Leontyne Price: Black Lives Matter in Classical Music
“There were millions of things that were negative. But it didn’t get in the way. I had nothing else on my mind except to be the best.” — Leontyne Price
The fire in Leontyne Price’s eyes burns so brightly that I can scarcely even meet her gaze from the comfort of my own couch, in my own home, as I watch hours of her post-retirement interviews online. There are dozens available. Some are from the 80s, others the 90s, 2000s, and so on. The look of her brings me practically to tears. The sound of her voice alone — her speaking voice, that is — makes me lose track of the natural rhythm of my own breath. Her entire being fills my soul with such awe, such joy, such honor, that I almost don’t even know where to begin this biography without acknowledging the fact. I’ve often been suspicious of the word “diva,” as it is so haphazardly applied these days. But when I look at Price, I recall that the word does indeed have a home. Divina, as in “goddess” or “divine,” belongs to singularly to her.
Mary Violet Leontyne Price was born February 10, 1927 in Laurel, Mississippi. Her father, James Anthony Price, was a carpenter. Her mother, Kate Baker Price, was a midwife, and a singer. She is also older sister to George B. Price, who is two years her junior, and who became quite successful himself, earning the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army.
The Price children were raised during the Great Depression in a segregated south. Price herself recalls that finances were tight for the family of four, but that she never felt “poor” because of the tremendous wealth of love in her family home. She received a toy piano when she was three and began studying the instrument formally at five years old. She eventually played so well that by the time she arrived to high school, she often accompanied her school choir. Of course, she was recognized for her vocal talent too, singing as she played. She also played and sang regularly in her church choir and received her first solos there.
When Price was nine years old, her mother took her by bus to hear the great Marian Anderson perform in Jackson, Mississippi. Anderson, who had recently returned to the United States after a decade abroad, was touring the country as a newly minted star. She would have been quite a meaningful sight to Black audiences in the South especially, and Price speaks decidedly of the impact Anderson had on her. She later said that she knew immediately after seeing Anderson that performing was what she wanted to do. However, she did not catch the “opera bug” until much later.
In 1944 Price graduated from Oak Park Vocational High School, where she graduated with honors for her academic achievement and received an award for excellence in music. She then enrolled at the College of Education and Industrial Arts (later Central State College) in Wilberforce, Ohio, and studied music education, expecting to make a career as a teacher. Fortunately, the president of the college, Dr. Charles H. Wesley, and the head of the music department, Anna M. Terry, took note of her and personally encouraged Price to pursue a career in performance. One day, they arranged for her to audition for Todd Duncan, a famous baritone who was performing a recital tour towards the end of Price’s university tenure. Duncan also recognized Price’s talent and advised that she apply to The Juilliard School for a scholarship to pursue a career as a soloist. Of course, she was accepted, and traveled to New York City in 1949 for her vocal studies. Only then, was she introduced to opera.
While at Juilliard, Price studied with Florence Page Kimball, with whom she worked until Kimball’s passing in 1977. In her final year at Juilliard, she performed the role of Alice Ford in Falstaff by Guiseppe Verdi. Composer Virgil Thompson was in the audience and was so impressed by the young singer that he immediately invited her to sing the lead role in the Broadway revival of his opera, Four Saints in Three Acts. It was 1952. Though the revival only ran three weeks, it was enough for Ira Gershwin to take note, and proved to be a catalyst for Price’s career.
Once Four Saints closed, Gershwin offered her the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess, also a revival, which she performed in Dallas. When the production began its touring leg, Price accepted the offer to perform with them across Europe and Russia for the next two years. She also married her costar, William Warfield, whom she later divorced in 1972 due to conflicting work schedules.
Porgy and Bess helped to establish Price’s international reputation, and soon after leaving the production she was invited to make her television debut with NBC-TV in 1955 as Floria Tosca in Gicomo Puccini’s Tosca. The move was significant for the studio, who recognized Price’s inimitable voice and the importance of hiring Black talent on television — a new entertainment medium at the time. They hired her again in 1956, 1957, and 1960. But sadly, not everyone was as open to progress. Racism was so virile in the country that many southern states refused to air the production simply because of Price’s presence. Even her home state of Mississippi boycotted some of the productions that featured her. Importantly, however, as a result of her work with NBC-TV Opera, she nurtured a relationship with Samuel Barber. Their collaboration would prove fruitful for the remainder of each of their careers. Barber eventually wrote several pieces for Price specifically, including the opera, Antony and Cleopatra, and his famous art song cycle, The Hermit Songs.
In 1955, Price sang for a young Herbert von Karajan, who was touring with the Berlin Philharmonic. He, too, recognized Price’s talent, and later advocated for the singer’s first set of big contracts in the major European opera houses. By 1957, Price finally made her grand opera debut with the San Francisco Opera. She then spent several years between San Francisco and Europe learning and performing the major soprano roles.
Finally, in 1961, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. For a career that coincided seamlessly with the onset of the Civil Rights Movement, Price’s timing could not have been better. Her voice was unparalleled, as was her steel, drive, and commitment. Her singing in Il Trovatore, alongside Franco Corelli, who was also making his Met debut, was so electric that the audience gave a record-setting 42-minute standing ovation. The house has never seen an ovation that long since. As a result, Price became the Metropolitan Opera’s leading lady for the next two decades, singing 204 performances with the company.
The soprano performed almost nonstop throughout the 1960s. By 1970, however, she decided to reduce her operatic schedule in favor of recitals and concerts. She retired from the MET stage in 1985, singing the role that she favored above all, Aida, also by Giuseppe Verdi.
Leontyne Price continued to give regular concert and recital performances into the 1990s, but by the end of the millennium, she had all but retired. However, even in her advanced years, she has been known to give performances that defy her age. For example, in 2001, she performed an a cappella rendition of ‘God Bless America’ for a benefit concert in honor of September 11th victims at Carnegie Hall. She was 74 at the time and ended the rendition with a shimmering B flat above the staff.
Given all the trailblazing, it might be hard to imagine Leontyne Price as human. But, she is. She represents proof of the heights that one can reach with dedication, courage, faith, and commitment. In a time like today, amidst all of the frictions in the world, it is an honor to look back at her and remember that as greatness has moved before, it will move again.
She says of being an artist, “You are never dead, you are never forgotten. It is a contribution that is ever, ever present. It has no century; it has no era… it has no time. It just has a very poignant, and everlasting, significance.”
Today, Leontyne Price lives in Columbia, Maryland with her younger brother and his family. She has received many awards and honors, among which are the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honors, National Medal of Arts, French Order of Arts and Letters, the Italian Order of Merit, and an honorary doctorate from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She has also won 19 Grammys, three Emmys, and the National Association of Black Broadcasters Award. She is an avid gardener, has authored a children’s book, and remains still one of the greatest voices who ever lived.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly asserts that George Gershwin heard Ms. Price in the opera Four Saints in Three Acts, leading to Ms. Price’s career-making run in Porgy and Bess. In fact, it was his brother, librettist Ira Gershwin.
