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Brings to light many once famous but now overlooked figures of Black musical theater history from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Black Voices on Stage collects ten diverse case studies of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century African American singers and actors—names that have been largely left out of our general musical history books—whose lives and performances address questions of race, identity, musical expression, and audience reception. Rediscovering, remembering, and celebrating the public careers of Black entertainers who worked in a period dominated by pernicious stereotypes of blackface minstrelsy illustrates how their achievements still deserve our attention. Although most of the book is devoted to relatively obscure figures who worked outside of minstrelsy, such as Tom Wiggins, Sissieretta Jones, Bob Cole, Will Marion Cook, and others, a final chapter examines how even the career of Paul Robeson (1898–1976)—arguably the most prominent Black voice on stage in the twentieth century—has fallen under a partial shadow. Riis offers new insights into these pioneering performers, restoring their lives and achievements to the rich tapestry of American music.
"Riis's collection is a job well done and easy for professionals and laypeople to follow in no small part due to his mastery of form as a musical theater studies scholar. The greatest strengths are the range of topics from Black musicians, Black performers, Blackness as sound to notable works, touring at home and abroad." Eric M. Glover, author of African American Perspectives in Musical Theater
"This is a valuable collection of essays, focusing on major figures in African American music who have not become household names. As a founding figure in the historiography of Black musical theater, Riis's work deserves the spotlight that a focused volume will provide." — Carol J. Oja, author of Bernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art in a Time of War
Thomas L. Riis is Professor Emeritus of musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he served as Director of the American Music Research Center from 1992–2018. His book, Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890 to 1915, won an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. He is also the author of the book Frank Loesser. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Remembering and Imagining Black Voices
Part I. Some Highly Musical People of the Nineteenth Century
1. The Cultivated White Tradition and Black Musicians: A Discussion of Some Articles in J. S. Dwight's Journal of Music
2. The Music and Musicians of Early Stage Productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin
3. Concert Singers, Prima Donnas, and Entertainers: The Changing Status of Black Women Vocalists in the Nineteenth Century
Part II. Crossing the Color Line at the Turn of the Century
4. The Experience and Impact of Black Entertainers in England, 1895–1920
5. Bob Cole: His Life and Legacy to Black Musical Theater
6. 1900–1905, Critical Years for Black Music in Musical Comedies
7. Defying Boundaries and Escaping Stereotypes
Part III. Old Themes, New Forms in the Twentieth Century
8. How Black Dance Found Its Way into American Musical Theater Before the Harlem Renaissance
9. Babes in Arms, Babes in Armor: Hidden Black Voices in an Iconic Film
10. Paul Robeson's Spiritual Voice Before America's Political Time Warp
Notes
Appendix: American Music Relating to Uncle Tom's Cabin
Bibliography
Index