WETA: Rachel Barton Pine Speaks about Music by Black Composers

WETA
Editor's Note: Critically-acclaimed violin soloist Rachel Barton Pine writes this guest blog, speaking about her foundation's initiative, Music By Black Composers.

In 1997, I was invited to record my first concerto album. As I was quite young, I decided to wait a little longer before doing major concertos like Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven (all of which I’ve since recorded). Instead, the plan was to find some overlooked but wonderful repertoire for violin and orchestra. Thanks to the African-American conductors active in my hometown of Chicago when I was a teenager – Michael Morgan, Paul Freeman, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – I was aware that there were numerous fantastic works by composers of African descent going all the way back to the 1700s. As a fan of the violin, I was really excited by the idea of introducing violin repertoire to the public which would be new discoveries for almost everyone.

During one of my excursions to a library archive, I saw a huge replica of an historic painting on the wall – a Black man in an 18th-Century wig with a sword and a violin. Whoa! Awesome album cover alert! Of course, it was Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and I fell in love with his music. I included his Violin Concerto in A Major on my album, Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries, alongside works by José White and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (and now Florence Price, in the 25th anniversary re-release).

When I released this record, I was just thinking, this is gorgeous violin music that should have been part of our canon all along, and I’m excited to share it! Almost immediately, I started receiving numerous requestions from students, parents, and teachers, asking for more of this repertoire.

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Photo Credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco