Women Composers - Florence B. Price

Florence B. Price

USA | 1887 – 1953

Pioneering composer Florence Beatrice Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra. In fact, during her lifetime her music was performed widely by the leading artists of the day. Cultural and musical influences both of West Africa and the American South where she grew up can be detected throughout her oeuvre, which includes at least three Symphonies and a number of other large-scale works. Despite her success as a composer, life was also challenging at times for Price. Racial tension forced her to move to Chicago, and after a divorce she was left to raise her two children on her own. As the scholar Professor Shirley Thompson says, ‘That she managed to compose, and on such a large and fruitful scale, is astonishing’.

Florence B. Price

Concert Overture No. 2

Go Down Moses · Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit · Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen for orchestra (1943) · 15’