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About
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 9th, 1887, Florence Beatrice Price began playing the piano and composing at age four. Her father was the only Black dentist in their town, and her mother was a music teacher who inspired Price’s early interest in music.
In 1903, when Price was only 16 years old, she began her studies at the New England Conservatory. During her time at university she took private composition lessons with George Whitfield Chadwick. Under Chadwick’s mentorship, Price experimented with African American folk inspirations in her compositions—something that would guide the rest of her musical career.
After earning her Artist’s Diploma in organ performance and a piano teacher’s diploma, Price returned to the South and taught in two schools before heading the music department at Clark University in Atlanta. She married in 1912, returning to Little Rock for several years, but was ultimately forced to uproot and join the Great Migration due to race riots and lynchings. In 1926, Price and her family moved to Chicago.
Price found a rich and vibrant community of Black musicians in Chicago. She began studying at the American Conservatory, initiating a compositionally prolific and creative period of her life that solidified her as part of the Chicago Black Renaissance. In 1932, she rose to national prominence when her Symphony in E minor won the Rodman Wanamaker Music competition and was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This historic concert made Price the first Black woman to have a symphony performed by a major national orchestra. A short while later, Marian Anderson performed Price’s My Soul’s Been Anchored in de Lord and Songs to the Dark Virgin on the world stage, boosting Price’s fame even further.
Price’s songs were performed by many prominent singers of her day, including Leontyne Price, Blanche Thebom, and Etta Moten. Her compositional style combined contemporary influences, such as those of the Harlem Renaissance and African American cultural heritage, with neo-Romanticism, which was popular among composers at that time. Price’s orchestral compositions drew particular inspiration from the work of Dvorak, with her first symphony both mirroring his ninth and altering its established form to include a chorale and juba dance.
By the time of her death in 1953, Price had composed four symphonies, three piano concertos, and two piano concertos, as well as countless choral works, art songs, spiritual arrangements, and other solo and chamber works. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, over 300 of her compositions, mostly songs and piano pieces, still remain unpublished. Additional compositions continue to be discovered to this day.
Price faced significant racial and gendered discrimination which precluded her from attaining widespread recognition within the classical mainstream during her lifetime, yet her music has continued to flourish. Florence Louise Robinson, Price’s daughter, helped bring wider recognition to Price’s works. Scholars such as Rae Linda Brown, Helen Walker-Hill, and Samantha Ege have also played an instrumental role in promoting study and performance of Price’s music. From Price’s deep connection with her own communities to the dedication of subsequent scholars, her work has endured.
—Sophia Janevic
This profile was edited in 2023 as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
Sources:
Brown, Rae Linda. “Price [née Smith], Florence Bea(trice).” Grove Music Online. 30 Mar. 2020; Accessed 17 Aug. 2023. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-90000367402.
Ege, Samantha. “Florence Beatrice Price.” Liner Notes for Price, Florence. Fantasie Nègre: The Piano Music of Florence Price. Samantha Ege, performer. Lontano Records, 2021. CD.
Related Information
Songs
A Flea and a Fly
Florence Price
Ogden Nash
Song Collection: Four Encore Songs
A White Rose
Florence Price
John Boyle O’Reilly
An April Day
Florence Price
Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.
