Leontyne Price, check.
Grace Bumbry, check.
Most anyone with a passing interest in classical music, or opera, would know those names. Maybe an ordinary "Smith" just wasn't catchy enough? Maybe her particular racial controversy wasn't powerful enough to stay in the national headlines. It seems a bit odd that a woman who performed for a U.S. President and a Pope didn't have more of an impact. Where was the major record label deal, or the big TV documentary about her life?
Nobody called her, er, uh, the Queen Latifah of Opera? Or something like that? Look at this...
Barbara Smith (August 11, 1937 – May 22, 2017) was supposed to perform the role of Dido in a student opera production of "Dido and Aeneas" at The University of Texas at Austin. This was 1957, and the idea of a black woman on stage in opera was a bit too much in the South, especially when she was singing opposite a white student playing Aeneas. The major protest came from a Democrat, Joe Chapman, who felt Smith's presence would be rocking the boat too much, and be "bad publicity" for the University, and cause a loss of funding.
The feeble excuse drew enough ire to have Chapman burned in effigy, and Civil Rights-oriented stars such as Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte coming to her defense.
She rose above the controversy to remain at the University and earn her B.A., and then, discovering there was already a Barbara Smith in show business, she became Barbara Smith Conrad (using her father's first name). She embarked on an impressive, but not star-shimmering career. Part of it may have been that she had to divide her time between performing and the more mundane way of making a living; teaching voice.
The mezzo-soprano performed with the Houston Grand Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, which wasn't going to get her signed to RCA Victor or anything. In 1977, age 40, she was cast as Marian Anderson in a made-for-TV movie, "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years." By the time she made it to steady work in productions at the Metropolitan Opera, she was 45. By then, there were quite a few black opera singers around and issuing solo albums. Barbara appeared in a Met production of "Porgy and Bess," but Grace Bumbry was the one playing Bess. She retired from the Met in 1989 and once again devoted most of her time to teaching at the Manhattan School of Music.
Barbara Smith Conrad did turn up at a few semi-high profile events in her 50's and 60's. In 1987 she was invited by President Reagan to perform at Lady Bird Johnson's 75th Birthday. Eight years later, she was one of the performers at a gala honoring Pope John Paul II.
Smith was somewhat rescued from obscurity by the Briscoe Center for American History, which is part of her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. In 2010 the Briscoe Center created a documentary about her called "When I Rise," which was screened at a variety of indie film festivals that year. So thanks to the Briscoe folk, Smith's legacy lives on via film. Not that it's an easy film to find on VHS or DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment