Songs to the Dark Virgin

Alternate Title

• None¹

Composition Year

• 1935

Copyright Information

• October 17, 1941, G. Schirmer, Inc., E pub. 98821

Instrumentation

• Piano and medium or high voice

Length

• 2 min.

Lyricist and Source

• Langston Hughes (1901–1967)
• The Weary Blues. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926.
  • OCLC: 304250

Manuscripts

• MC988a: Florence Beatrice Smith Price Papers Addendum, Special Collections, Mullins Library, University of Arkansas
  • Score (May 2, 1935): Box 14, Folder 11
• MS Coll. 199: Marian Anderson Collection of Music Manuscripts, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania
  • Bound score, complete (May 2, 1935): Box 61, Folder 1431²
  • Score (undated): Box 61, Folder 1433

Premiere Performance

• Earliest known: November 19, 1939; Memorial Auditorium, Burlington, Vermont; Marian Anderson, contralto; Kosti Vehanen, piano.²
• New York: November 29, 1939; Carnegie Hall, New York City; Marian Anderson, contralto; Kosti Vehanen, piano.

Published Editions

• Songs to the Dark Virgin. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1941.
• Patterson, Willis C., ed. Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers. New York: E.B. Marks Music Corp., 1977.
• Briscoe, James R., ed. New Historical Anthology of Music by Women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
  • OCLC: 56599137
• Heard, Richard, ed. 44 Art Songs and Spirituals by Florence Price. Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 2015.
  • OCLC: 902815587

Recordings

• Under Construction

Thematic Incipits

Bibliography

1. Brown, Rae Linda. The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. Music in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2020.
2. Durrant, Elizabeth. “Chicago Renaissance Women: Black Feminism in the Careers and Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.” MA thesis, University of North Texas, 2021.
3. Green, Mildred Denby. Black Women Composers: A Genesis. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983. (Based on the author’s dissertation.)
4. Hsieh, Meng-Chieh (Mavis). “A Stylistic and Comparative Analysis of Selected Art Songs by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.” DMA diss., University of Hartford, 2019.
5. Mashego, Shana Thomas. “Music from the Soul of Woman: The influence of the African American Presbyterian and Methodist Traditions on the Classical Compositions of Florence Price and Dorothy Rudd Moore.” DMA diss., University of Arizona, 2010.
6. Peters, Penelope. “Deep Rivers: Selected Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.” Canadian university music review/Revue de musique des universités canadiennes 16 (1995): 74–95.
7. Rodriguez, James D. and Gwendolyn Alfred. “A Brief Overview of Selected Art Songs by Black Female Composers for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Students.” Journal of Singing 77 (2021): 605–17.
8. Shadle, Douglas. “Plus Ça Change: Florence B. Price in the #BlackLivesMatter Era.” NewMusicBox. February 20, 2019.
9. Smith, Bethany Jo. “‘Song to the Dark Virgin’: Race and Gender in Five Art Songs of Florence B. Price.” MM thesis, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, 2007.

Notes