 |
|
|
|
Early Life (1897 - 1920/21): The Story
Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia in 1897. Her mother, Anna, had been a schoolteacher in Virginia before moving north, but after Marian's birth she stayed home to take care of her children. Marian's father, John, worked long, hard hours selling coal and ice at the Reading Railroad Terminal to support his growing family. Marian's sister Alyse was born in 1900 and Ethel followed in 1902. Theirs was a close-knit family. Several of Marian's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins lived within walking distance, many of them together under Marian's grandparents' roof.
As a little girl, Marian went with her father to the Union Baptist Church every Sunday. She joined the junior choir there at the age of 6. She was very enthusiastic about singing for so many people...almost too enthusiastic. The choir director often scolded her for singing so loudly that she drowned out the other children. Her first public performance came when the junior choir sang for their Sunday school; Marian and one of her classmates performed the hymn "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd." It went so well that the duet was invited to perform for the entire congregation at the main service. Her father, who wasn't too pleased at this invitation, grumbled "I'm not going to have them singing my child to death."1
Falling in Love with Music
Marian's love of music was also obvious at school. Marian's classroom at Stanton Grammar School was next door to the music room. Marian sat close to the wall, and listened to the music lessons next door all day long. When at long last it was her turn to go to music class, she already knew all the songs!
At home, Marian was always singing. She sang while helping to tidy up the house, and while running errands for her mother. One day, while delivering laundry to a house in the neighborhood, she heard a different type of music drifting out onto the street. She peeked into the window and saw a young black woman playing the piano. Until that moment, it had never occurred to Marian that she might learn a classical instrument. It wasn't long before she taught herself to play piano. Later, she scrubbed steps up and down her street until she earned about $4. In those days that was a lot of money for a little girl – the equivalent of almost $75 today! Marian took the money to a pawn shop and bought a used violin. She taught herself to play, and didn't stop until all of the strings had broken.
Marian's musical interests and strong voice grabbed the attention of many people. She was invited to join the People's Chorus at the Church of the Crucifixion when she was so little that she had to stand on a chair to see the conductor. While running an errand for her mother one day in 1905, she saw a piece of paper lying in the street. Curious, she picked it up, and was shocked to see a picture of herself on the opposite side. The flier read "Come and hear the baby contralto." At only 8 years old, Marian was already the subject of small headlines!
Hard Times
|
Clockwise from the top:
Anna, Ethel, Marian, and
Alyse Anderson in 1910. |
|
Shortly before Christmas in 1909, Marian's father was accidentally hit on the head at work. He was badly injured, and soon became very ill. All Marian wanted for Christmas that year was for her father to get better. Sadly, his condition only got worse. He died in January of 1910 at age 34, leaving behind three young daughters (Marian was not yet a teenager and Ethel was almost eight) and a widow with no source of income. Marian and her family moved in with her grandmother, just down the street. Her mother took in sewing and laundry and scrubbed floors to make ends meet. Though Anna Anderson had been a schoolteacher in Virginia, she lacked the proper certification to teach in Pennsylvania; to get this certification would have meant going back to school with money she didn't have. Times were tough, and with considerable pressure from Grandmother Anderson, Marian put her high school education on hold to help make money for the family. She mostly helped with her mother's work, but she was also sometimes paid to sing for small concerts and fundraising events.
Study and Struggle
Marian continued to sing with the People's Chorus and the junior choir at Union Baptist Church; she also joined the senior choir at Union Baptist at age 13. Because of her fearlessness, fine voice, and wide range, she often filled in for soloists at church. Sometimes she even helped to fill out the tenor section if people were missing. She began studying voice with Mary Saunders Patterson, who lived on her street. Ms. Patterson knew Marian's story, and seldom requested payment for the lessons. During these first lessons, Marian laid the foundations she would need to build a singing career. She learned basic singing technique and expanded her repertoire, adding some foreign language art songs to the spirituals she loved.
It was hard for Marian's friends at the Union Baptist Church to see her distracted from her singing by the struggle to make money. They considered her voice a gift from God to the whole world. The congregation took a collection to "do something for our Marian." They later offered to guarantee her tuition for a local music school. But when Marian went to apply for this music school she was turned away without being heard, without even a second glance. The reason? The color of her skin.
|
The South Philadelphia High School for Girls, graduating class of 1921. |
|
In the spring of 1915, the People's Chorus held a benefit concert for Marian. The proceeds (nearly $250 – the equivalent of $4500 today) allowed her to choose a more qualified teacher, Agnes Reifsnyder, a (white) contralto. Marian was also able to go to high school that fall. At the age of 18, she began attending the business-oriented William Penn High School. She was hoping to learn skills that would enable her to get a "day job" to pay the bills while singing as much as possible. Unfortunately, shorthand and typing did not come easily to Marian. Her progress was also stunted because she often had to miss school in order to perform at paying gigs across the East Coast. After three years of near-constant struggle, Marian transferred to South Philadelphia High School for Girls. While she still missed many classes, the teachers at this new mixed-race school were understanding and often worked with Marian privately to help her in her studies. They recognized Marian's talent and encouraged her to follow her dreams.
At this point, Marian was getting some good gigs, including performances with the Clef Club Syncopated Orchestra and with Roland Hayes, who served as an inspiration for Marian throughout her career. She also sang for the National Association of Negro Musicians convention in Chicago. After her performance, someone in the audience announced that her talent was too great to be ignored. He suggested that they take up a collection. The money the audience promised was enough to pay for Marian to go to college once she graduated from high school that spring. She applied to and was accepted by Yale University, but the audience's donations were not enough to pay even her first tuition bill.
A Fateful Meeting
Dr. Lucy Wilson, the principal of South Philadelphia High School for Girls, was very supportive of Marian's musical pursuits, and continued to work with Marian until she graduated in June of 1921 at age 24. It was through a friend of Dr. Wilson's that Marian met Giuseppe Boghetti, a relatively famous and widely respected voice teacher. Though Boghetti was rather icy at their first meeting, when he heard Marian sing he offered to clear his schedule so that they could begin working together immediately. "He came to his point quickly. 'I will make room for you right away,' he said firmly, 'and I will need only two years with you. After that, you will be able to go anywhere and sing for anybody.'"2 Their teacher-student relationship blossomed into friendship that lasted for several decades.
|
|
|
