Lesson 10: Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson Recreation Center,
Philadelphia

Marian Anderson is one of the most famous contralto singers of her time.  I wanted the children to know of her and her musical legacy because she is one of our own- growing up within walking distance of our school.  Many children in my classes have walked over to the playground at "Marian Anderson", but none knew who she was.

Anderson as Ulrica in
Un Ballo in Maschera

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was born in Philadelphia and sang as a child at Union Baptist Church.  In spite of extreme racism and segregation she found great success as a classical vocalist, performing all over the world.  She was famous for her rich low voice and performed art song, opera and spirituals in concert.  She actually performed a role in an opera only once: Ulrica (a fortune-teller) in Giuseppe Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955, and was the first African-American to ever sing at the Met.

Instead of presenting her with another classical vocalist, I chose to play the aria (English translation here) from her Metropolitan Opera debut, and an example of her treatment of an African-American Spiritual.

We heard:
Re dell'abisso, affrettati (King of the depths, hurry), from Giuseppe Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, performed in 1955 at the Metropolitan Opera.
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, African American Spiritual.

I told the classes the story of how Marian Anderson returned to the USA from Europe and faced terrible racism that affected where and when she could perform, where could stay on tour and who could sit in the best seats in her audience.  She would often insist on vertical segregation instead of horizontal- ensuring that some of black audience members were able to sit in the orchestra section of the theater- many for the first time ever.  I explained that the singer was denied performance space at Constitution Hall by the Daughter of the American Revolution (who owned it at the time), and because of the the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned from that organization and that she and the president arranged for Anderson to sing an open air concert on Easter Sunday of 1939 in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  When I told the children that more than 75,000 people came out to hear her, they couldn't believe it. Some even doubted the photograph was real!



The lesson plan is here.
The visual aides are here.
The drawing pages are here.

Enjoy!