Episode 337. Anne Wiggins Brown

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Today on Countermelody the first of two (for now) episodes celebrating the creators of George Gershwin’s legendary (and controversial) opera Porgy and Bess. Today we explore the fascinating life (and scant recorded legacy) of Anne Wiggins Brown, who was born in Baltimore on August 09, 1912, and died in Oslo on March 13, 2009. Like Muriel Smith, who a few years later created the title role of Carmen Jones on Broadway, Brown was still a student at the time she created the role of Bess. In Brown’s case, she was enrolled at the Juilliard School, one of the very first Black students admitted to the venerable institution. She was possessed of an admirable musical pedigree on her mother’s side; her father was a doctor and the family was raised in relative privilege in Baltimore. This, however, did not mean that all doors were open to the young would-be singer, who found her way by sheer determination and willpower. These same traits led to her being cast in the female lead of Gershwin’s Broadway opera, as well as a close working relationship with the composer, who expanded the role from a secondary part to having her name included in the title. Brown sang more than 500 performances of Bess around the world, but in 1948 chose to settle in Norway, where she married Thorleif Schjelderup, an Olympic skier who also became an author an environmentalist. Though she occasionally returned to the United States, Norway remained her home until her death at the age of 96. Brown’s career included significant concertizing and operatic appearances throughout the world. Eventually severe asthma led to her sudden retirement from the stage in 1955. She often decried the ugly spectre of racism, which she felt also curtailed and restricted her career. After her retirement, she became a noted voice teacher and stage director, leading several noteworthy productions of Porgy in the 1960s. This episode includes the vast majority of her slim recorded output, which include various excerpts from Porgy (in effect the very first Original Cast Album), as well as a collection of rare Norwegian recordings of spirituals, folk songs, and art songs in which she reveals a strong, true voice and a deeply musical sensibility, showing herself to be yet another artist whose artistic significance matches her historical importance. The episode opens with a heartfelt (and heartbroken) tribute to the great Roberta Flack, who died in the morning hours of February 24th.

Link to the Parnassus Records release, Black Swans at Mid-Century, from which the Anne Wiggins Brown/Kjell Olsson Tono Records remasterings come: www.parnassusrecords.com/our-own-cds/black-swans-series/

Brown’s 1979 autobiography, *Sang fra frossen gren* (Song from a Frozen Branch)

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman: Ballad of the Sad Young Men (The Nervous Set). Roberta Flack, Ron Carter, Ray Lucas [live KCET-TV 1970, first broadcast PBS program Boboquivari, 18.VIII.71]

Traditional Spiritual, arr. Hall Johnson: His Name So Sweet. Anne Wiggins Brown, Kjell Olsson [ca. 1950]

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Summertime (Porgy and Bess) [as heard in the film Rhapsody in Blue]. Anne Wiggins Brown, Orchestra and chorus conducted by Leo F. Forbsten [1945]

Traditional American, arr. Andres Wheatley: The Cherry Tree. Anne Wiggins Brown, Kjell Olsson [ca. 1950]

Traditional Spiritual, arr. Hall Johnson: A City Called Heaven. Anne Wiggins Brown, Kjell Olsson [ca. 1950]

Traditional American, arr. Howard Brockway: The Nightingale [ca. 1950. Anne Wiggins Brown, Kjell Olsson [ca. 1950]

J. Rosamond Johnson, Todd Duncan, and Anne Wiggins Brown in the original production of *Porgy and Bess*

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Summertime; Bess, You Is My Woman Now (Porgy and Bess). Anne Wiggins Brown, Todd Duncan, Al Goodman and His Orchestra and Chorus [Treasury Star Parade, Episode 33, 1942, Henry Hull, Master of Ceremonies]

Einar Nørby and Else Brems, *Porgy* in Copenhagen, 1943

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Du Bose Heyward, Danish translatoin by Holger Bech: Bess, du er min kvinde nu [Bess, You Is My Woman Now] (Porgy and Bess). Else Brems, Einar Nørby, Johan Hye-Knudsen, Royal Orchestra [1944]

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: My Man’s Gone Now (Porgy and Bess). Anne Wiggins Brown, Alexander Smallens, Decca Symphony Orchestra [1940]

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: I Loves You, Porgy (Porgy and Bess). Anne Wiggins Brown, Todd Duncan, Alexander Smallens, Decca Symphony Orchestra [1942]

Warren Coleman and Anne Wiggins Brown as Crown and Bess in the original *Porgy* production

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: What You Want wid’ Bess (Porgy and Bess). Anne Wiggins Brown, Todd Duncan, Alexander Smallens, Decca Symphony Orchestra [1942]