6a-October 2012

Living the Los Angeles Renaissance: A Tale of Two Black Composers
Author(s): Kenneth H. Marcus
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Journal of African American History, Vol. 91, No. 1, The African American
Experience in the Western States (Winter, 2006), pp. 55-72
Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064047 .
Accessed: 17/09/2012 16:58
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LIVING THE
LOS ANGELES RENAISSANCE:
A TALE OF TWO BLACK COMPOSERS
Kenneth
H. Marcus*
During a flourishing of the arts in Los Angeles
in the first half of the 20th
Americans
found meaning
and purpose
in artistic
as
as
or dance,
entered
fields
varied
music,
literature,
film,
expression.
They
and sought
to capture
the African
American
diverse
in
rich
and
experience
on
Historians
the
have
focused
suffered
ways.
traditionally
hardships
by
century,
many
African
African
Americans
in Los Angeles
this period, yet few
working-class
during
on
have considered
the work
of artists, with
the exception
of jazz musicians
Central Avenue.1
to
black
had
little
if
do
however,
musicians,
Many
anything
with jazz or popular music,
instead to devote
their lives and careers
choosing
or art music,
to church
or what
as "concert music."2
is also known
The
of
this
is to describe
how two black composers
of the Los
and
Claudius
creative
achieved
Renaissance,
Wilson,
Angeles
Forsythe
work
in art music while
to
transcend
formidable
racial
barriers.3
seeking
The Los Angeles
meant
Renaissance
different
things to different
people.
to the New
more
Similar
artistic
in
renaissance
Harlem,
Negro
although
as
not
diverse
movement
and
the
centralized,
white,
ethnically
provided
numerous
African
and Asian
and musicians
American,
Latino,
artists, writers,
for cultural expression
in a variety
of fields. Generally
defined,
opportunities
a cultural
it was
1915 to 1955: an extraordinarily
from
about
resurgence
fertile period
in the arts of music,
and drama during
film, dance, architecture,
a population
can speak of a
boom
and an era of economic
We
prosperity.4
an
era
"renaissance"
it
followed
of
in
because
artistic
Los Angeles
growth
the 19th century, when
residents
drew on strong cultural
ties to both
during
were very much
a part of the modern
and Spain.5 African Americans
Mexico
as creators,
Los Angeles
Renaissance
and teachers.
As Doug
performers,
has recently
Flamming
argued,
they were
strongly
by the Harlem
inspired
saw themselves
as part of the larger New
and many
Renaissance,
Negro
purpose
essay
Bruce
Movement
that brought a sense of identity and purpose
to African
Americans
across
the country.6
no one black
was
area
There
in early
20th
residential
Los
century
but
rather
different
communities
where
African
Americans
several,
Angeles,
lived and worked.7
could
and income
vary enormously,
Housing
thereby
even
further
variances
these
communities.
Joe William
among
producing
Kenneth
H. Marcus
is Associate
Professor
at the University
of History
55
of La Verne,
La Verne,
CA.
56
The Journal of African American History
Trotter
has
the main
on urban
called
units
of
analysis
historians
in studies
to explore
of race,
neighborhoods where Forsythe andWilson
near
the
heart
respectively.8
where
of
Los
Angeles:
Central Avenue
the neighborhood
and gender;
as one
of
and,
the
class,
produced much of their work were
Central
Avenue
and
West
Adams,
formed part of the 74th Assembly
70 percent
of African
the Second World War.9
There are
of
this community.
One
growth
almost
District,
in Los Angeles
Americans
lived
reasons
several
for the remarkably
was
the existence
of a large
before
rapid
black
to
other African
Americans
by the 1910s, which
neighborhood
encouraged
settle
in the area. Migrants
a
or
could
find
network
of
friends
immediately
to rely on in an often unfamiliar
a
relatives
and even hostile
environment,
common
of
ethnic
most
that
of
characterized
the
pattern
migration
country's
a
urban centers. A second reason concerned
discrimination.
housing
Following
California
or
Court
decision
that declared
restrictions,
Supreme
housing
more
common
in
to
it
became
bar
covenants,"
1918,
legal
as well
as other non-white
ethnic
from most
Americans,
groups,
"restrictive
African
residential neighborhoods in Los Angeles. As the black population in the city
of Los Angeles rose from 2,131 in 1900 to 15,579 in 1920 (or 2.7 percent of
the total population),
few black Angelenos
could purchase
outside
of
property
a few districts
in the city, which was also the experience
and
of many Latinos
The area around Central Avenue,
and black
Asians.10
realtors
where white
to non-whites,
leased or sold property
far fewer
Within
offered
restrictions.
a thriving
this region,
created
African
Americans
and
economic,
social,
cultural
district.11
some similarities,
the area of West Adams was
different
Despite
strikingly
a favorite
from Central Avenue.
it increasingly
became
By the mid-1930s,
entertainers
and
location for upwardly mobile
African
Americans,
particularly
on
west
Bound
Crenshaw
and
and
Normandie
Boulevards
the
professionals.
by
on the north and south, the
and Jefferson
Boulevards
east, and Washington
was
a strong attraction
to black Angelenos,
strident
neighborhood
despite
to keep West
residents
Adams
white.
by some white
was the Sugar Hill area, which was on a higher elevation
were
the neighborhood.
its wealthy
black
residents
Among
efforts
desirable
of
Particularly
than the rest
the
award
winning actress Hattie McDaniels (of Gone with the Wind fame) and dentists
John and Vada Somerville, who in 1914 together founded the Los Angeles
chapter of the NAACP and built the Somerville Hotel in 1927 (renamed the
Dunbar Hotel in 1929). After World War II, black professional women also
to the area.12 Unlike
West Adams
had few businesses;
Avenue,
Victorian-era
mansions
and
rather, it comprised
early 20th
spacious,
striking
numerous
West
Adams
Both Central Avenue
and
provided
century bungalows.
in Los
for
Americans
and social advancement
African
of economic
examples
Angeles.
so did the number
of artists who
the city's black population
As
grew,
the Harlem
to the city's
At a time when
cultural
contributed
milieu.13
on the decline,
was
to the onset
in part due
of the Great
Renaissance
moved
Central
Living
the Los
Depression,
benefited
prominent
Angeles
Renaissance:
A
Tale
of Two
Black
57
Composers
Los Angeles
and musicians
who
gained an active group of writers
an environment
a
of creative
ferment.
Musicians
formed
the city's black residents,
22
from
in
group among
1910,
growing
from
to 73 in 1920, to 226 in 1930, and to 260 in 1940. They thus comprised
about 30 percent of the black professional class in 1910, and almost 25
percent
moved
stories
Among
careers
Angeles
of African
American
in 1940.14 Numerous
musicians
professionals
the South or the Northeast
to Los Angeles,
where
they heard
of relative
freedom
and less of a climate
of racial discrimination.15
were
those who
that migration
and Wilson,
whose
joined
Forsythe
an
us
of
to
it
meant
indication
what
live
and
work
the
Los
give
during
Renaissance.
from
BRUCE FORSYTHE
set Bruce
on was
a
apart from his classmates
Forsythe
early
to
himself
He
attracted
the attention
of his
express
yearning
through music.
school
teachers
for his piano
and deeply
nature.
sensitive
skills,
poems,
What
During
the 1920s and early 1930s?the
era of his participation
in the Los
became
Renaissance?he
involved
in several arts projects,
Angeles
especially
with
Grant
admired
and for
composer William
Still, whom
Forsythe
greatly
awhile counted as one of his closest
on
friends. Like Still, Forsythe
embarked
a career as a composer
and in both his music
cross
to
and writings
sought
racial divides
that characterized
much
social discourse
in the U.S.
