|
|
|
Research Notes
Ouanga
South Bend, Indiana, and the Premiere of a 20th-Century American Opera
Wallace M. Cheatham
|
Operas are usually premiered in metropolises famous for their
theaters; sometimes in a city with a major university or a music
conservatory; but almost never in a high school auditorium in a
small city possessing none of these cultural amenities. Yet on June
10, 1949, the opera Ouanga, with music by classical violinist
and composer Clarence Cameron White and libretto by scholar and
writer John Frederick Matheus, was given its first fully staged
performance at Central High School auditorium in South Bend, Indiana.
1
|
1
|
|
The event takes on a greater historical significance because the music and words were written by African Americans, and because the local group who performed the premiere, the Harry Thacker Burleigh Music Association, was made up almost entirely of black Hoosiers. Understanding the history of this association helps to explain why such a musical event occurred in such an unlikely place. |
2
|
|
In 1933 Josephine Curtis and her husband Dr. Guy Curtis moved to South Bend from St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Curtis was eager to continue the active life in both music and drama that she had known in St. Louis, but she found in South Bend very few opportunities for blacks who had an interest in music and other art forms.2 |
3
|
|
Taking matters into her own hands, very shortly after arriving Mrs. Curtis founded the Harry Thacker Burleigh Music Association.3 Her vision for the group was wide-ranging: she sought a vehicle for African Americans to bond through music and theater, and to give blacks who had studied music a performance venue. She also wanted to let the larger community know that the spiritual was not the only form of black music. Curtis wanted to demonstrate that music was universal, that it had no ethnic boundaries, and that all music could be sung and enjoyed by anyone who wanted to delve into its riches.4 |
4
|
|
Lorene Richardson, a former member, recalls the association this way: "The Burleigh (as we called it) was the only [black] community group in the city (or the state), the sole purpose of which was to perform music. [In addition to people from South Bend], we had members from Elkhart, Gary, and Niles, Michigan." She also noted that the group instilled a professional demeanor in its members. "Those who participated in [the Burleigh] learned the basic protocol of performing artists; punctuality, dependability, sense of ensemble, stage movement, and decorum."5 |
5
|
A significant number of pieces in the group's repertoire came from the genre of operetta. This was distinctive because most black vocal performance groups in America during this period focused on opera, oratorio, mainstream choral literature, and African-American folk music. Records document a 1933 performance of Friedrich Flotow's opera Martha; a 1934 performance of Michael W. Balfe's opera The Bohemian Girl; a 1935 performance of Edward Jakobowski's operetta Two Vagabonds, and a 1937 performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's operetta Hiawatha.6
Table 1
Repertoire of the Harry Thacker Burleigh Music Association |
|
| Work |
Composer |
. . . |
There are about 4070 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|
|
