Wanamaker Competition
English work
Definition
The Rodman Wanamaker Music Contest, a prestigious annual competition for African American composers sponsored by a Philadelphia department store magnate. Florence Price won First Prize in 1932 for her Symphony No. 1 and for her Fantasie nègre No. 1 — the competition that launched her national career.
Interpretive Guidance
The Fantasie nègre No. 1 was the work that introduced Price to a national audience. It deserves to be played with that ambition — as a breakthrough statement. The technical demands are significant but secondary to the expressive arc: the work is a demonstration that African American folk material could sustain a large-scale concert piece of the highest quality.