Florence Price

Florence Price
Price, date unknown
Born
Florence Beatrice Smith

(1887-04-09)April 9, 1887
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
DiedJune 3, 1953(1953-06-03) (aged 66)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupations
Years active1899–1952
Spouses
Thomas J. Price
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(m. 1912; div. 1931)​
[1]
Pusey Dell Arnett
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(m. 1931; sep. 1934)​
Children3
Signature

Florence Beatrice Price (née Smith; April 9, 1887 – June 3, 1953) was an American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher.[2] Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, and was active in Chicago from 1927 until her death in 1953. Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.[3] Price composed over 300 works: four symphonies, four concertos, as well as choral works, art songs, chamber music and music for solo instruments. In 2009, a substantial collection of her works and papers was found in her abandoned summer home.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference FP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ege, Samantha; Shadle, Douglas (April 7, 2023). "As Her Music Is Reconsidered, a Composer Turns 135. Again. – The work of Florence B. Price is having a renaissance, and new, foundational details about her life and racial identity are still being discovered". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  3. ^ Slonimsky, N. (ed.), The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th edn, New York: Schirmer, 1994, p. 791.