Rudolph Dunbar
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Rudolph Dunbar (26 November 1907 – 10 June 1988) was a Guyanese conductor,
clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...
, and composer, as well as being a jazz musician of note in the 1920s.Rudolph Dunbar profile
British Jazz History, Jazz Services.
Leaving British Guiana at the age of 20, he had settled in England by 1931, and subsequently worked in other parts of Europe but lived most of his later years in London. Among numerous "firsts", he was the first black man to conduct the
London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
(1942), the first black man to conduct the
Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922â ...
(1945) and the first black man to conduct orchestras in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
(1959) and Russia (1964). Dunbar also worked as a journalist and a war correspondent.


Biography


Early years

Dunbar was born in Nabacalis,
British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...
."W. Rudolph Dunbar: Pioneering Orchestra Conductor"
''The Black Perspective in Music'', Vol. 9, No. 2 (Autumn 1981), pp. 193–225.
He began his musical career playing clarinet with the British Guiana militia band at the age of 14,"Rudolph Dunbar, a talented international clarinetist with many 'firsts'", African American Registry.
/ref> before moving to New York at the age of 20. He studied at the
Institute of Musical Art The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
(now Juilliard), and while in New York was also involved with the
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
scene, performing in 1924 with the Harlem Orchestra, and befriending the composer
William Grant Still William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, and more than thirty choral works, art songs, chamber music, and solo works ...
who played piano in the orchestra. In 1925, Dunbar moved to Paris and between 1927 and 1929 attended the Sorbonne, where he studied conducting with Philippe Gaubert, composition with
Paul Vidal Paul Antonin Vidal (16 June 1863 – 9 April 1931) was a French composer, conductor and music teacher mainly active in Paris.Charlton D. Paul Vidal. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. Life and caree ...
, and the clarinet with
Louis Cahuzac Louis (Jean Baptiste) Cahuzac (12 July 1880 – 9 August 1960) was a French clarinetist and composer. Cahuzac was an outstanding performer and one of the few clarinetists who made a career as a soloist in the first part of the 20th century. ...
. In Paris, as Ian Hall wrote, "Madame Debussy, widow of
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 â€“ 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
, invited unbarto give a private recital at her home in the presence of influential members of the Conservatoire de Musique." According to author John Cowley, Dunbar was in England in 1927, when he joined the Plantation Orchestra for a road tour of the show ''Blackbirds of 1927''. Dunbar also spent time studying in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
with
Felix Weingartner Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg (2 June 1863 – 7 May 1942) was an Austrian Conducting, conductor, composer and pianist. Life and career Weingartner was born in Zadar, Zara, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Dalmatia, Austrian Empire (now ...
.Bob Shingleton
"Berlin Philharmonic's first Black conductor"
On An Overgrown Path, 23 April 2007.
His hopes of a degree were ended by the death of his father. By 1931, Dunbar had settled in London, where he founded the Rudolph Dunbar School of Clarinet Playing. Miranda Kaufmann, "Dunbar, Rudolph (1899-10 June 1988)", in
David Dabydeen David Dabydeen FRSL (born 9 December 1955) is a Guyanese-born broadcaster, novelist, poet and academic. He was formerly Guyana's Ambassador to UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation) from 1997 to 2010, and was the yo ...
, John Gilmore & Cecily Jones, ''Oxford Companion to Black British History'', 2007.
He wrote columns as a technical expert in the ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' for seven years and in 1939 published his ''Treatise on the Clarinet (Boehm System)'', which became a standard text about the instrument. His ballet, ''Dance of the Twenty-First Century'', written for
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
's Footlights Club, was premiered in the US in 1938 on an
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
broadcast. Around this time he was also performing duo recitals with the composer
Mary Lucas Mary Lucas (born Mary Anderson Juler, 24 May 1882–14 January 1952), sometimes referred to as Mary Anderson Lucas, was an English composer and pianist.Lewis Foremanée Anderson">'Lucas [née Anderson/nowiki>, Mary', in ''Grove Music Online''( ...
, including her own compositions. A recording of them playing her ''Lament'' for clarinet and piano was issued by Octacros Records in the late-1930s and is among several performances that have now been digitized at the British Library. Dunbar made appearances on the BBC in 1940 and 1941, and became the first black man to conduct the London Philharmonic in 1942 at a concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London, before an audience of 7,000. On 20 December 1942 he conducted the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, which included the Afro-American Symphony by Williams Grant Still. In September 1945 he conducted the
Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922â ...
at the invitation of music director Leo Borchard, performing William Grant Still's ''
Afro-American Symphony ''Afro-American Symphony'', also known as Symphony No. 1 ''"Afro-American"'' and ''Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major'', is a 1930 composition by William Grant Still, the first symphony written by an African American and performed for a United States ...
'' before Allied servicemen. According to J. A. Rogers, that same year Dunbar "conducted the
Concerts Colonne The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...
of Paris, Concerts Pasdeloup,
Orchestre National de France The Orchestre National de France (; ; abbr. ONF) is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio (named Radio France since 1975), the ONF performs mainly in the Grand ...
, and the Concerts du Conservatoire in a Festival of American Music in Paris for which he received superlative praise from the French press and leading conductors as
Claude Delvincourt Claude Étienne Edmond Marie Pierre Delvincourt (12 January 1888 – 5 April 1954) was a French pianist and composer of classical music. Biography Delvincourt was born in Paris, the son of Pierre Delvincourt and Marguerite Fourès. He studied ...
, director of the National Conservatory of Music, and Paul Parry." Dunbar also conducted in 1948 at the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...
. In 1962, he conducted eight orchestras on a tour of
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, and two years later he visited Russia, where he conducted the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Moscow State Symphony Radio and TV Orchestra, and the Baku Philharmonic at a concert in
Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...
,
North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
. He was reported as having said: "The success I have achieved through sacrifice and struggle is not for myself, but for all the colored people.""Conductor's Life Parallels Alger's: Rudolph Dunbar Came Up Hard Way; Now Tops Field"
''The Afro-American'', 1 February 1947.
He championed the music of other black composers, particularly the African-American Still, alongside whom he had played in the Harlem Orchestra in the 1920s,. and the autograph of Still's ''Festive Overture'' of 1944 is dedicated "To my dear friend, Rudolph Dunbar".


