About this Piece

Florence Price is largely remembered as the first African American woman to achieve success as a symphonic composer. During her lifetime she wrote hundreds of works, from tone poems and suites to concertos and symphonies (many of which have seen a resurgence of interest in the last 15 years thanks to the recovery of lost scores). However, what initially put her on the classical music map was a solo piece for piano.

At the 12th annual convention of the National Association of Negro Musicians in 1930, Price made her professional debut as a composer with the premiere of Fantasie nègre No. 1 in E minor. It was dedicated to and first performed by her longtime friend, student, and fellow pianist-composer Margaret Bonds.

The piece adapts the spiritual “Sinner, Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass,” blending traditional elements of African American hymns and folk songs with the swooning Romantic styles of Chopin and Brahms.

“In all types of Negro music, rhythm is of preeminent importance,” Price wrote. “All phases of truly Negro activity—whether work or play, singing or praying—are more than apt to take on a rhythmic quality.” Bonds performed the premiere of Fantasie Nègre No. 1 as part of a ballet choreographed by Katherine Dunham in 1932, the same year Price wrote three more iterations of the fantasies. —Piper Starnes