Marian Anderson

Singer

• Born: February 27, 1897
• Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Died: April 8, 1993
• Place of death: Portland, Oregon

Singer

Best known as a recitalist who performed in both Europe and the United States, Anderson became an inadvertent civil rights activist when she sang at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being turned away from performing in the recital hall owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Areas of achievement: Civil rights; Music: classical and operatic; Music: spirituals

Early Life

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia’s “Negro Quarter” in February, 1897. Her musical talent became obvious when she began singing and playing on a toy piano at the age of two. Anderson continued to explore music by playing with a toy xylophone and later studying the violin. However, it was her rich voice that brought her fame. She was encouraged in her musical pursuits by her family and her church. At the age of thirteen, Anderson sang solos for her church, including “Imflammatus,” with its series of high C’s. This piece demonstrated her impressive vocal range.

Anderson’s racial struggles began in public school. In Philadelphia at the time, African Americans were required to have earned degrees in order to teach. Because few African Americans met this qualification, Anderson was unable to find a teacher. She persevered and by the time she entered high school at eighteen, she was taking lessons from Mary Saunders Patterson, who instructed her in voice and repertoire. Anderson’s work with Patterson led to her first recital, which was staged to raise money for Anderson’s education. She was then able to study with Agnes Reifsnyder, a white contralto who was fluent on the piano. These lessons enabled Anderson to hone her skill in solo recital repertoire.

Anderson subsequently met the tenor Roland Hayes, who was widely considered the best African American singer of his time. From Hayes, she learned how to keep a quiet, dignified demeanor. He also advised her that she should aim for international success by singing a variety of musical styles, not just spirituals and folk songs.

In 1917, Anderson performed her first concert in Georgia. In order to travel to this concert, she endured the humiliation of riding in the train’s Jim Crow car, situated behind the engine. By April, 1918, Anderson had begun performing at the prestigious Academy of Music in Philadelphia. The critical acclaim she won there led her to study with Oscar Saenger of Chicago. Saenger’s specialty was opera, a repertoire with which Anderson did not feel comfortable, as she had not been exposed to the European languages that are common in opera. However, the National Association of Negro Musicians held its annual summer meeting in Chicago, and Anderson had a chance to perform before numerous African American musicians and teachers. She received rave reviews for her performances.

In 1919, Anderson met Giuseppe Boghetti (born Joe Bogash) of Philadelphia, who agreed to take her on as one of his students. However, Anderson had difficulty paying for her studies. She gave all of her earnings to her mother, who used the money to care for Anderson’s sisters and keep them in school. Anderson’s father had died many years earlier, leaving Anderson and her mother as the family’s primary breadwinners. A local church subsequently stepped in to provide funds for Anderson’s vocal training.

Life’s Work

In 1924, Anderson debuted at Town Hall in New York. This was a very important concert, and although she was disappointed in her performance, she resumed training. With the help of Boghetti and her accompanist, Billy King, Anderson entered major competitions sponsored by the National Music League and New York’s Lewisohn Stadium. As the winner of the Lewisohn Stadium contest, she earned the chance to appear with the New York Philharmonic during a summer concert in the stadium.

After this competition, Anderson and King traveled extensively throughout the Northeast and the South. Her popularity continued to grow, drawing African Americans and whites to her concerts. Even in the segregated South, Anderson performed to audiences of both races.

In 1928, Anderson left the United States for London to continue her training. She realized that she needed more training in song interpretation. Anderson soon established a pattern of traveling to Europe during the fall music season to give concerts and study new repertoire.

Anderson’s journey to the top of the music industry charts was difficult. Her first contract with the Judson Management Agency resulted in great dissatisfaction on her part. By 1934, Anderson had changed her concert management from Judson to Houck. She began to study opera and give more concerts. Another threat loomed as Anderson realized that the racial hatred expressed by the Nazis was affecting her concert bookings. American newspapers reported that Anderson had been banned from performing in Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg, Austria. These restrictions foreshadowed the controversy that arose five years later in Washington, D.C., when Anderson was denied the chance to perform a concert at Constitution Hall. When she instead performed triumphantly at the Lincoln Memorial, she struck a public blow against racism and segregation.

Anderson did not train to be an opera singer, yet because of her rich contralto voice, she was sought by numerous European houses as a guest artist. During the 1930’s, Anderson studied lieder (German art songs) and opera in Europe. She continued to perform at small, intimate venues and included traditional African American spirituals in her recitals with pianist Franz Rupp.

Anderson married her high school sweetheart, Orpheus Fisher, in July, 1943. They moved to a farm near Danbury, Connecticut. Fisher was white, and their interracial marriage provoked prejudice in their new community. Anderson continued to tour, singing recitals around the world. In 1946, Anderson began to experience health problems. A cyst was found on her esophagus. She refused to have it removed and maintained her strenuous concert schedule. By 1948, the cyst had grown and was interfering with her singing and breathing, and Anderson submitted to the delicate operation to remove the growth. After a month’s recovery, she resumed singing.

In 1950, Anderson and her husband sold their house and fifty acres of the farm and agreed to divide their time between a smaller house near Anderson’s studio and New York City. Anderson performed until her retirement in 1966, after which she continued to accept awards and honorary degrees, talked to young people in colleges and conservatories, devoted time to arts organizations, traveled, worked on photography, tended to her husband after he suffered a stroke, sewed, and established an annual award for young American singers. Anderson died in her home on April 8, 1993, at the age of ninety-six.

Significance

Anderson broke down racial barriers in Europe and then in the United States with her talent and presence. The quiet, petite, private singer opened the doors for future African American performers through her famous concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. She also was the first African American woman to sign a singing contract with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Her impeccable credentials as a vocalist with an international reputation secured her the position at the Met. Anderson’s first performance, as Ulrica the Sorceress in Giuseppe Verdi’s A Masked Ball, occurred on January 7, 1955. She sang this role—her only one at the Met—five times over two seasons.

Bibliography

Anderson, Marian. My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992. Anderson’s autobiography was originally written in 1956, after her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera. This is a passionate, emotional, and honest account of an extraordinary talent.

Arsenault, Raymond. The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009. A detailed history of Anderson’s groundbreaking concert, presenting the event as an overlooked milestone in the struggle for civil rights.

Freedman, Russell. The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. An accessible biography of Anderson written for young readers. Each of the eight chapters discusses one major event of her life.

Gill, Glenda Eloise. No Surrender! No Retreat! African American Pioneer Performers of Twentieth Century American Theater. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Documents how fifteen African American performing artists, including Anderson, overcame oppression in the course of their careers. Includes archival documents and interviews.

Hobson, Janell. “Everybody’s Protest Song: Music as Social Protest in the Performances of Marian Anderson and Billie Holiday.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 33, no. 2 (Winter, 2008): 443-448. Discusses the social significance of Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial and Holiday’s antilynching song “Strange Fruit.”

Keiler, Allan. Marian Anderson: A Singer’s Journey. New York: Scribner, 2000. A thorough biography offering detailed primary and secondary research that chronicles Anderson’s life. An indispensable resource for those interested in the social history of African Americans.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt. Edited by Allida M. Black. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Situates Anderson and the Daughters of the American Revolution within the history of women in twentieth century America. Describes the historical significance of Anderson’s performance in 1939 from Roosevelt’s perspective.

Ware, Susan. Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. Chronicles the lives of seven influential women, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Anderson. It shows how each woman created a persona critical to her success and emphasizes how each balanced her public and her private lives.