As participants in the Great Migration,
during
the early
20th
century
in the search
the Forsythe family left the South
for a better way
of
life. Bruce
was
born inGeorgia in 1908 and came to Los Angeles before the age of five with
an older brother, Marion,
and their parents, Sumner and Elizabeth
Forsythe.16
Little
is known about the family, with
the exception
of Sumner's
distinguished
Alexander
Jr. He earned his medical
at
brother, Dr. William
Forsythe,
degree
the University
of Pennsylvania,
and married Marion
of
sister
world
Robeson,
famed baritone
and political
activist Paul Robeson.
Bruce's
father, who found
a job as a Pullman
to
have
the family
deserted
porter in Los Angeles,
appears
when Bruce was still a child, Elizabeth,
as a school teacher
who had worked
in
the South, found a job as a school janitor to support her two young
sons. The
around East Jefferson
and 35th Street and
boys grew up in a neighborhood
near downtown
attended Manual
Arts High
School
a racially
Los Angeles,
school.
Bruce's
integrated
public
Among
Russian-Jewish
Verna
aspiring
pianist
Arvey,
close
who
circle
would
of
friends
later become
was
the
the wife
of their mutual friend William Grant Still. Forsythe had the great fortune to
teachers
and he was
able to present
his works
in student
receptive
and
to
hear
his
music.
later dedicated
at
recitals,
Arvey
perform
Forsythe
to Arvey
least three works
and the two exchanged
numerous
letters.17
an impressive
musical
Forsythe
enjoyed
training. He studied piano at the
Wilkins
School
of Music,
which
black composer
and pianist William
Wilkins
in 1912 as a means
founded
of allowing
African
to study
American
children
have
The Journal of African American History
58
the use of
institution
of an educational
music?another
exemplifying
example
and
Los
in
"New
the
Wilkins
"cultural capital."18
Angeles,
Negro"
personified
his school, located on Central Avenue at 14th Street, had six teachers who
were black; some were reportedly
taught over 250 pupils. Not all students
white
or
Japanese.19
also
Forsythe
took
from
lessons
piano
Naida
of Southern
McCullough, who had a degree in music from the University
the local
of
branch
California (USC) and served as a leader in the junior
to her, "Etude
at least one work
dedicated
Forsythe
chapter of the NAACP.
from
in
further
He
received
1 in C minor."20
No.
composition
training
a
at
and
USC
head of the music
Charles E. Pemberton,
prominent
department
returned
in the 1890s.21 Forsythe
to Los Angeles
who migrated
local musician
"Yellow
to Pemberton:
at least two compositions
the favor by dedicating
and Piano."22
for voice and piano, and "Fantasia for Violin
Candles,"
A major step in Forsythe's career was a scholarship to the Juilliard School
of Music, where he studied in 1927 and 1928. Pemberton had recommended
him for the scholarship, the William E. Harmon Award for Distinguished
of
and a leading choral director
Thurman
and, writer Wallace
Achievement;
who
William
references.23
Harmon,
also
Hall
Los Angeles,
Johnson,
provided
the Harmon
who
established
real estate magnate
in 1928, was a white
died
The
writers.
and
artists
to
black
assistance
financial
to
Foundation
give
of
circles
to
the
music
an
introduction
excellent
award provided
prestigious
his
to
Pemberton
survive
that
two
letters
during
and
Forsythe
New York,
by
that the professor continued to
period of study at Juilliard further suggest
follow
student's
former
his
of
the Viennese
and
Goldmark
on
went
Forsythe
the head of the composition
Rubin Goldmark,
nephew
Dvorak
progress.24
composer
taught many
to successful
composer
of A Negro
aspiring
careers,
Karl
studied
composition
with
department at Juilliard and
Goldmark.
A
of Antonin
Rubin
works,
student
other
among
Rhapsody
and composers
young musicians
Gershwin
most
George
notably
who
later
and Aaron
Copland.25
In New
Renaissance
the Harlem
could
York City,
experience
Forsythe
in
two
musicians
with
and he established
friendships
lasting
firsthand,
a
had
who
was
Grant
William
these
Still,
already
Chief
among
particular.
in
1934.
move
to
Los
before his
as a composer
Angeles
national
reputation
Howard
Still's music:
heralded
conductors
two
renowned
1920s
the
During
and Leopold
Hanson, director of the Eastman School of Music inNew Jersey;
conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who frequently
Stokowski,
No other black
performed excerpts from Still's Afro-American Symphony.
the degree of
achieved
20th
the
art
music
century
during
composer of
recognition
and
success
as did Still.
and composer from the West
and later dedicated
career as a pianist
decade after Bruce
Forsythe
also
befriended
a young
pianist
Indies (possibly Trinidad), Reginald Forsythe,
went on to a successful
to his friend.26 Reginald
four works
a good friend for at least a
and he remained
in London,
left New York.27
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
Two
writers
strong
impact
A Tale of Two Black Composers
of the Harlem
Renaissance
on Forsythe's
work:
novelist
ties to Los
with
Wallace
Thurman
59
had a
Angeles
and poet Arna
Bontemps. Both studied at USC and worked at the Central Post Office of Los
before
Angeles
the short-lived
their move
literary
to New
York City.28 Thurman, who
later published
wrote
Fire
and
The
the
novels
(1926)
magazine
the Berry (1929) and Infants of the Spring (1932), was a boarder at
Blacker
home while Thurman was a student at USC and Forsythe was
still a
Forsythe's
saw
a
as
even
mentor
kind
Thurman
of
before Thurman
teenager.
Forsythe
him for the scholarship
at Juilliard,
recommended
and the young
composer
him out during
at one time even
his stay in New
York,
actively
sought
at Thurman's
home on 135th Street.29 Forsythe
also greatly
admired
residing
the work
Black
of Bontemps,
poems
Bontemps's
who
to music.
like Still and Bontemps,
the Los Angeles
are
There
the most
grew
in 1936 while
Thunder
up
in Los
Angeles
living inWatts.
Following
his
return
and wrote
Forsythe
the novel
later set four of
to Los Angeles,
Forsythe,
thus brought the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance
to
Renaissance.
several
of his
reasons,
however,
talents and education.
that
He
prevented
Forsythe
had a spinal
infection
from
as a
making
in the 1920s, which
stunted his growth
and twisted his back. Even
teenager
more
he
became
deaf, the result of a congenital
unfortunately,
increasingly
disease
that ultimately
led to almost total deafness. As he spiraled
into a world
van
of his own,
somewhat
like a latter-day
Beethoven,
Forsythe
Ludwig
more
became
and more
withdrawn
from
social
the
company.
Although
seems
first became
at
deafness
the
of
it
to
the
disease
19,
age
apparent
began
itself more strongly during his period of study at Juilliard, making his
manifest
far more
His
difficult.
letters to his mother
him almost
(who wrote
was
a
week
he
reveal
bitterness
and
toward his
alienation
every
away)
growing
a
straw
was
The
final
lack
of
funds.
his
mother
surroundings.30
Although
to
was
worked
and
extra
send
him
it
not
money,
day
night
evidently
enough
to continue
and Forsythe
had little choice but
living in New York,
eventually
to return home; despite
his mother's
not
pleas, his father could not or would
studies
offer much
financial
saw
Forsythe
his return, with
the exception
of Verna
support.31 Upon
less
and
of
the
less
close
circle
of
friends
he
and
artists
Arvey,
knew as a young man, and instead the talented young composer
found himself
not of his choosing.
in a silent world
The chances
of
trapped
increasingly
becoming a renowned musician
became
in his lifetime, difficult in the best of worlds,
all but impossible.
as a kind of
a
turned to writing.
He produced
solace,
Forsythe
of essays,
saw
music
and letters,
little of which
novels,
criticism,
plethora
or received
a libretto for Still's opera Blue
He wrote
publication
recognition.
Almost
Steel shortly after Still relocated to Los Angeles
was
never
Both
Still
in 1934, although the opera
and Forsythe
performed.
plans for two ballets,
developed
more
and
success.
Central
had
which
to
somewhat
The music
Avenue,
Sahdji
Avenue
Central
the basis for one of Still's major
became
orchestral
works,
Lenox Avenue, which CBS commissioned
in its Composers
Series; and, Verna
60
The Journal
of African American History
a piano
score for a ballet
of Central
arrange
helped
performance
in Los Angeles.32
wrote
also
for
the Los
several
articles
Forsythe
as
as
black
two
well
for
short-lived
newspaper,
Angeles
California
Eagle,
Flash
and the Hamitic
At the same time, he continued
Review.
publications,
over 140 musical
to write music,
eventually
producing
compositions.33
Arvey
Avenue
What
can consider
kinds of music
did Forsythe
three pieces
compose? We
in particular
that reveal some of the depth of his work. All are from the genre
in which
he excelled,
the art song, for piano and solo voice.
From his wide
over forty poets whose
verses
he selected
most
he set to music;
of
reading
these poets were white,
but some were black and even Chinese.
in
Three poets
James Joyce, Arna Bontemps,
received much
of his attention:
and
particular
Li Po. The verses of these and sixteen other writers
in a hand-written
appear
some of Forsythe's
of thirty-four
art songs, which
collection
finest
represent
a
when
work
he
the
in
tome.34
1931,
songs
through
compiled
single
to have been
Joyce appears
to music?more
of his poems
treatment of the Irish
Forsythe's
As a rule, Forsythe's
Rahoon."35
bard's
wrote
in waltz
time, and
(in common meter,
a traditionalist,
In this sense, he was
he held
This
that tradition.
attribute
composers,
and Still
sadness:
among
himself.
them Charles
In
he set seven
poet, because
writer.
Indicative
of
other
any
over
is the art song "She Weeps
work
in standard key signatures
and tempos
so on), and his music was usually
tonal.
to
he
transform
also
although
sought
in common
other Los Angeles
with
Forsythe's
than that
favorite
of
Wakefield
over
Cadman,
"She Weeps
Rahoon,"
Elinor
the
Remick
dominant
Warren,
mood
is
Rain on Rahoon falls softly
Softly falling where my dark lover lies
Sad is his voice that calls me
Sadly
calling
at grey
moonrise.
this foreboding
renders an uneasiness
music
atmosphere,
Forsythe's
Echoing
has for
love that the protagonist
that perfectly
and moody
suits the uncertain
her companion:
too our
Dark
hearts
O love shall lie
And cold as his sad heart has lain
Under
the moongrey
nettles
The black mould and muttering rain.
to some
extent
tensions
in the poem
reflects
uncertainty
expressed
own
he expressed
romantic
While
had with
his
strong
sexuality.
Forsythe
to women
love affairs before his
in his writings,
and had several
attachments
to have had a brief homosexual
he appears
relationship,
possibly
marriage,
The
with his friend inHarlem, Reginald Forsythe. At the time he compiled his best
songs
into one
tome,
he was
living with
his
sister-in-law
in San Gabriel,
with
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
he also may
whom
Forsythe's
have
brother,
had
Marion,
A Tale of Two Black Composers
61
or separated
an affair; she was estranged
from
at the time.36
in
In short, before
his marriage
1945 to Cotton Club dancer Sara Turner, his longing for sexual and personal
fulfillment appears as a leitmotif in his work and may well have determined
much
to set to music.
with
the
concerned
vitally
the work
writers
of Renaissance
and others profoundly
affected
of the poetry
was
Forsythe
and
Americans,
Langston
Hughes,
he chose
social
such
his
status
as Arna
outlook.
of
African
Bontemps,
One example
of his work in this field is his composition for Bontemps's poem "The Sound
of the Forge,"
here
quoted
in its entirety:37
The black man hears the sound
of the beating against his walls like a heavy pulse
Disturbing the beams and throbbing in the stones.
The black man knows that beating sound
He has heard it since he was a boy
And he knows, that he must stop
When
the sound
of
the
trip hammer
stops.
The black man knows the sound of the forge
The black man loves the sound of the forge
It is the beating of his heart.
several musical
in this song. While
he at times
Forsythe
techniques
employs
the pulse of the hammer with a steady beat, first in the treble and later
echoes
a dance-like
in the bass, he chose to place the poem
in waltz
time, suggesting
a
He
of
the
upsets
monotony
quality.
steady beat, however,
by using different
as with
over Rahoon."
or
"She Weeps
also
meters,
Forsythe
employs
sforzato,
a sudden pulse, as well as double forte, or very loud, to reflect the anger of the
as the sound of the forge.
Yet at times he juxtaposes
these
speaker as well
as in the last verse:
outbursts
with
"The black man
quiet passages,
the sound of the forge." He employed
with
similar
other
techniques
two
African
set
to
American
works
that
he
them
music,
poets
among
by
one
and
each
Paul
Lawrence
poems
Dunbar,
poem
by Langston
Hughes,
by
and especially
Richard
he
Jean Toomer,
whose
talent as a writer
Bruce,
angry
knows
greatly admired.38
Since Forsythe
a representative
we
of the New Negro
Movement,
or
as
sources
black
of
the
expect
might
spirituals
jazz
primary
as
Alain
J.
A.
and
other
writers
had
Locke,
inspiration,
Rogers,
contemporary
to do.39 Forsythe,
took the Euro-American
however,
urged black composers
status of African
format of the art song and applied
it to express
the social
use
or
Americans.
the
and even
of jazz
music,
Steadfastly
avoiding
syncopated
less Tin Pan Alley,
to transcend
he sought
the standard
of the
stereotype
dance
audience
eager to please a white
happy black musician,
by performing
him
music.
more
was
to use
a result, he risked alienating
comfortable
with
that stereotype.
As
and audiences
those publishers
While
he did play some jazz
who
felt
piano on
62
The Journal of African American History
gambling ships off the coast of Los Angeles
of supporting
jazz format
himself,
(except
during the early 1930s as a way
no work
almost
for one
of his survives
in which
he wrote
of "The Music
Goes
Round
arrangement
Round"), nor did he give any indication in his writings
Nathan
has
Huggins
"The profound
noted,
changes
in a
and
that he did so.40 As
in the American
Negro
had to do with the freeing of himself from the fictions of his past and the
of himself.
He had to put away
the protective
of the
coloring
as
minstrel
and
find
himself
he
That
was."41
mimicking
really
"rediscovery"
a classically
to Forsythe,
trained musician
and accomplished
to
pianist, was
talent
his
art
almost
within
the
music
tradition.
apply
solely
An essential
was his setting to music
of
part of Forsythe's
song collection
rediscovery
four poems by the 8th century Chinese
poet, Li Po (701-762).
Po was a
a mood
in evoking
in few words,
often using
of color,
the themes
movement.
and
In
"The
a
Jade
the
describes
Staircase,"
light,
poet
beautifully
at court who pauses at the door of a pavilion:
dressed woman
master
The jade staircase is bright with dew
Slowly this long night the queen climbs
Letting
Drag
her gauze
stockings
water.
in shining
and
her
elaborate
robe
Forsythe adds to this evocative mood
by shifting the tonality of the
like Claude Debussy.