Because
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Beside the Sea
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Bewilderment
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
“Come, come,” said Tom’s Father
Florence Price
Song Collection: Four Encore Songs
Dawn's Awakening
Florence Price
James Joseph Burke
Dreamin' Town
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Fantasy in Purple
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
Feet o' Jesus
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
Five Art Songs
Song CollectionFlorence Price
Langston Hughes
Mary Folwell Hoisington
Julia Johnson Davis
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Forever
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Four Encore Songs
Song CollectionFlorence Price
Graham Lee Hemminger
Ogden Nash
Go Down, Moses
Florence Price
Spiritual
Hold Fast To Dreams
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
I Am Bound for the Kingdom
Florence Price
Spiritual
Song Collection: Two Traditional Negro Spirituals
I Grew a Rose
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
I'm Goin' to Lay Down My Heavy Load
Florence Price
Spiritual
I'm Workin' on My Buildin'
Florence Price
Spiritual
Song Collection: Two Traditional Negro Spirituals
Love-in-a-mist
Florence Price
Mary Rolofson Gamble
My Dream
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
My Little Soul’s Goin’ to Shine
Florence Price
Spiritual
My Neighbor
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord
Florence Price
Spiritual
Night
Florence Price
Louise C. Wallace
Out of the South Blew a Wind
Florence Price
Fannie Carter Woods
Resignation
Florence Price
Florence Price
Rise Mourner
Florence Price
Spiritual
Save Me Lord, Save Me
Florence Price
Spiritual
Some o' These Days
Florence Price
Spiritual
Song of the Open Road
Florence Price
Ogden Nash
Song Collection: Four Encore Songs
Songs to the Dark Virgin
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
Spring
Florence Price
Florence Price
Sunset
Florence Price
Odessa P. Elder
Sympathy
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
The Glory of the Day was in Her Face
Florence Price
James Weldon Johnson
The Moon Bridge
Florence Price
Mary Rolofson Gamble
The Heart of a Woman
Florence Price
Georgia Douglas Johnson
The Poet and His Song
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Sum
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Washerwoman
Florence Price
Otto Leland Bohanan
To My Little Son
Florence Price
Julia Johnson Davis
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
Tobacco
Florence Price
Graham Lee Hemminger
Song Collection: Four Encore Songs
Travel's End
Florence Price
Mary Folwell Hoisington
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
Trouble Done Come My Way
Florence Price
Florence Price
Two Traditional Negro Spirituals
Song CollectionFlorence Price
Spiritual
We Have Tomorrow
Florence Price
Langston Hughes
Weary Traveler
Florence Price
Spiritual
What's the Use?
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Words For a Spiritual
Florence Price
Spiritual
You Won't Find a Man Like Jesus
Florence Price
Spiritual
Day Dawns
Florence Price
Angelina Weld Grimké
Song Collection: Three Short Songs
The Crescent Moon
Florence Price
Song Collection: Three Short Songs
The Broken Bowl
Florence Price
Song Collection: Three Short Songs
Videos
The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price
2015
Price: “A Flea and a Fly”
2013
Price: “An April Day”
2013
Price: “Come, Come Said Tom’s Father”
2013
Price: “Hold Fast to Dreams”
2013
Price: “Night”
2013
Price: “Night”
2017
Price: “Out of the South Blew a Wind”
2013
Price: “Song of the Open Road”
2013
Price: “Sympathy”
2013
Price: “Tobacco”
2013
Recordings
Show Me the Way
(Jasmine Barnes, Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen and Florence Price)
2024
"Singing Justice" Seminar Recital
(Margaret Bonds, Henry T. Burleigh, Maud Cuney Hare, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Lori Hicks, Hall Johnson, John Rosamond Johnson, Undine Smith Moore, Robert L. Morris, Robert Owens, Rosephanye Powell, Florence Price, Brandon J Spencer and Spiritual)
2022
View recording
Nearly Lost: Art Songs by Florence Price
(Florence Price)
2019
Songs from Chicago
(Ernst Bacon, Margaret Bonds, John Alden Carpenter, Louis Campbell-Tipton and Florence Price)
2018
View recording
I, Too
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price and Hall Johnson)
2012
Songs of America: Oral Moses
(Uzee Brown, Jr., Henry T. Burleigh, Aaron Copland, Florence Price and Howard Swanson)
2007
Dreamer - A Portrait of Langston Hughes
(Margaret Bonds, William Grant Still, Kurt Weill, Henry T. Burleigh, Robert Owens, John Musto, Ricky Ian Gordon, Howard Swanson, Jean Berger, Erik Santos and Florence Price)
2001
Ah! Love, But A Day
(Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen, Margaret Ruthven Lang, Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price, Gladys Rich and Gwyneth Van Anden Walker)
1998
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Charles Samuel Brown, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, George Walker, Howard Swanson, Florence Price, Henry Clay Work and Cecil Cohen)
1998
Lucille Field sings Songs by American Women
(Ruth Crawford Seeger, Miriam Gideon and Florence Price)
1987
My Sister’s Keeper: Celebrating the 150th Birthday of Paul Laurence Dunbar
(Paul Laurence Dunbar, B. E. Boykin, Betty Jackson King, Irene Britton Smith, Lena J. McLin, Florence Price and Zenobia Powell Perry)
2022
View recording
Books
The Heart of a Woman: the Life and Music of Florence B. Price
The first-ever biography of Florence B. Price, the first African American woman to gain national recognition for her compositional works. Through interviews and a wealth of material from public and private archives, Rae Linda Brown illuminates Price's major works while exploring the considerable depth of her achievement. Brown also traces the life of the extremely private individual from her childhood in Little Rock through her time at the New England Conservatory, her extensive teaching, and her struggles with racism, poverty, and professional jealousies.
