Peabody’ s FREE performance season this spring spans from classical to contemporary, from jazz to dance.
handicaps— those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins … I should like to be judged on merit alone— the great trouble having been to get conductors, who know nothing of my work … to even consent to examine a score.”
Although the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was the only major orchestra to perform one of Price’ s symphonic works during her lifetime, several of her large pieces were premiered by the Works Progress Administration Symphony Orchestra( WPASO). The ensemble was part of the Federal Music Project( FMP), a New Deal program funded by the government to employ musicians, conductors, and composers during the Great Depression. Price’ s Third Symphony was commissioned by the FMP and premiered in Detroit by the Michigan WPASO in 1940. The piece was not heard again until 2001 and remained unpublished until 2008.
Price describes the Third Symphony as“ a cross section of present-day Negro life and thought with its heritage of that which is past, paralleled or influenced by concepts of the present day.” The first movement opens with an ominous, slow introduction, before launching into the faster exposition. The primary theme in this movement sounds simultaneously exciting and serious, and the second theme, which is introduced by the solo trombone, is intensely lyrical. Price’ s lush harmonies and soaring melodies that are punctuated by graceful harp arpeggiations form an exquisite second movement. The third movement is inspired by the Juba dance, a 19 th century African American style that utilizes body percussion to create complex rhythms. Price’ s exuberant Juba movement also includes a blues-inspired melody. The Third Symphony ends in heroic grandeur, with swirling whooshes of sound building to a dissonant conclusion.
PEABODY
2025 – 26 CONCERT SEASON
Peabody’ s FREE performance season this spring spans from classical to contemporary, from jazz to dance.
Find your favorites near you at peabody. jhu. edu / events.
The Classical Radio Voice of
PAULA MAUST is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Peabody Conservatory. She is the author of Expanding the Music Theory Canon and performs extensively as a harpsichordist and organist.
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