While
the piece is in the key of D, numerous
or sharps and flats,
in every measure
the piece
from
accidentals,
prevent
true to any one key. The result propels
the listener
forward
remaining
by
never settling on a particular
tonal center or key, which
the
reflects
perfectly
mood
of the poem:
much
work,
Sad and dreaming
She watches between the fragments of jade light
The
shining
of
the autumn
moon.
uses triplets
serve two purposes.
in this song, which
frequently
a
are
a unity to
which
First, they
motive,
steadily
recurring musical
provides
and second,
the work;
the triplets have a playful
that contrasts with
quality
the poem's melancholy
the shifting
of the
dreaminess.
with
Along
tonality
a
these impressionistic
in
somnolent
piece,
yield
quiet,
techniques
atmosphere
which
at ease. Such is the
the listener may be mesmerized,
but never entirely
Forsythe
to reflect
of Forsythe:
to echo
of a poem,
the mood
yet not merely
As one of the few composers
to
the words.
of the Los Angeles
Renaissance
an 8th century
a
Chinese
choose
for
remained
poet
inspiration,
Forsythe
movement.
of
the
singular figure
talent
Although Forsythe did not restrict himself to the art song, he consistently
showed
a preference
or chamber
quartet
these works,
at least fourteen works
for the voice. He wrote
for string
as
a
as
an
well
sketch
Eleven
of
for
orchestra,
opera.42
were
a
a
still
for
literature
and
included
however,
part
inspired by
the Los Angeles Renaissance:
Living
solo
singer.
A Tale of Two Black Composers
The
his
composition
only major
work
"Fantasia
for Violin
youthful
art songs,
writing
means
for musical
Forsythe
in which
this was
and
Thus,
the voice
Piano."
to emphasize
continued
63
not
the case was
even
as an
when
not
important
expression.
CLAUDIUS WILSON
Like Forsythe, Wilson
wrote
also chose to work
in the field of art music. Yet
wrote
for the
music
songs, Wilson
Forsythe
primarily
was
ballet. A further difference
the era in which
worked:
Whereas
they
the beginning
of the Los Angeles
Wilson
Renaissance,
Forsythe
experienced
arrived near the end of this period. He thus built on the traditions
that the
New
in the "search
Movement
had established,
for ethnic
Negro
notably
in folk and African
and heritage
A determination
to
culture."43
identity
the career of Claudius Wilson.
realize this heritage musically
characterized
Wilson
hailed from the South; he was born in New Orleans
around
1925,
in music
at Dillard
and earned a bachelor's
to
He chose
degree
University.
whereas
art
come to Los Angeles
a career as a pianist and composer,
to establish
and like
an attraction.
of the era, the film
many
composers
industry was also probably
Wilson
of Music,
which
got a job teaching
piano at the Gray Conservatory
like the Wilkins
School of Music was a multiethnic
school near Central
music
was an anomaly
The conservatory
in that while
Avenue.
it opened
during the
to survive
it still managed
and thrive. An exemplar
of the New
depression,
educator
African
American
and
John
the school
founded
Negro,
pianist
Gray
in 1931, which
similar to theWilkins
School of Music
had both white and
black
students
and
A
total
teachers.
of twenty-five
teachers
offered
as
instruction
in all instruments,
as
and
music
well
and
dance
voice,
theory,
even foreign
as
a
in
who
served
World
I
War
in
Gray,
languages.44
sergeant
a
the Medical
at
before
in
the
Ecole
de
Normale
Corps
earning
degree
piano
in Paris,
insisted
that his students
receive
in the
Musique
thorough
training
art
music
tradition.45
European
Wilson
had the good
to meet
fortune
up with
(1918?
Joseph Rickard
a
came
to
white
who
in search of
1994),
choreographer
Gray's Conservatory
a pianist
to accompany
his recently
founded
ballet
the First Negro
troupe,
a midwesterner
Classic
who migrated
to Los Angeles
Ballet.46 Rickard,
around
was
trained
Bronislava
sister
of
the
Polish/Russian
dancer
1938,
by
Nijinska,
Vaslav Nijinsky, atNijinska's dance studio inHollywood.47 He danced with the
Ballet Monte Carlo Russe in the early 1940s, and set out in 1946 to launch
his
own
to present classical
in the French
ballet
and Russian
company
was
it
consisted
of
black dancers,
the company
style. Although
primarily
one
at
woman
with
least three Latinas
and
white
who
multiethnic,
joined
within
the first
several
of the troupe's
In addition,
the
years
founding.
costume
two set designers,
and publicity
all
manager,
agents were
designer,
a ten year period,
white.48
from
1946 to 1956, this dance
During
company
to tens of thousands
southern California
of people.
It
performed
throughout
dance
64
The Journal of African American History
presented its own ballet productions, all of which Rickard choreographed, in a
diverse
from the Philharmonic
Auditorium
to the
downtown
array of venues,
as well as at one of the oldest
and Ramona
Redlands
Bowl
Bowl
in Riverside,
in California,
theaters
the Lobero Theater
in Santa Barbara.
reasons why many Angelenos
There are several
believed
they were
living
in a new era during
the late 1940s and 1950s. The postwar
boom and huge
one of the most
influx of migrants
to live
made Los Angeles
desirous
places
for Americans
of any color. A growth
in jobs
in the aerospace
industry
and textiles
construction,
many
manufacturing,
provided
job opportunities,
and the dream
of home
seemed more
than ever, with
ownership
possible
suburbs mushrooming
around the Los Angeles
basin. Fueling
this dream for
was
non-whites
the landmark decision
U.S.
the
in 1948 to
Court
by
Supreme
end the enforcement
had
of restrictive
which
been
the legal basis
covenants,
was based
for whites-only
districts. The Supreme Court decision
residential
in
a
on
a
in
suit
Los
the
Laws, who
part
by
Angeles,
brought
family
bought
on 92nd
own
in Watts
African
could
Americans
Street, where
property
not
but
The
two
could
reside.49
decision,
years after
property,
coming
only
the founding
Classic
that a new era in
of the First Negro
Ballet,
suggested
had finally
for black Angelenos
arrived.
and employment
improved housing
came at an appropriate
The Supreme
Court decision
time, since there had
in Los Angeles
been a dramatic
increase
in the black population
since the
1920s. In 1930, fully half of all African Americans
living in California
lived
over one-third
in the city of Los Angeles,
and within
the next decade,
of all
states
African
Americans
in the western
lived in the city. During
the war
in the munitions
in opportunities
the black
and the increase
years,
industry,
to 133,082,
of Los Angeles
from 63,774
doubled,
population
representing
over 7 percent
of the city's total population?a
which
continued
percentage
to grow
in
the continued
into the 1950s.50 Despite
social
problems
housing,
Los
in
1947
nonetheless
recommended
"as
scientist Horace
Cayton
Angeles
one of the ten best cities
The city had taken on
in the nation for black[s]."51
across
as a
enormous
Americans
the country,
both
for African
meaning
desirable
place
and equality.
to live,
and
as a beacon
of hope
for opportunity,
prosperity,
some forms of racial
had
interaction
covenants,
long
housing
and Watts were
West Adams,
all
Central Avenue,
in Los Angeles.
numerous
on
before
and
clubs
diverse
1950,
jazz
ethnically
neighborhoods
to integrated
the 1920s and 1930s catered
Central Avenue
audiences,
during
other parts of the country. During
the case in many
which was by no means
Despite
taken place
one of the prime venues
of the city, the Hollywood
the same period,
Bowl,
from choral
events
featured
African
hosted
that
several
Americans,
singing
Star of Ethiopia,
to a staging
all of
of W. E. B. Du Bois's
groups
pageant
at the Bowl
Grant Still appeared
William
which
attracted mixed
audiences.52
a major
to conduct
American
the first African
in 1936 to become
symphony
heard
orchestra.
Audiences
from Still's Afro-American
the Los
Symphony
Philharmonic
Angeles
and his symphonic
excerpts
perform
the
poem, Africa;
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
A Tale of Two Black Composers
65
concert also featured gospel music by the Hall Johnson Choir.53 InHollywood
not only
Americans
in "race films"
from the 1920s,
itself, African
appeared
but also in some films featuring
in
white
casts, although usually
predominantly
or
subservient
roles as porters,
children.
