Episode 332. Ellabelle Davis Revisited
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SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
Today I present the African American soprano Ellabelle Davis (1907-1960) who during the late 1940s and early 1950s was greatly celebrated as a concert singer and who appeared around the world, the “Toast of Three Continents” as an early Musical America ad featuring the soprano proclaimed. She even appeared on the operatic stage, primarily as Aida, though her artistry was best suited to the concert platform. Additionally and unusually for the time, she made a number of recordings, including two 10-inch LPs for London-Decca records in 1950. During my research into Ellabelle Davis, I discovered that she had made a second series of recordings, a group of 78s for the Philips record company. I had assumed that, because of their format, these were earlier recordings, but upon further research, I found that these were recorded in 1952 with the Danish pianist Kjell Olsson (1917-1997) at the time of her final tour of Denmark. And to my surprise and delight, these included not only two sides of French art song, but also a disc of spirituals which she did not record elsewhere, and even the Brahms Zigeunerlieder, long a staple of her concert programs. In her day she was frequently written up in the New York Times and appeared repeatedly in high-profile concert appearances in the city, and even moreso, around the world. Yet her career was slowed by illness, and she died prematurely at the age of 53 of cancer, after attempting a career comeback the previous year. I present a number of her extant studio recordings and attempt to place her career within the context of larger social issues in the United States (and around the world) at that time, including considering why artists like Dorothy Maynor, Marian Anderson, and Davis herself, heavily promoted by the mainstream and celebrated for their modesty and dignity (always coded language!), were a more palatable counterpart for white audiences to more progressively-minded artists like Paul Robeson
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Traditional Spiritual, arr. John W. Work: I’m Going to March Down to Jordan. Ellabelle Davis, Kjell Olsson [1952]
Alfred Bachelet, Eugène Adénis-Colombeau: Chère nuit. Ellabelle Davis, Kjell Olsson [1952]
Alfredo Catalani, Luigi Illica: Ebben? ne andrò lontana (La Wally). Ellabelle Davis, Warwick Braithwaite, The New Symphony Orchestra [1950]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Manny Oets: Were You There? Ellabelle Davis, Orchestra conducted by Victor Olof [1950]
Johannes Brahms, Traditional Hungarian text adapted by Hugo Conrat [né Hugo Cohn]: Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn (Zigeuenerlieder, Op. 103/7). Ellabelle Davis, Kjell Olsson [1952]
Giuseppe Verdi, Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle, Achille de Lauzières [Italian transation] [after Friedrich Schiller]: Tu che le vanità (Don Carlo). Ellabelle Davis, Warwick Braithwaite, The New Symphony Orchestra [1950]
Traditional Spiritual: I’m A-Travelling to the Grave. Ellabelle Davis, Hubert Greenslade [1950]
Traditional Spiritual: Good News. Ellabelle Davis, Hubert Greenslade [1950]
Richard Strauss, Hermann von Gilm: Allerseelen, Op. 10/8. Ellabelle Davis, Hubert Greenslade [1950]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Edward Boatner: Soon I Will Be Done. Ellabelle Davis, Kjell Olsson [1952]
Henri Sauguet [né Henri-Pierre Poupard]: Berceuse créole. Ellabelle Davis, Kjell Olsson [1952]
Franz Schubert, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Wanderers Nachtlied II, D. 768. Ellabelle Davis, Hubert Greenslade [1950]