Journalism

Dunbar also worked as a journalist. He became London correspondent for the Associated Negro Press news service in 1932, and in 1936 reported for them on debates in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. During World War II, he frequently reported in the American press on the atrocities committed by Nazis against Black people. Additionally he was a war correspondent with the American 8th Army and crossed the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
on
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
. He reputedly distinguished himself by warning the US Artillery Battalion of an ambush near
Marchin Marchin (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Marchin had a total population of 5,114. The total area is 30.00 km2 which gives a population density of 170 inhabitants per km2. ...
during the
Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...
.


Later life

Dunbar's music career waned in the post-war period, which he attributed to his ethnicity. He lived most of his later life in London, where he died of cancer in 1988. In 1975, the Rudolph Dunbar Archive was established as part of the
James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ...
Memorial Collection at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
.Dominique de Lerma
"Rudolph Dunbar, conductor – On Black Classical Music"
''The Afro American'', 24 June 1978.


Writings

*


References


External links



on the blog ''On An Overgrown Path''
Corbis Images
"Rudolph Dunbar Conducting Orchestra. Original caption: 9/25/1945-Berlin, Germany: The Nazi racial prejudice suffered another blow recently when Rudolph Dunbar, brilliant American Negro conductor, led the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra at two concerts in Berlin's Titania Palast. Dunbar, seen conducting during one of the concerts, will leave shortly for Paris where he will conduct a festival of American music in a series of four concert." * Judith Walkowitz
''Nights Out: Life in Cosmopolitan London''
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 2012, p. 236: illustration reproducing Dunbar's article "Harlem in London: Year of Advancement for Negroes" from ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'', 7 March 1936 (p. 2). * Rudolph Dunbar Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Rudolph 1907 births 1988 deaths 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century English musicians Black British classical musicians 20th-century Black British musicians 20th-century British classical musicians British composers British male composers British male conductors (music) Deaths from cancer in England English conductors (music) English people of Guyanese descent Guyanese columnists Guyanese journalists Guyanese musicians Juilliard School alumni People from Demerara-Mahaica