Black Women Composers: A Genesis
Includes chapters on Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Julia Perry, Evelyn Pittman, and Lena McLin.
Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance: A Collection of Essays
This collection from 1990 includes chapters about Robert Nathaniel Dett, Duke Ellington, interactions between writers, artists, and music during the Harlem Renaissance, and Rae Linda Brown's chapter "William Grant Still, Florence Price and William Dawson: echoes of the Harlem Renaissance," as well as an extensive bibliography.
Sheet Music
An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs - 60 Songs
Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David N. Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, H. T. Burleigh, Valerie Capers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arthur Cunningham, Harriette Davison Watkins, William Dawson, Mark Fax, Bruce Forsythe, Antônio Carlos Gomes, Adolphus Hailstork, Jacqueline Hairston, Maud Cuney Hare, Jeraldine Herbison, Jonathan Holland, Sylvia Hollifield, Langston Hughes, J. Rosamond Johnson, Thomas Kerr, Lena McLin, Undine Smith Moore, Andre Myers, Camille Nickerson, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Eurydice Osterman, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Zenobia Powell Perry, Rosephanye Powell, Florence Price, Dave Ragland, Nadine Shanti, Carlos Simon, Hale Smith, Irene Britton Smith, Brandon Spencer, Hilbert Stewart, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Aurelia Young
Song(s): Amazing Grace (H. Leslie Adams)
Christmas Lullaby (H. Leslie Adams)
Sence You Went Away (H. Leslie Adams)
The Heart of a Woman (H. Leslie Adams)
The Alarm Clock (David N. Baker)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Margaret Bonds)
Caring (Charles Brown)
Desire (Charles Brown)
Your Eyes So Deep (H. T. Burleigh)
Your Lips Are Wine (H. T. Burleigh)
Autumn (Valerie Capers)
Elëanore (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
The Willow Song (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
Minakesh (Arthur Cunningham)
Stars (Harriette Davison Watkins)
Out in the Fields (William Dawson)
The Refused (Mark Fax)
With Rue My Heart Is Laden (Bruce Forsythe)
Suspiro d’alma (Antônio Carlos Gomes)
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking (Adolphus Hailstork)
Longing (Adolphus Hailstork)
Loveliest of Trees (Adolphus Hailstork)
Dormi, Jesu (Jacqueline Hairston)
Gardé Piti Mulet Là (Maud Cuney Hare)
I’ll Not Forget (Jeraldine Herbison)
Little Elegy (Jonathan Holland)
In Time of Silver Rain (Sylvia Hollifield)
The Founding Fathers (Langston Hughes)
This is My Land (Langston Hughes)
L’il Gal (J. Rosamond Johnson)
Soliloquy (Thomas Kerr)
Amazing Grace (Lena McLin)
The Year’s at the Spring (Lena McLin)
I Am in Doubt (Undine Smith Moore)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Undine Smith Moore)
For a Poet (Andre Myers)
Chere, Mo Lemmé Toi (Camille Nickerson)
Gué, Gué, Solingaie (Camille Nickerson)
Mshila (Fred Onovwerosuoke)
Entreaty (I Am the Rose of Sharon) (Eurydice Osterman)
Could I but Ride Indefinite (Robert Owens)
Die Nacht (Robert Owens)
From the Dark Tower (Robert Owens)
The Lynching (Robert Owens)
The Secret (Robert Owens)
