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Anne Brown as Bess with Todd Duncan as Porgy in 1942.
1937-2009
After her appearance as the first Bess, Brown returned to Broadway in the
1937 musical revue Pins and Needles. This was later followed
by an appearance in th 1939 Broadway play Mamba's Daughters in the roles of
Gardenia and the "Lonesome Walls" Singer. Brown sang Bess in several revivals of
Porgy and Bess during this time, including the 1942 Broadway revival. She
also sang Bess for the Decca
Records album Selections
from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess and sang some of Bess's
music in an appearance in the 1945 film Rhapsody in Blue.
Brown toured Europe as a concert artist from 1942 to 1948 Brown said that she
left the United States because of continued racial prejudice. As she told The New York
Times in 1998, "We tough girls tough it out. I've lived a strange kind
of life—half black, half white, half isolated, half in the spotlight. Many
things that I wanted as a young person for my career were denied to me because
of my color".[3] She also noted,
regarding her light complexion, "Though there is no place on earth without
prejudice. In fact, a French journalist wrote an article during one of my tours
there asking: 'Why does she say she is colored? She's as white as any singer.
It's just a trick to get people interested.' Can you imagine? Of course I was
advertised as 'a Negro soprano.' What is 'a Negro soprano'?"[3] She also stated
that she felt her singing was better received in Europe because she mainly sang works by European
composers, such as Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Mahler.[5]
In 1948, Brown settled in Oslo, Norway and became a Norwegian citizen after
marrying skier Thorleif Schjelderup, a medalist at the
1948 Winter Olympics. He was her third husband, and like her previous marriages,
their union ended in divorce. They had one child, a daughter, Vaar Inga (born
1951). Her second marriage was to Dr Jacob Petit. They had one daughter, Paula
(later known as Paula Schjelderup).[5][7]
Brown continued working as a professional musician into the 1950s, mostly
working as a concert singer and recitalist. She did however appear in a few more
operas like Menotti's The Medium and The Telephone. Her
career as a singer was cut short due to problems with asthma and she no longer
sang professionally after 1953.[6] She embarked
on a second career as a voice teacher at this point. Among her students were the
famous soprano Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, actress Liv Ullmann, ballad singer and
former Minister of Culture, Ã…se Kleveland, as well as jazz singer Karin Krog.[10] Brown also staged
several operas in France and Norway.
Brown resided in Oslo up until her death
in 2009 at the age of 96. It is not clear if she maintained her United States
citizenship as well.[5] Ms. Brown's
papers and personal artifacts are housed in the Amistad Research Center at
Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Awards
In 1998, Ms. Brown received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding
Contributions to Music in America from the Peabody Institute, the institution
that had denied her music education 70 years earlier. She was also made an
honorary citizen of Baltimore in 1999. In 2000 she was awarded Norway's Council
of Cultures Honorary Award.[5]
Anne Wiggins Brown (August 9, 1912 — died March 13, 2009)[1] was an African American soprano who created the role of "Bess" in
the original production of George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess in
1935. She was also a radio and concert singer. She settled in Norway in her 30s
and later became a Norwegian citizen.
