The world of classical music has not been easy for African-Americans. Exquisite talent has often been ignored, and there's been a "why bother?' attitude that has robbed us of generations of important artists. A friend of mine recently presented an evening of opera scenes by African-American composers. These works were fantastic, many over 100 years old. The scores had to be reconstructed. They were taped together, deteriorated, dusty and many more lost. Roland Hayes (1887-1977) was not the first African-American to attain world-wide fame, but he's the first of whom we have recorded evidence. Sisaretta Jones was called The Black Patti. She died before recording techniques were perfected. Roland Hayes is a starting point. His was a smooth voice with plenty of beauty, and a gentleness that I suspect hid the outburst of passion he could have used in Verdi and Puccini. Mr. Hayes was denied opera. He would have been a marvelous Faust, Romeo and Rodolfo. No less than the august (and scary) Dame Nellie Melba declared Hayes to be as good as anyone else out there, and arranged for him to sing at Buckingham Palace. He sang and recorded internationally from the 1920s to the 1950s. I heard him in recital when he was 80 years old. It was difficult for him to walk, it was easy for him to sing beautifully. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sibe38cQPQ Roland Hayes lived in a big house across the street from the School of Music at Boston University. His daughter Afrika Hayes is a fine singer in the Boston area, and we had mutual friends. I could have crossed the street to ring his doorbell. I never had the nerve. I regret that now. Fortunately, we have a new biography of Roland Hayes by Christopher Brooks and Robert Sims. Brooks is on the faculty Virginia Commonwealth University and co-authored Shirley Verrett's autobiography. He's probably too young to have heard Roland Hayes "live". I barely made it, but maybe Mr Brooks would have compelled me to ring the doorbell back in 1974.
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.