From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music
Piano scholar Walker-Hill (Piano Music by Black Women Composers) presents an accessible, thoughtful, and humanist study of African American women composers who, for the most part, have been ignored by historians. Readers are introduced to Undine Smith Moore (1904-89), Julia Perry (1924-79), Margaret Bonds (1913-72), Irene Britton Smith (1907-99), Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940-), Valerie Capers (1935-), Mary Watkins (1939-), and Regina Harris (1956-), as well as the 20th-century social milieu in which they worked. Frankly examining race and gender issues and individual challenges, such as blindness or being adopted, the author, who conducted interviews with many of the composers and their families, also discusses the music of each woman at length in appreciative, nontechnical language. Detailed works lists and an appendix enumerating other black women composers add reference value; opening and concluding overview chapters supply historical context and big-picture views. Besides Mildred Denby Green's groundbreaking Black Women Composers: A Genesis (1983), which focuses more on the music than on the women themselves and includes musical analyses and examples, there aren't other books on this subject. Public and academic libraries, then, would do well to acquire this study. Bonnie Jo Dopp, Univ. of Maryland Libs., College ParkCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.