But
the
era,
servants,
post-war
during
more
nuanced films exploring
racial issues became
such
common,
increasingly
as director Elia Kazan's
or the numerous
actor Sidney
films
Pinky
featuring
Several
members
of the First Negro
Poitier.54
Classic
Ballet
themselves
in Hollywood
An American
in Paris, Finian's
musicals,
namely
appeared
Show Boat, and Carmen
Jones.55
Rainbow,
at
Rickard's
built on this multiethnic
tradition
in the arts, while
company
new.
an
the same time offering
He
the
founded
in
something
entirely
troupe
at the corner
in West
abandoned
ballroom
of Jefferson
and
Adams,
one
Normandie.
The dancers
the
of
of
the
support
quickly
garnered
leading
black newspapers
in southern
the Los Angeles
which
California,
Sentinel,
concerts
advertised
and
two
in
free
the
first
upcoming
provided
publicity
one
of the troupe's
In a photograph
existence.
of
the
years
accompanying
Wilson
in the background,
the dancers
appears
demurely
observing
or
camera.
otherwise
for
the
his
he
pirouetting
posing
quiet presence,
Despite
was an essential
of
the
since
he
all
the
of
music
component
troupe,
performed
for the dance company.
an accompanist,
was not merely
Wilson
but soon became
the
however,
one
resident
after
he
Rickard
hired
composer.
him,
troupe's
Shortly
brought
to Rickard
of his own scores
for a proposed
titled "Harlot's House."
dance,
a work
Like Forsythe,
Wilson
drew on poetry
for inspiration,
by
choosing
a
Oscar Wilde.
It tells of a young
street
down
in the
couple walking
city
articles,
where
evening,
We
We
caught
loitered
they heard music
the tread
down
of dancing
the moonlit
coming
from one
of the houses:
feet,
street,
And stopped beneath the Harlot's House.
Inside,
above
the din
and
fray,
We heard the loud musicians
The
"Treues
Liebes"
play
of Strauss.
a couple entranced
It makes
for a startling
as
imagery, describing
by the music
as by the shadows
well
cast on the drawn
that the dancers
"We
shades:
the ghostly
dancers
watched
Like black
spin, To sound of horn and violin,
in the wind."
leaves wheeling
The poem soon takes on a decidedly
different
with
left my
twist, however,
tragic results: "But she, she heard the violin, And
in: Love passed
side and entered
into the House
of Lust."56
a
until
this
were
time, Rickard's
Up
choreographed
productions
as
combination
of works
classical
J.
S.
such
composers
by mainly
European
and Frederic Chopin.
The introduction
of an original
Bach, Robert
Schumann,
a
with
on
an entirely
unusual
the
work,
theme,
distinctly
placed
troupe
to the music
scale: it danced
different
of its own making.
Like the poem,
that
was
music
in
its
neo
With
its
and
haunting
imagery.
lilting
graceful
66
The Journal of African American History
it blended
Romanticism,
works
in well with
other choreographed
productions
classical
Rickard
the
by
composers.
quickly
recognized
of such a venture,
and at the dancers' first performance
outside of
at the Lobero
Theater
in Santa Barbara,
the dancers
performed
the Wilson-Rickard
to
tremendous
acclaim.57
production,
wrote
the music
for a ballet called "L'Harlequin,"
which
Similarly, Wilson
featuring
possibilities
Los Angeles,
the troupe also first performed at the Lobero Theater.58 It is based on the
common
tale of an impoverished
actor
a theme
in a traveling
that
troupe,
numerous
and artists, from Giacomo
to
Puccini
composers
inspired
European
Pablo Picasso.
The ballet
is set in France,
and involved
about fifteen
dancers,
or almost
the entire troupe. In the opening
scene Pietro,
the harlequin,
enters
a town square with his wife Maria
to announce
the evening
show. The plot
a fellow
of his love for her, suggesting
actor, tells Maria
deepens when Tony,
a love triangle
in the making.
has another
lover aside from
She, however,
leave with Maria
after the show. When
Pietro
Pietro, named Jacques, who will
finds
and Jacques:
the eternal
tale of love and
out, he stabs both his wife
what we might
call the ballet
version
of "Frankie
and Johnny."
revenge,
While
accenting the tragedy of the plot, Wilson
dynamic,
well-adapted
Ballet.
As
the dancers
to the performance
style
kept the music
of
the First Negro
lively and
Classic
both
and acclaim,
Wilson
gained
experience
began
African
American
musical
which
made
the
forms,
integrating
troupe even
more distinctive.
One such work was
the troupe premiered
"Cinderella," which
at a concert
in Bakersfield
in October
1951.
The
Parent-Teachers
of Fremont
Association
School
hosted
the event,
and
the sponsoring
was
the
and
Girls'
of
Inter-Racial
Council
Bakersfield
organization
Boys
High
The ballet
some differences
School.59
of three acts, with
consists
from the
an African American,
and Wilson's
music
story; it presents
Cinderella,
original
and
features
a
Another
unusual
is
that
jazz
male,
boogie-woogie.
aspect
one of the "ugly
Theodore
outfitted
Crum,
sisters,"
played
by costume
in an outlandish
a humorous
dress that revealed
side
designer Nancy
Cappola
to the company.
at first dances
to boogie-woogie
Cinderella
before
being
over by the Prince, who
to more
wooed
dances
sedate music
reminiscent
of
era. It thus begins
at a vibrant
the Romantic
and exuberant,
pace, playful
before moving
into a quiet dreaminess,
and since the piano
is all the audience
must
the pianist
maintain
not
the momentum
of the piece while
hears,
from the dancers.
distracting
wrote
a three-act
was
for the ballet
company
at
It
"Raisin'
Cane."
the
Theater
in
Sartu
story-dance
premiered
near
in
1954
and
cutters
with
dealt
the
theme
New
of
sugarcane
Hollywood
Orleans
ideal on two counts:
it
during the 1930s.60 The plot's location proved
a presentation
enabled
of black
rural life and the use of several
different
to New Orleans?aspects
forms common
musical
with which Wilson
would
The
final
work
Wilson
called
have been readily familiar. The ballet begins with the sugarcane
cutters talking
about a merchant
who would
like to buy their crop. One of the cutters, Tom,
to go
agrees
to meet
the merchant
with
67
A Tale of Two Black Composers
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
in town
to collect
the money.
All
goes according to plan until a pimp persuades Tom to stop on his way home,
where he might join a woman in a bar. Tom is subsequently beaten and loses
all his money, but when he returns home to tell his co-workers that his
money was stolen (leaving out a few details), they don't believe him and
to finish
threaten
that she
reveals
him
is related
on the scene,
the bargirl
arrives
off.
Fortunately,
to Tom's girlfriend,
All ends
and returns the money.
happily.
the confines
of
music
within
The story-dance
American
offers African
"Pas des Jitterbugs"
classical
dance. One example
is the Creole-inspired
(Step
music. Wilson
of the Jitterbugs), which
almost entirely of syncopated
consists
that
it performed
wanted
calling for a fast-paced
"Allegro Energ?tico,"
piece
on
movements
the
dancers.
the
of
coordinated
demands
part
By
quick,
a ballet
the
about African
Americans,
Americans,
by African
presenting
offered
troupe
performances
no other contemporary
dance group could provide:
to
the
African
American
that sought
express
experience.61
what
ballet
CONCLUSION
Forsythe
arts.
They
and Wilson
contributed
in art music
in Los Angeles
during
to the Los Angeles
strongly
and writing
works
that drew
arrived
a vibrant
era of
Renaissance
from
inspiration
the
by
the
specializing
neither
Harlem Renaissance
and the larger New Negro Movement.
Tragically,
Because
artist was able to maintain
this degree of productivity.
of his disease
had to find another
and the lack of financial
support, Forsythe
eventually
a
state in the 1940s to
to
He
make
the
received
training by
living.
profession
a horticulturist
two sons, and a
as a way
his wife,
become
of supporting
muse
to
and
smother
his
the
refused
However,
composer
entirely,
daughter.
them in his
he kept his compositions
occasionally
through
going
together,
a
as
his
father
remembered
time.
