Guided Listening: Florence Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America

Explore well-known works and discover new treasures of the musical repertory in our Guided Listening sessions with JoAnna Cochenet.

In our third session, we visit the music of Florence Price through Ethiopia’s Shadow in America (1932). Price has been celebrated as the first African American woman to have a work performed by a major orchestra, yet her music became largely forgotten following her death in 1953. In 2009, a significant collection of her works was discovered in a house in Illinois, sparking a rediscovery of Price’s artistry and distinct musical voice. Price openly addressed Black history and culture through her music, including this piece. The narrative of the score includes the following three movements, to be discussed in this session: “The Arrival of the Negro in America when first brought here as a slave,” “His Resignation and Faith,” and “His Adaptation, a fusion of his native and acquired impulses.”

Watch and Listen

Ethiopia’s Shadow in America