Rescued from Obscurity: More Compositions of Julia Perry Now to be Published
Previously unpublished music by the 20th-century African-American composer Julia Perry will now be published and made available, through a new partnership between Videmus Inc. and classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes.
Perry’s music has been in the news lately, as her music was featured in the Grammy-nominated American Counterpoints album, featuring violinist Curtis Stewart performing her 1968 Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the Experiential Orchestra and music director James Blachly.
BELOW: the third movement from Perry's "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra," performed by Curtis Stewart and the Experiential Orchestra, with James Blachly:
Perry is a fascinating figure - born in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky and raised in Akron, Ohio, by her 20s she was already an award-winning composer, studying in both America and Europe with Luigi Dallapiccola and with Nadia Boulanger. Fluent in both English and Italian, she was a multi-talented musician: a mezzo-soprano soloist, orchestral and choral conductor, violinist, and pianist. She wrote more than 100 works across multiple musical genres, including orchestral and choral works, operas, chamber music, solo instrumental pieces, and vocal compositions.
Composer Julia Perry. (1924-1979)
Her "Study for Orchestra" was performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1965. However, just as her career was flourishing in her 40s, she suffered a paralytic stroke in 1970. After that, she struggled to recover her abilities to walk, talk, conduct, and write again - now with her left hand. While she did manage to return to composition, her life grew difficult and she suffered financial setbacks. Most of her compositions fell into obscurity after her death in 1979, at the age of 55.
However, her music is undergoing a resurgence, in no small part due to the efforts of Videmus Inc., a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the promotion of concert works by African American, women, and under-presented composers. The organization is directed by Dr. Louise Toppin,
During 2024, Julia Perry’s centennial year, the Estate of Julia A. Perry assigned all copyrights for her unpublished work to Videmus, which has now partnered with Boosey & Hawkes to make Perry’s music available worldwide through print, performance, and licensing.
The following works are immediately available from Boosey & Hawkes:
Three Spirituals for Orchestra (1965–67)
Prelude for Piano (1946/1962)
Prelude for Strings (Prelude for Piano 1946/1962; arr. for strings by Roger Zahab, 2020)
Symphony in One Movement for Violas and String Basses (1961)
Quartette for Wind Quintette (Symphony No. 13 for Wind Quintet) (1963/1976)
Quinary Quixotic Songs for Bass-Baritone and Five Instruments (1976)
Works planned for future release include Four Spirituals for orchestra, Contretemps for orchestra, Hymn to Pan for choir, and The Selfish Giant: A Sacred Musical Fable (piano reduction of a three-act opera).
"Julia Perry’s prominence in music history as an African-American woman composer has been erased for too long," Toppin said. "Her story as a rising star in the world of composition and conducting during the years of extreme segregation in the United States is both compelling and astonishing. Her compositions...show craftsmanship of the highest caliber that appeal to performers and audiences alike. Many of her compositions remain lost. Videmus is devoted to uncovering any works that still lie in publishers’ archives, university libraries, or in public or private collections."
"During her too-brief career, Julia Perry’s compositions earned praise in every esteemed musical circle from New York to Paris, despite the immense systemic challenges she faced," Boosey & Hawkes Senior Vice President Steven Lankenau said. "She is an indisputably important figure in the history of 20th-century American music, and Boosey & Hawkes is proud to partner with Videmus to bring her unpublished works to the public as this noteworthy composer’s larger legacy continues to unfold."
The path to publication of Julia Perry’s catalog was complex and spanned many years, involving a dedicated volunteer working group of musicians and scholars galvanized by a desire to bring her music to a wider public, and brought together by Toppin.
When Perry died without a will in 1979, only 21 of her approximately 100 works had been published, and there was no mechanism to secure permission to publish the remainder of her music. Beginning in 2021, the Akron Symphony sought a legal solution, and with the support of Probate Judge Elinore M. Stormer of Summit County, Ohio, an estate was opened in Julia Perry’s name on October 12, 2022. Over the course of two years, the estate granted permission for performances and recordings, ultimately transferring copyrights to Perry’s unpublished music to Videmus Inc. in September 2024.
Concurrent to the legal process, Louise Toppin brought together a Julia Perry working group in 2021 to coordinate the various efforts already under way internationally to promote Perry’s music and to share new research with each other. Since then, the core of the effort to publish Perry’s music has been the three-person Videmus editorial team of Louise Toppin; conductor Christopher Wilkins, music director of the Akron Symphony; and conductor James Blachly, music director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and Experiential Orchestra.
In addition to the editorial team of Toppin, Wilkins, and Blachly, the assistance of composer, conductor, violinist and scholar Roger Zahab has been essential in the path to publication. Zahab has been researching and creating editions of Perry's music for more than 30 years, including his widely performed arrangement Prelude for Strings, and has given several notable premieres of her works both as a violinist and conductor. He is also one of the only musicians alive who had direct communication with Julia Perry during the final years of her life.
"The neglect Perry’s music has faced is not unique," Toppin said. "We hope that this endeavor might serve as a model for others seeking to bring additional works of unjustly ignored composers to light."
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Replies
That would be tremendous Paul. Auschwitz was the most memorable school trip that I accompanied: I have never seen teenagers so reflective, thoughtful, hushed. I remember them eating their packed lunches in almost total silence. Astonishing that, with such evidence of brutality and hate before us, we the human race continue to devise and inflict suffering.
Small additional point, I think the great violin concertos of the twentieth century either are, or contain, poignant laments or reflections on human cruelty. I'm thinking of Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Berg, Britten, Barber... . I detect an element of this in the Julia Perry extract above. Must listen again later today.
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December 6, 2024 at 12:42 PM · One of my ancestors was a composer (published by Peters) before he was murdered, along with most of his family, at Auschwitz. I am trying to find the book of his pieces, which I saw many years ago in poor condition, so that I can scan it and upload it to IMSLP.