His
son,
spare
quiet, embittered
Reginald,
concert
in
the
A
but
man,
1997,
commemorating
loving
mostly
unhappy.62
to
at
of
the
the
papers
Library,
begin
composer's
Huntington
sought
deposit
the relative anonymity
of Forsythe's
music.63
redressing
as a profession,
but left Los Angeles.
He
Wilson
in contrast kept music
New
the
which
York
formed
Ballet,
newly
Negro
joined
choreographer
Edward Flemyng
members
of his
founded
troupe
in 1956.64 Flemyng
to join,
and at least
invited Rickard and other
three of Rickard's
best dancers
did
so, which effectively brought the First Negro Classic Ballet to an end. During
a summer
tour of Europe
in 1957, however,
the death of
both
the
ended
Ballet's
main
sponsor
unfortunately
on
to
went
become music
director
of
company. Wilson
in Montrose,
Veteran's
New York,
Roosevelt
Hospital
as late as
career, but he still kept in contact with Rickard
the New York Negro
tour and the dance
the Franklin Delano
where
he ended his
1968.
68
The Journal
are several
There
aspects
out. First,
they were
and commercial
recognition
stand
overwhelmingly
to
those
of African American History
of Forsythe's
and Wilson's
achievements
that
a time when
art
of
music
composers
during
success
went
musicians
for African
American
in popular
music.
to transcend
In seeking
stereotypical categories of the black musician,
they paid a price: the lack of
renown
talents.
and
New Negro,
piano
to earn
financial
compensation
for
their
They
symbolized
the
yet on their own terms. Although Forsythe briefly played jazz
some money
upon
his
return
to Los Angeles,
of his talent to creating art songs. While Wilson
he dedicated
included jazz
most
in his
his main field of expression
art music,
also remained
and his
compositions,
was
to
interest
write
the
for
dance.
primary
racial restrictions
of the era. One
Second,
they both sought to transcend
of Forsythe's
closest friends
in his youth was the Russian-Jewish
pianist Verna
was
an
who
his
and
Arvey,
played
compositions
early supporter of his music.
Forsythe
art songs
Forsythe
disease
set the poems
and black poets to music,
and he also wrote
of white
as
In other words,
such
Po.
based on poems
Li
Chinese
poets
by
was drawing
on multiethnic
sources
for inspiration.
his
Although
his musical
he read
him from developing
skills further,
prevented
on
wrote
them
and American
and
about
composers
European
widely
a
art
in European
and
too, had
Wilson,
music,
strong background
extensively.
at a prominent
music
in Los Angeles,
the
he first worked
multiethnic
school
of Music. Wilson's
with Rickard
achievements
Gray Conservatory
subsequent
were unique
in the history of dance in Los Angeles.
racial
The venture
crossed
common
to do so; for example,
lines before
it became
the integration
of the
black and white musicians'
in Los Angeles,
767 and 47, only
unions
Locals
took place
in 1953: seven years after the founding
Classic
of the First Negro
The
in Los
relative
that African
Americans
Ballet.65
freedom
enjoyed
an
to other
centers
urban
in the U.S.
Angeles
compared
provided
both
in which
could thrive, and it attracted
environment
the ballet company
white and black audiences.
a thriving
of the arts
the Los Angeles
Renaissance
Third,
represented
during the first half of the 20th century. It began with a population boom and
sources
of
and ended with
the rise of other competing
prosperity
Wilson
contributed
Both
and
television.
entertainment,
Forsythe
especially
a combination
to that movement
and witnessed
of creative
ferment
markedly
Harlem
the
from
Renaissance.
and racial pride that drew inspiration
originally
was multiethnic,
not
in Los Angeles
the movement
Perhaps
paradoxically,
economic
but also
of the southern California
of the diversity
population,
only because
came
to
in
search
of
and
Los
musicians
because many
artists, writers,
Angeles
can improve
research
and to escape
Further
artistic
freedom
racial barriers.
our understanding
in the fields
and
of drama, dance,
of how artists interacted
us
with
In
and
their
creative
Wilson
both
music.
output,
Forsythe
provide
Renaissance.
of living the Los Angeles
examples
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
A Tale of Two Black Composers
69
NOTES
Portions of this paper were read at the Los Angeles City Library when I was
an invited speaker of the Los Angeles Historical Society inApril 2003 and at
the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., inMay 2003. I appreciate the
feedback
participants'
Sue
Hodson,
Forsythe,
I would
also like to thank Harold
suggestions.
reviewers
and the anonymous
for the JAAH.
and
S.
de Graaf,
Lawrence
"Negro Migration
Los Angeles,
1962; Keith Collins, Black
Josh Sides,
1980); and more
recently,
to Los Angeles,
of California,
Ph.D. diss., University
1930-1950,"
The Maturing
Los Angeles:
1940-1950
of the Ghetto,
(Saratoga, CA,
Los Angeles from
L.A. City Limits: African American
the Great
B. Bakan,
CA, 2003). On Central Avenue
Jazz, see Michael
"Way out
to the Present
Depression
(Berkeley,
West on Central: Jazz in the African-American
of Los Angeles
Soul:
before 1930," in California
Community
in the West, ed. Jacqueline Cogdell
Music
and Eddie S. Meadows
of African Americans
DjeDje
(Berkeley,
Jazz: Los Angeles
"Central Avenue
Black Music
of the Forties,"
CA,
1998), 23-78;
Gary Marmorstein,
Southern
70 (Winter
Ted Gioia, West Coast Jazz: Modern
in
Jazz
California
1988): 415-26;
Quarterly
1945-1960
her emphasis
is popular music,
(Berkeley, CA, 1992), esp. chap. 1, 6, and 15. Although
California,
Bette Yarbrough Cox includes a discussion
in art music and church music
of musicians
in Central Avenue?Its
Rise and Fall
and chap. 4. Several
CA?
30-36,
(1890-C.1955)
(Los Angeles,
1996), esp. 23-78,
jazz
recount their experiences
musicians
in Clora Bryant et al., eds., Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles
in Los Angeles
of concert music
to receive
substantial
CA,
(Berkeley,
1998). The sole black musician
isWilliam
Grant Still. See Judith Anne Still, Michael
J. Dabrishus,
and Carolyn L. Quin, William
recognition
Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography
(Westport, CT, 1996); and Catherine Parsons Smith, with contributed essays by
and Willard
B. Gatewood,
William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions
Gayle Murchison
(Berkeley, CA,
2000).
Grant Still wrote
about several African
American
such as Roland
2William
musicians,
Hayes, Marian
and Harry T. Burleigh, who sought to end the stereotype of "Negroes
Anderson,
[who] were talented only in
folk or theatrical music,"
in "Fifty Years of Progress
inMusic,"
Parsons Smith, "'Harlem
quoted in Catherine
Man' Revisited:
The Politics of Race and Class
inWilliam
Renaissance
Grant Still's Late Career," American
15 (Fall 1997): 390. See also Lawrence
Music
"Powers of Blackness:
Africanist
Discourse
in
Kramer,
Modern Concert Music," Black Music Research Journal
16 (Spring 1996): 53-70.
3
at the Huntington
Sue Hodson
to my attention.
these two composers
There
is
Library first brought
on Bruce Forsythe
than Claudius Wilson
The Harold
substantially more material
(1908-1976)
(19257-1970?).
Bruce Forsythe
CA. Catherine
a
Parsons Smith devotes
Papers are in the Huntington
Library, San Marino,
whole
New Negro,"
titled "An Unknown
in William
Grant Still, 94-113.
