Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1888-1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. After receiving her early music training from her mother, she attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She graduated in 1906 with a soloist’s diploma in organ and a teacher’s diploma in piano. It was at the Conservatory that Florence Beatrice discovered her love of composing. There, she was selected by the eminent composer George Whitefield Chadwick to study with him in his private studio. After graduation, Price returned to the south to teach music at Shorter College in Little Rock (1907-10) and at Clark University in Atlanta (1910-12) where she was head of the department. In 1912 Florence moved back to her hometown where she married Thomas Price, a very successful lawyer. The Price family (she had two children) moved to Chicago in 1927 where Florence Price established herself as a concert pianist, organist, teacher and composer of about 300 compositions. Price’s art songs and spiritual arrangements, for which she was once best known, have been sung by such renowned singers as Marian Anderson, Todd Duncan, and Leontyne Price. In addition to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Price’s instrumental music was performed by the Michigan WPA Symphony, the Chicago Woman’s Symphony, and professional chamber ensembles. Price
died in Chicago in 1953. A pioneer among women, Florence B. Price was the first African American woman composer to earn national recognition, and she was much celebrated for her
achievements in her time. With the resurgence of interest in her music, she is taking her place among those important composers of the 1930s and 1940s who helped define America’s voice in music.