It’s crazy that the first time an African-American composer would receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music was only in 1996. I remember when it happened. It was a pretty big deal. A special award had been made to Scott Joplin in 1976 – 59 years after Joplin’s death – and there have been some special citations and a number of Black honorees since. But it was George Walker who broke the glass ceiling.
It was not the first time he was a “first.” Walker was the first Black pianist to present a solo recital at New York’s Town Hall (in 1945); he was the first Black performer to appear as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra (performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3); and he was the first Black musician to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music (where he studied with Rudolf Serkin and Rosario Scalero).
Walker was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1922. His father emigrated from Kingston, Jamaica, to study at Temple University School of Medicine. Walker’s mother supervised his first piano lessons. He was accepted into the Oberlin School of Music at the age of 14. He was then admitted to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Later, he attended the Eastman School. For two years, in common with so many 20th century composer of merit, especially Americans, he studied in Paris with the famed pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.
Walker’s own academic career included posts with Dillard University in New Orleans, the Dalcroze School of Music, the New School for Social Research, Smith College, the University of Colorado Boulder, Rutgers University (where he served as chairman of the music department), the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University, and the University of Delaware.
“Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra” was introduced by soprano Faye Robinson on February 1, 1996, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa. The 15-minute work is a setting of texts from Walt Whitman’s 1865 Lincoln elegy “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” “Lilacs” was described by the Pulitzer committee as a “passionate, and very American, musical composition with a beautiful and evocative lyrical quality.”
“Lyric” is a descriptor that followed Walker his entire life, or at least since his music became more widely known. His most popular work is his “Lyric for Strings,” a touching piece for string orchestra. Like the ubiquitous “Adagio” by Samuel Barber (who also attended Curtis), “Lyric” was arranged from the slow movement of a string quartet, in Walker’s case written while he was still a student. Originally, he had titled the piece “Lament.” But comparisons with Barber’s “Adagio” end there. Walker’s work doesn’t strive for profundity or wrench the soul as Barber’s does. But it is moving, all the same, for being so evidently personal, confessional even.
Walker wrote the piece in 1946, following the death of his grandmother. For anyone who learned about slavery in America from a history textbook, it’s sobering to discover that Melvina King actually lived it. Walker went on to a career studded with impeccably crafted works that brought him many honors and much critical praise. But “Lyric” has the distinction of going straight to the heart.
A longtime resident of Montclair, NJ, George Walker died in 2018 at the age of 96. I often wonder if he ever got tired of hearing about his resume of firsts. In relation to his skin color, I mean. It was always the first thing you ever read or heard about him (and, alas, this post is no different).
In an interview given in 2012, Walker commented, “I’ve always thought in universal terms, not just what is Black or what is American, but simply what has quality.”
Hearing “Lyric for Strings” was once a rare treat. Now, in the past few years, everyone has taken it up. I have no doubt that the work will hold a lasting place in the standard repertoire.
“Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra”
Walker plays his Piano Sonata No. 1
Brief 2012 documentary on Walker, in which he is interviewed, for the occasion of his 90th birthday:
A fascinating interview conducted by Frank J. Oteri. Also includes some great photos!
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