The few
chapter to Forsythe,
on Claudius Wilson
materials
reside in the Joseph Rickard Collection
in the Huntington
Library.
the Depression
the film and construction
industries helped alleviate
interrupted this prosperity,
4Although
some of the financial hardship. For further discussion
in Los Angeles
of music
during this period, see Kenneth
Los Angeles and the Creation
1880-1940
Marcus, Musical Metropolis:
of a Music Culture,
(New York, 2004).
its founding
to Mexico
from 1822 to 1846 before coming
5After
by Spain in 1781, Los Angeles
belonged
under American
in 1850. John Koegel
received statehood
has analyzed
the music of the 19th
rule; California
Life in California
after the Gold Rush," California
century in detail; see "Canciones del Pa?s: Mexican Musical
78 (Fall 1999): 161-87; and "Calendar of Southern California Amusements
1852-1897
for
History
Designed
the Spanish-Speaking
Music
Review
13 (Spring-Summer
See also,
Public," Inter-American
1993): 115-43.
"Mexican-American
Koegel,
at the Southwest
Collection
6Doug Flamming,
67.
'
Don Lee White
Music
in Nineteenth-Century
Southern California:
The Lummis Wax Cylinder
Los Angeles,"
Ph.D. diss., The Claremont Graduate School,
1994.
in Jim Crow America
Bound for Freedom:
Black Los Angeles
CA,
2005), 264
(Berkeley,
Museum,
to five areas in Los Angeles
where
black Angelenos
lived: Central
points
commonly
Side on Jefferson Avenue
and Western Avenue),
Boyle Heights, West
(between Normandie
Temple
"Black Churches
and Black Church Music
in Los Angeles"
Street, and the Furlong Tract. Don Lee White,
for Social
Studies
and Research,
Los
1998), 7-8, Southern California
(unpublished
manuscript,
Library
CA.
Angeles,
Avenue,
70 The Journal of African American History
in the City: The Industrial Era, 1900-1950,"
"African Americans
8Joe W. Trotter,
Journal
of Urban History
21 (May 1995): 438-57.
See also Lillian Serece Williams,
"Introduction: African Americans
and the Urban
The Journal of African American History
89 (Spring 2004): 93-97.
Landscape,"
to Los Angeles,"
21. See also Flamming,
Bound for Freedom,
9de Graaf, "Negro Migration
chap. 3. The 74th
District
became
the much
District
in 1930; see Flamming,
Bound for
Assembly
larger 62nd Assembly
306-08.
Freedom,
10Collins, Black Los Angeles, 9-10.
1
Avenue
see Sides, L.A. City
until 1950 was an ethnically mixed neighborhood;
Central
(as well as Watts)
Limits, 18-21, chap. 4; Flamming, Bound for Freedom,
100-04, 308.
12
the late 1920s Somerville
went bankrupt, and a successful
rackets runner Lucius Lomax Sr. bought
^During
the hotel in 1929 and renamed
it in honor of Paul Lawrence
the first black poet to gain national
Dunbar,
The hotel, which
is located at 4225 S. Central, became a
among both black and white audiences.
recognition
see Sides, L.A. City Limits, 98
women
inWest Adams,
senior citizens home in 1968. On black professional
101,121-24.
in the 1940s, when over 10,000 African Americans
entered the city each month,
13Black migration
peaked
in the defense
entered
mainly
industry. In June 1943 alone, 10,200-14,000
seeking employment
opportunities
the city. Collins, Black Los Angeles,
18-19.
14Cox, Central
10.
Avenue,
are concert
who was born in Texas
and came to Los
examples
singer Ivan Harold Browning,
in 1910; choral instructor and arranger Jester Hairston, who was born inNorth Carolina
and came to
Angeles
Los Angeles
in 1935; and concert and gospel
via New York
Smith, who was born in
singer Marion Downs
and came to Pasadena
in 1936. Cox, Central Avenue,
169-204.
Arkansas
15Three
a final "e," but Bruce changed
as a young
it to Forsythe
16The family name was originally
Forsyth, without
in the late 1920s. Harold S. Forsythe, written communication
with the author, 27 July 2001. For
man, probably
the purposes of this essay and to avoid confusion,
I shall use the spelling "Forsythe" throughout. Some scholars
have referred to Forsythe by his full name, Harold Bruce Forsythe.
Since he signed his name simply "Bruce
in his mature compositions
and writings,
Iwill refer to him by that name.
Forsythe"
as well as "A
to Arvey,
for orchestra,
dedicated
"Portraits in Sepia, I: Brown Girl's Fingers,"
17Forsythe
A Coloratura
Wildbird,
Song," for voice and piano, "The Sound of the Forge" (with lyrics by Arna Bontemps).
the
"Nocturne" to Arvey,
dedicated
based on a poem by Li Po. In addition, Arvey wrote
Forsythe originally
the Lake," for voice and full orchestra. All songs
words for an unfinished work by Forsythe,
"Pine Tree Near
are in Box
and Arvey, written between
1933 and 1934, are in
1, Forsythe Papers. Six letters between Forsythe
Box 13, Forsythe Papers.
18
V. P. Franklin,
The Journal
"Introduction: Cultural Capital and African American
Education,"
of African
American History
87 (Spring 2002):
175-81.
of about forty children. Cox, Central Avenue,
19The school also had a "kindergarten department"
14; Marcus,
Musical
52-54.
Metropolis,
20"Etude
No.
Freedom,
268.
21Smith,
William
1 in C minor"
23Box
Box
2, Forsythe
Papers.
On McCullough,
see Flamming,
Bound
for
Grant Still, 98-99.
1 and 2, Forsythe
22Boxes
(1924?),
Papers.
12, Forsythe
24Charles
December
Papers.
to Bruce
Pemberton
1927. Box
Forsythe,
13, Forsythe
5 December
1927;
and Charles
Pemberton
to Bruce
Forsythe,
17
Papers.
Vivian
also studied with Goldmark.
and Mark Brunswick
25The composers Abram Chasins, Alexei
Haieff,
"Rubin Goldmark,"
The New Grove Dictionary
Perlis,
1986), ed. H. Wiley
(New York,
of American Music
ed. Alain Locke, with a new preface by Robert
and Stanley Sadie, 2:239. See also The New Negro,
Hitchcock
1969), 210.
Hayden
(New York,
words
dated
words
1930; "In Wild-Rose
Garden,"
by Lord
Valley,"
by Lord Dunsany,
Is Dust, My Dear," words
3 August
1930; "The Little Rose
by Grace Hazard Conkling
and "Portraits
(1930?);
[sic] in
"Oh, Lady, Let the Sad Tears Fall," words
by Adelaide
Crapsey
(1930?);
to Verna Arvey.
1930, and also dedicated
Sepia, I: Brown Girl's Fingers," for orchestra, dated May-June
to Bruce Forsythe, 9 December
27For example, Reginald
1937, Box 13, Forsythe Papers.
Forsythe
26"In
Yorkshire
Dunsany,
28Harold
dated
S. Forsythe,
written
communication
with
the author, Pasadena,
CA.,
1August
2001.
Living the Los Angeles Renaissance:
A Tale of Two Black Composers
29Smith, William Grant Still, 101-02.
30A set of twenty
letters from his mother,
Elizabeth
M.
Forsythe
(who
lived
71
at
1456 W.
35th
Angeles), datedfrom 23 July 1927 to 10February 1928, are inBox 13,ForsythePapers.
St., Los
31
In the sole extant letter of Forsythe's
father to his son, he states that he did not
support his going to New
send $10 anyway,
York, but would
send more
later. The father's address at the time of
adding that he might
this letter was 1544 E. Jefferson St., Los Angeles,
and the son was living at 203 W.
145th St., in New York.
Sumner B. Forsythe
(n.d., c. 1927), Box 13, Forsythe Papers.
32Still was one of six composers whom CBS commissioned
for works specifically
for radio orchestra. Smith,
William
Grant Still, 82, 103, 164, 272 n.53; Still et al., William
Grant Still,
32-33.