Madrigal (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
O Children of Men (Zenobia Powell Perry)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Rosephanye Powell)
Spring (Florence Price)
The Sum (Florence Price)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Dave Ragland)
Mangez, Boulez (Eat, Drink, Be Merry) (Nadine Shanti)
Prayer (Carlos Simon)
Troubled Woman (Hale Smith)
Why Fades a Dream? (Irene Britton Smith)
Dream Variations (Brandon Spencer)
Spring Song (Hilbert Stewart)
One Day (Howard Swanson)
I Went to Heaven (George Walker)
Norris Swamp (Aurelia Young)
Voice Type: 36 Songs are for High Voice - Medium to High Voice
24 Songs are for Medium - Medium to Low Voice
Florence Price: 44 Art Songs and Spirituals
Composer(s): Florence Price
Song(s): A White Rose (John Boyle O'Reilly)
An April Day (Joseph Cotter)
Because (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Beside the Sea (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Bewilderment (Langston Hughes)
Dawn's Awakening (James Joseph Burke)
Death's Gwineter Lay His Cold Icy Hand on Me (Spiritual)
Feet o' Jesus (Langston Hughes)
Four Encore Songs: Tobacco (Graham Lee Hemminger); A Flea and a Fly (Ogden Nash); "Come, come," said Tom's Father (Thomas Moore); Song of the Open Road (Ogden Nash)
Go Down, Moses (Spiritual)
God Gives Me You (Nora Connelly)
Hold Fast to Dreams (Langston Hughes)
I Grew a Rose (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
I'm Goin' to Lay Down My Heavy Load (Spiritual)
Love-in-a-mist (Mary Rolofson Gamble)
My Little Soul's Goin' to Shine (Spiritual)
My Neighbor (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
My Soul's Been Anchored in de Lord (Spiritual)
Night (Louise C. Wallace)
Out of the South Blew a Wind (Fannie Carter Woods)
Resignation (Florence B. Price)
Rise Mourner (Spiritual)
Save Me Lord, Save Me (Spiritual)
Some o' These Days (Spiritual)
Song to the Dark Virgin (Langston Hughes)
Sunset (Odessa P. Elder)
Sympathy (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face (James Weldon Johnson)
The Moon Bridge (Mary Rolofson Gamble)
The Poet and His Song (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
The Washerwoman (Otto Leland Bohanan)
To My Little Son (Julia Johnson Davis)
Travel's End (Mary Folwell Hoisington)
Trouble Done Come My Way (Florence B. Price)
Two Traditional Negro Spirituals: I am Bound for the Kingdom; I'm Workin' on My Buildin'
We Have Tomorrow (Langston Hughes)
Weary Traveler (Spiritual)
What's the Use (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Words for a Spiritual ("Capricorn")
You Won't Find a Man Like Jesus (Spiritual)
Voice Type: Medium/High
Buy via Classical Vocal ReprintsFlorence Price: Five Art Songs (Dr. Rae Linda Brown, ed.)
Composer(s): Florence Price
Song(s): 1. Hold Fast to Dreams (Langston Hughes)
Key D Major - d minor
2. Travel's End (Mary Folwell Hoisington)
Key B Major (Low voice)
3. To My Little Son (Julia Johnson Davis)
Key B Major (Medium voice)
4. Fantasy in Purple (Langston Hughes)
Key f minor (Medium voice)
5. Sympathy (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Key E-flat (Medium-High voice)
plus a transposed higher key, G Major (High voice)
Voice Type: Medium/High
Buy via Classical Vocal ReprintsFlorence Price: Two Songs (Ruth C. Friedberg, ed.)
