitan soprano Latonia Moore agreed to sing opera arias and other compositions by William Grant Still during postponed June 29, 2020 POLITICS of MUSIC concert, Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Latonia Moore
POLITICS of MUSIC poster
