Bewilderment by Florence B. Price | NEC Liederabend

Soprano Josie Larsen and pianist Ga-Young Park perform Bewilderment — a song composed by Florence B. Price with words by Langston Hughes. This performance originally took place on November 3, 2021 as part of a concert in NEC's Liederabend series, "Liederabend LVI: The Ungifted Sex: Pioneer Women Composers of Song in the 19th Century." The concert was programmed by faculty member Tanya Blaich. As part of the concert program, students read a quote from each composer before each set of songs. Chosen to precede this particular song was a striking excerpt from a letter that Price wrote to BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky: "To begin with I have two handicaps—those of sex and race. I am a woman, and I have Negro blood in my veins. Knowing the worst, then, would you be good enough to hold in check the possible inclination to regard a woman's composition as long on emotionalism but short on virility and thought content, until you shall have examined some of my work?" Learn more about Tanya Blaich's research and programming for this powerful concert: https://necmusic.edu/news/conversatio... Read more about the full concert program: https://necmusic.edu/events/liederabe... NEC Website: www.necmusic.edu NEC Facebook:   / necmusic   NEC Instagram:   / necmusic   NEC Twitter:  / necmusic   NEC TikTok:   / new_england_conservatory