Still and Forsythe's
on Sahdji
collaboration
in 1934 is discussed
in Forsythe's
"The Rising Sun" (Box 11) and "The
of
Significance
Sahdji" (Box 12), Forsythe Papers.
33He wrote about his publications
Grant Still, 96-97,
109, n. 5. Copies
in Box 7, Forsythe Papers.
in an article for the short-lived Hamitic
Review
in 1935. Smith, William
of "Clarendon," "Olympe," and "Love," all
inFlash
in 1929, are
published
34The other sixteen poets are Richard Bruce, Grace
Adelaide
Conkling,
Crapsey,
Robert Frost, Robert Herrick,
Frederic Manning,
Dunsany,
Kathryn Peck, Clare
Arthur
Jean Toomer, Wade
Van Dore, Dee Verlaine,
and Chang-Ling
Symons,
"Series I, Vol. I, 34 Songs" (unpublished
manuscript,
1931), Box 1, Forsythe Papers.
35Forsythe,
36Harold
"34 Songs," pp. 68-71, Box 1, Forsythe
S. Forsythe, written communication
with
R. Nathaniel
Dett, Lord
The Shi-King,
Bruce
Wang.
Forsythe,
Shanafelt,
Papers.
the author, Pasadena,
2001.
CA, 8 August,
"34 Songs," pp. 41-43, Box 1, Forsythe Papers.
37Forsythe,
38In a letter to Jean Toomer, he described
the poet as "not so much the finest but the
only writer partaking of
the Blood,
in this country." Quoted
in Smith, William Grant Still, 105. In
he referred to
Forsythe's novel Mask,
as "the best writer,
Toomer
. . .
better than most whites
snob." Bruce
[but] a frightful
Forsythe, Mask
c. 1935), 213: Box 9,
(unpublished manuscript,
Forsythe Papers.
39See the section on music
in Locke, ed., The New Negro,
199-227.
40Smith,
4
Nathan
42Boxes
43Huggins,
William
Huggins,
Grant Still,
Harlem
1-6, Forsythe
Harlem
108. "The Music
Renaissance
Goes
Round
(New York,
and Round"
1971),
is in Box
3, Forsythe
Papers.
59.
Papers.
Renaissance,
12.
54-55; Cox, Central Avenue,
44Marcus, Musical
Metropolis,
18-19; and Who's Who in Colored Los Angeles,
1930-31
(Los Angeles,
CA, 1931).
45The famous French pianist and pedagogue
Alfred Cortot founded his school in Paris after the First World
War. Gray obtained his degree
in 1929 before returning to Los
Iwould
like to thank Nadia Dufruit
Angeles.
in the Admissions
at Ecole Normale
Office
de Musique
de Paris for confirming
his degree; written
communication
with author, 1December
2003.
46See Kenneth H. Marcus,
'"ANew Expression
56," Journal of the West 44 (Spring 2005): 24-33.
for a New
People':
Race
and Ballet
in Los Angeles,
1946
47Gretchen
interview with
the author,
Berlew,
10 April
telephone
2003; Thomas
Wagner,
telephone
interview with the author, 12 April 2003.1 would
like to thank Rickard's
sister and nephew, Gretchen
Berlew
and Thomas Wagner,
for their insights on Rickard's
career.
respectively,
48The costume
set designers were Robert Ussher
designer was Nancy Cappola,
and Richard Kollorz,
the
and the publicity
manager
during the first several years was Roy Victor,
Irwin Parn?s in 1949,
agents were
and John Bauer and Mary Bran in 1951.
and Texanna
Laws arrived in Los Angeles
in 1919, purchased
the property
inWatts
49Henry
in 1936, and
moved
onto the property
in 1940 to challenge
the restrictive
covenant. Lonnie G. Bunch, Black
Angelenos:
The Afro-American
in Los Angeles,
1850-1950
(Los Angeles,
CA, 1988), 40-41.
Jane Sandoval,
"Ghetto Growing
Pains: The Impact of Negro Migration
on the City of Los
50Sally
Angeles,
State University,
1940-1960," MA.
thesis, California
42.
Fullerton,
1973, 13,19; Bunch, Black Angelenos,
51
"Ghetto
Sandoval,
Pains," 21, based on Horace R. Cayton,
Growing
"America's Ten Best Cities
for
5 (October 1947): 9-10.
Negroes,"
Negro Digest
52Black choirs sang at the Bowl
in 1919 and 1926; see John Henken,
"A Bowl Resounding,"
in The Hollywood
Bowl: Tales of Summer Nights,
ed. Michael
Buckland
and John Henken
(Los Angeles,
CA, 1996), 10-11. On
the Star of Ethiopia,
which
took place on 15 & 18 June 1925, see
"The Star of Ethiopia and
Doug Flamming,
72 The Journal of African American History
the NAACP:
Making:
2001),
and the Los Angeles
African American
Politics,
Pageantry,
in the 1920s, ed. Tom Sitton and William
Los Angeles
Deverell
145-60. See also Flamming, Bound for Freedom,
267-70.
Community,"
(Berkeley
inMetropolis
and Los Angeles,
in the
CA,
to Bruce Forsythe, 29 July 1936, Box 13, Forsythe Papers.
to return
(1949) tells the story of a light-skinned woman who
"passed" as white until she decides
54Pinky
to her southern home. Symbolic
of the change
in racial depictions
on the screen include the
permanently
in the Sky (1943) and Paris Blues
such as Cabin
of earlier,
many films by Sidney Poitier,
(1961). Examples
were
in Gone With the Wind
to Washington
Smith Goes
stereotypical
portrayals
(1939), Mr.
(1939),
Casablanca
(1942), and the numerous films featuring "Our Gang."
53"Chappie"
in An American
in Paris and Finian's Rainbow; Bernice Harrison
in Show Boat;
55Graham Johnson performed
in Carmen Jones.
and Theodore Duncan
Los Angeles Times, 6 July
"Negro Ballet Will Perform at Playhouse,"
1952, Part IV, p. 5; Box 2, folder: First Negro Classic Ballet
(hereafter FNCB)-1952,
Joseph Rickard Papers,
Huntington
Library, San Marino, CA,
56Cited
in Program, Assistance
Rickard Papers.
League
Playhouse,
Hollywood,
Calif,
November
25, 26,
1949, Box
2, folder:
FNCB-1949,
57The dance critic's response
Score with Art, Showmanship,"
1949, Rickard Papers.
58For
Misc.,
to the performance
is in Ronald D. Scofield,
Santa Barbara News-Press,
20 November
in 1951 onwards
performances
Rickard Papers.
this story-dance
was
renamed
"Ballet Review:
Negro Dancers
Box 2, folder: FNCB
1949, B-3;
"Pagliacci."
Programs,
Box
2, folder:
9 October
Bakersfield,
Calif,
1951, Box 2, Rickard Papers.
59Program, Harvey Auditorium,
1 February 1954, Box 2, folder: FNCB-1954,
Sartu Theater, Hollywood,
Rickard Papers.
60Program,
6
after the First Negro Classic
Ballet ended, Alvin Ailey
launched his company,
the Alvin Ailey
Shortly
Dance
Theater
in March
American
in New York
1958. Arthur Mitchell
formed
the Dance
of
Theater
Harlem
in 1968.
S. Forsythe, written
62Harold
William Grant Still, 109.
63Four
with
the author,
Pasadena,
CA,
27 July 2001.
of the 15 February
1997 concert are in Box 15, folder 1, Forsythe Papers.
"The First Negro Classic Ballet," Archival Outlook
(January-February
2003):
on 6 July 2004.
Accessed
http://www.promusic47.org/benefits/amalgame.asp:
See also Smith,
cassettes
64Sue Hodson,
65See
communication
28.