John Michael Cooper
ON THE VERY FAMILIAR, AND VERY MYSTERIOUS, SCOTT JOPLIN
[This is the sixth in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...
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John Michael Cooper
Jun 10, 20225 min read
“I NEVER IMAGINED THAT A WOMAN COULD WRITE SUCH MUSIC!”
On the Extraordinary Mel-Bonis (1858-1937) [This is the fifth in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming...
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John Michael Cooper
Jun 3, 20222 min read
FLORENCE PRICE’S SCENES OF TENEMENT LIFE
Today witnesses the release of 2022’s second[1] milestone in the recorded legacy of Florence B. Price: the world-premiere recording of...
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John Michael Cooper
May 31, 20223 min read
OF HOPE AND NEW BEGINNINGS
A Commencement Letter from Langston Hughes, Shared with Margaret Bonds We are in an age of marches, of collective protests against...
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John Michael Cooper
May 28, 20228 min read
ON HARRY T. BURLEIGH, HIS LIFE AND LEGACIES
[This is the fourth in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...
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John Michael Cooper
May 21, 20225 min read
ON DORA PEJAČEVIĆ (1885-1923)
[This is the third in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...
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John Michael Cooper
May 17, 20222 min read
ON JAMES MONROE TROTTER AND HIS "MUSIC AND SOME HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE" (Part 2)
[This is the second in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...
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John Michael Cooper
May 17, 20223 min read
ON JAMES MONROE TROTTER AND HIS "MUSIC AND SOME HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE" (Part 1)
[This is the first in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 30, 20224 min read
“UNIVERSITIES, UNIVERSITIES, UNIVERSITIES!” (1)
The Conservatory of the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Brings Margaret Bonds’s Civil-Rights Credo to the Home of Dred Scott’s...
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 23, 20223 min read
THE VOICE OF MARGARET BONDS
Reflecting on Her Recorded Interview with James V. Hatch Most commentaries on Margaret Bonds either quote or refer to this passage: I was...
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John Michael Cooper
Mar 29, 20224 min read
THREE IN D.C.
The Voice of Margaret Bonds Rises in Three Events in the U.S. Capital This Weekend The estimable Margaret Bonds’s (1913-72) musical...
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John Michael Cooper
Mar 19, 20223 min read
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF FLORENCE PRICE’S FIRST CHORAL-ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION
The Song of Hope sounds at Ithaca College under the baton of Michael Stern [This post is occasioned by the world première of Florence B....
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John Michael Cooper
Feb 12, 20223 min read
SINCE 1973
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. CT, the internationally heralded GRAMMY-winning chorus Conspirare, conducted by...
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John Michael Cooper
Jan 15, 20222 min read
A CLASSICAL BENEFIT RECITAL FEATURING “NEW” MUSIC BY FLORENCE B. PRICE
Pianist Josh Tatsuo Cullen revives a noble tradition with newly published music Students of music history know that until World War I...
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John Michael Cooper
Jan 13, 20225 min read
THE VIOLIN AS STORYTELLER
Florence Price's Chamber Works for Violin and Piano When Florence B. Price graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1906, she held...
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John Michael Cooper
Jan 2, 20222 min read
THE FIRST LIVE RECORDING OF AN AFRO-MODERNIST “COTTON DANCE” (ca. 1940) BY FLORENCE B. PRICE
performed by Michael Lu On New Year’s Eve of the rough-and-tumble year 2021 I got a fabulous musical surprise – 365 days late. The...
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John Michael Cooper
Dec 27, 20217 min read
A MOST AUGUST OCCASION
And a Most August Album and Edition, on the Bicentennial of Pauline Viardot-García Few musical dynasties compare to the one that included...
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John Michael Cooper
Dec 16, 20215 min read
“THE THREE WISE MEN”:
A Seasonal Blessing in Word and Song from the Pen of W.E.B. Du Bois (1913) W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a male womanist as well as an...
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John Michael Cooper
Dec 13, 20212 min read
TWO POSTHUMOUS REVIVALS OF MARGARET BONDS AND LANGSTON HUGHES: AFRICAN DANCE (Danse africaine)
Performances by Greg Watkins and Members of the CAAPA Chorale, November 14, 2021; and Anton Nel and Members of Conspirare, February 15,...
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John Michael Cooper
Dec 10, 20215 min read
A MARGARET BONDS CHRISTMAS -- NORTH AND SOUTH, EAST AND WEST
[This post is about two compositions of Margaret Bonds that are gaining a new foothold on modern musical life. One is a short but...
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