Composer(s): Florence Price
Song(s): "Feet o' Jesus" (text by Langston Hughes)
"Trouble Done Come My Way"
Voice Type: Medium
Buy via Keiser Southern MusicArt Songs by American Women Composers, Vol. 15: Florence Price
Composer(s): Florence Price
Song(s): Dreamin' Town
What's the use?
Go down, Moses
My little soul's goin' to shine
Voice Type: Medium/High
Find at your Local Library (Out-of-print)Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, Compiled by Willis C. Patterson
Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, Cecil Cohen, Noel de Costa, Mark Fax, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Eugene Hancock, Thomas Kerr, Jr., Charles Lloyd, Jr., Wendell Logan, Maurice McCall, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Hale Smith, William Grant Still, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Olly Wilson, John Work, Jr.
Song(s): For You There is No Song (H. Leslie Adams)
Early in the Mornin' (David Baker)
A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet (David Baker)
Status Symbol (David Baker)
Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man; Dream Variations; I, Too (Margaret Bonds)
The Barrier (Charles Brown)
Song Without Words (Charles Brown)
Death of an Old Seaman (Cecil Cohen)
Two Songs for Julie Ju (Noel da Costa)
Cassandra's Lullaby (Mark Fax)
Love (Mark Fax)
A Charm at Parting (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
I Loved You (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
Absalom (Eugene Hancock)
Nunc Dimittis (Eugene Hancock)
Riding to Town (Thomas Kerr, Jr.)
Compensation (Charles Lloyd, Jr.)
If There Be Sorrow (Wendell Logan)
Marrow of My Bone (Wendell Logan)
Chanson Triste (Maurice McCall)
Sweet Sorrow (Maurice McCall)
Weary Blues (Dorothy Rudd Moore)
Love Let the Wind Cry...How I Adore Thee (Undine Moore)
Faithful One (Robert Owens)
Genius Child (Robert Owens)
A Child's Grace (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Melancholy (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Night (Florence Price)
Song to the Dark Virgin (Florence Price)
Velvet Shoes (Hale Smith)
Grief (William Grant Still)
A Death Song (Howard Swanson)
I Will Lie Down in Autumn (Howard Swanson)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Howard Swanson)
Lament (George Walker)
A Red, Red Rose (George Walker)
Wry Fragments (Olly Wilson)
Dancing in the Sun (John Work, Jr.)
Soliloquy (John Work, Jr.)
Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers (Vivian Taylor, ed.)
Composer(s): Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Julia Perry, Zenobia Powell Perry, Florence Price
Song(s): Calvary (Spiritual) (1954) - Betty Jackson King
Come Down Angels (Spiritual) (1978) - Undine Smith Moore
Dry Bones (Spiritual) (1946) - Margaret Bonds
Free At Last (Spiritual) (1951) - Julia Perry
He's Got the Whole World In His Hand (Spiritual) (1963) - Margaret Bonds
I Am in Doubt (1975) - Undine Smith Moore
I'm a Poor Li'l Orphan in This Worl' (Spiritual) (1952) - Julia Perry
In the Springtime (1976) - Betty Jackson King
Is There Anybody Here That Loves My Jesus (Spiritual) (1981) - Undine Smith Moore
It's Me, O Lord (Spiritual) (1988) - Betty Jackson King
Lord, I Just Can't Keep from Cryin' (Spiritual) (1946) - Margaret Bonds
Love Let the Wind Cry… How I Adore Thee (1977) - Undine Smith Moore
My Dream (1935) - Florence B. Price
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord (Spiritual) (1937) - Florence B. Price
Night (1946) - Florence B. Price
Song to the Dark Virgin (1926) - Florence B. Price
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1942) - Margaret Bonds
Three Dream Portraits (1959) - Margaret Bonds
Watch and Pray (Spiritual) (1972) - Undine Smith Moore