"She has a voice that is heard only once in a hundred years." Arturo Toscanni, the famous Italian symphony conductor said of Marian Anderson. At the peak of her career, she was regarded as the world's greatest contralto. Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1897, the oldest of three girls. She displayed a remarkable flair for singing when very young. From the age of six, she was tutored in the choir of the Union Baptist Church, where she sang parts written for bass, alto, tenor, and soprano voices. Marian and her two younger sisters loved to sing and all three sang in the children's choir at church. At the age of 13, Marian sang in the adult choir.
Marian and her two younger sisters loved to sing and all three sang in the children's choir at church. When she was 15 years old, Marian began voice lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson, a prominent Black soprano. Marian attended William Penn High School until her music vocation arose. She then transferred to South Philadelphia High School. She remained deeply committed to her church and its choir and rehearsed all the parts (soprano, alto, tenor and bass). Anderson's commitment to her music and her range as a singer so impressed the rest of her choir. The church banded together and raised enough money, about $500, to pay for Anderson to train under Giuseppe Boghetti, a respected voice teacher.
Other opportunities soon followed. Although many concert opportunities were closed to her because of her race, Anderson appeared with the Philadelphia Symphony and toured Black southern college campuses. William “Billy” King accompanied her and also served as her manager. Soon she was making $100 per concert. On April 23, 1924, they took a giant step and held a concert at New York’s Town Hall. Unfortunately, it was poorly attended and critics found her voice lacking. Marian was so discouraged, she contemplated abandoning her career choice. But shortly after she entered a singing competition and won first place over 300 other singers, gaining her an engagement with the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium.
This was a significant was a triumph and gained her the attention of Arthur Judson, an important impresario, who put her under contract. In 1926, Marian toured the eastern and southern states, adding songs to her repertoire. Marian then obtained a scholarship through the National Association of Negro Musicians to study in Britain. In 1928, she performed at Carnegie Hall for the first time and eventually embarked on a tour through Europe thanks to a Julius Rosenwald scholarship. On September 16, 1930, she performed at London’s Wigmore Hall. She returned to the U.S only later to return to Europe to make highly successful European tours.
Marian returned to the U.S. for more concerts and then, in 1933, back to Europe again through the Rosenwald Fund. From September 1933 through April 1934, she performed at 142 concerts in Scandinavia alone. She received a rare invitation to sing from Jean Sibelius, a 70-year-old famous Finnish composer. He was so moved, he dedicated his song “Solitude” to her, and saying, “The roof of my house is too low for your voice.” She followed those concerts with appearances throughout Europe. Still relatively unknown in the United States, she received scholarships to study abroad and appeared before the monarchs of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and England.
At the end of her European tour, Anderson was an acclaimed sensation in the capitals of Europe, and American impresario Sol Hurok signed her to 15 concerts in the United States. On December 20, 1935, Marian appeared for the second time at New York’s Town Hall. This time she was a great success. She also gave two concerts at Carnegie Hall, then toured the states from coast to coast. Although by then quite famous, her stature did not completely end the prejudice she confronted as a young Black singer touring the U.S. She was still denied rooms in certain hotels and was not allowed to eat in certain restaurants. Simple tasks such as arranging for laundry, taking a train, were often difficult.
Because of this discrimination, Albert Einstein, a champion of racial tolerance, hosted Anderson on many occasions, the first in 1937 when she was denied a hotel before performing at Princeton University. She last stayed with him months before he died in 1955. In 1939, an incident involving the Daughters of the American Revolution did much to focus public attention on racism. The DAR denied Anderson use of their Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., the city’s foremost center, for an April concert, saying no dates were available. Washington was segregated and even the Hall, owned by the DAR had segregated seating. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and many others followed.
With the aid of First Lady and her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. government placed Lincoln Memorial at Anderson's disposal. Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. Fans of opera of all colors traveled to the event. Organizations from small community churches to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) worked to bring African American fans to attend. It drew a live audience of 75,000, and millions more heard it over the radio. Anderson continued to break barriers for Black artists throughout the United States.
She said in various ways that she did not feel that by herself she could confront issues of discrimination. Instead she did her best to influence the opinions of people she met by leaving them with a strong impression of her intelligence, artistry, and grace. But her extraordinary talent propelled her into situations that were not of her choosing. Singing spirituals was one way of identifying her commitment to African American concerns while remaining within her role as a performer. Several weeks later, Marian gave a private concert at the White House, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt was entertaining King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Britain.
She won the NAACP's Spingarn Medal in 1939 for music achievement. In 1941, Anderson was granted the Edward Bok Award by Philadelphia for her distinguished services. Using the $10,000 she received as part of the Bok Award, the contralto established the Marian Anderson Scholarships, which supported several up-and-coming musicians. During World War II and the Korean War, Anderson entertained troops in hospitals and bases. In 1943, she sang at Constitution Hall at the invitation of the DAR to a now-integrated audience as part of a benefit for the American Red Cross. She had insisted the DAR suspend its segregated seating policy for the concert.
On July 17, 1943, in Bethel, Connecticut, Anderson married architect Orpheus H. Fisher. The couple purchased a 100-acre farm in Danbury, Connecticut. Through the years, Fisher built many outbuildings on the property, including an acoustic rehearsal studio he designed for his wife. In 1954, Metropolitan Opera general manager Rudolf Bing signed Anderson for the role of Ulrica in the Met’s production of Un Ballo in Maschera, by Giuseppe Verdi. Her debut on January 7, 1955, marked the first time that an African American had sung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She was 58 years old and, feeling past her vocal prime, felt she overdid it out of nervousness. In 1957 Anderson’s autobiography, "My Lord, What a Morning", was published.
Later that month, she sang for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration. She toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassador through the U.S. State Department. She had the honor of performing as the first American at the Gandhi Memorial. She traveled 35,000 miles in 12 weeks, giving 24 concerts. After that, President Eisenhower appointed her a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. That same year, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. On Jan. 20, 1961, she sang for President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Anderson quietly supported many civil rights causes. On 28 August 1963, Anderson once again performed at the Lincoln Memorial, this time singing the Negro spiritual, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the American Medal of Freedom. Anderson retired in 1965 with a final concert, on April 19, 1965, Easter Sunday, conducted by her nephew, James DePreist, in Philadelphia. Although Anderson retired, she continued to appear publicly. As an opera singer in demand for solo concerts as well as operas, Anderson regularly integrated traditional spirituals into her performances.
Marian Anderson wished to draw greater awareness to the art and talent of African Americans. So in addition to classical opera, she sang African American spirituals that were arranged for orchestra or for voice and piano by Black composers such as Harry T. Burleigh, Hall Johnson, her dear friend Florence B. Price, and Lawrence Brown, among others. Her achievements were honored with many recognitions, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the George Peabody Medal in 1981, the National Medal of Arts in 1986 and a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. She has been awarded many honorary doctoral degrees from more than 20 other educational institutions.
A true contralto, Anderson’s voice was large. She had the flexibility to be equally at home with Negro spirituals and operas. Anderson had the combination of talent, perseverance, dignity, and serenity at a time when there was finally just enough tolerance in this country to allow those traits to manifest themselves. Marian Anderson was an important figure in the struggle for African American artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Her final years were spent in Portland, Oregon, where she'd moved in with her nephew. She died there of natural causes on April 8, 1993.