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{{short description|American classical composer}}
{{Infobox person|name = Zenobia Powell Perry|alma_mater = |birth_date = 3 October 1908|birth_place = Boley, Oklahoma|birth_name = Zenobia Powell}}'''Zenobia Powell Perry''' (October 3, 1908 – 2004) was an [[African American]] [[composer]], [[professor]] and [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]] activist.<ref name=":0" /> She taught in a number of [[historically black colleges and universities]] and composed "music with clear, classic melodies."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.iawm.org/articles_html/pool_zp_perry.html|title = Zenobia Powell Perry, An American Composer|date = 2003|accessdate = 2 July 2015|website = International Alliance for Women in Music|publisher = |last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061003173454/http://www.iawm.org/articles_html/pool_zp_perry.html|archivedate = 3 October 2006}}</ref> Her work has been performed by the [[Cleveland Chamber Symphony]], the [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra|Detroit Symphony]] and West Virginia University Band and Orchestra.<ref name=":0" />

{{Infobox person
| name = Zenobia Powell Perry
| alma_mater =
| notable_works = ''[[Tawawa House]]''
| birth_date = October 3, 1908
| birth_place = Boley, Oklahoma
| death_date = January 17, 2004 (aged 95)
| death_place = Xenia, Ohio
| birth_name = Zenobia Powell
}}
'''Zenobia Powell Perry''' (October 3, 1908 – January 17, 2004)<ref name=":33">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/worldofwomenincl00gray/page/207|title=The world of women in classical music|last=Gray, Anne.|date=2007|publisher=WordWorld|isbn=978-1-59975-320-1|location=La Jolla, Calif.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldofwomenincl00gray/page/207 207-208]|oclc=123539910}}</ref> was an American [[composer]], [[professor]] and [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]] activist.<ref name=":0" /> She taught in a number of [[historically black colleges and universities]] and composed in a style that writer Jeannie Gayle Pool called "music with clear, classic melodies."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.iawm.org/articles_html/pool_zp_perry.html|title = Zenobia Powell Perry, An American Composer|date = 2003|access-date = 2 July 2015|website = International Alliance for Women in Music|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061003173454/http://www.iawm.org/articles_html/pool_zp_perry.html|archive-date = 3 October 2006}}</ref> Her work has been performed by the [[Cleveland Chamber Symphony]], the [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra|Detroit Symphony]] and West Virginia University Band and Orchestra.<ref name=":0" />


==Biography==
==Biography==
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===Early life and education===
===Early life and education===
[[File:Milhaud and Martens (with pair of glasses on the background).jpg|alt= Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.|thumb|Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.]]
[[File:Milhaud and Martens (with pair of glasses on the background).jpg|alt= Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.|thumb|Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.]]
Perry was born in what was once a predominantly African American town of [[Boley, Oklahoma]] to a physician, Dr. Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (who had some [[Creek Indian]] heritage). Her family was well-educated and middle-class.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|publisher = Scarecrow Press|year = 2009|isbn = 9780810863774|location = Lanham, Maryland|pages = 1–3}}</ref> Her grandfather, who had been a [[Slavery|slave]], sang her traditional [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]] as a child, which later influenced her work.<ref name=":6" />
Perry was born '''Zenobia Powell''' in the once-predominantly African-American town of [[Boley, Oklahoma]] to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (who had some [[Creek Indian]] heritage). Her family was well educated and middle class.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|publisher = Scarecrow Press|year = 2009|isbn = 9780810863774|location = Lanham, Maryland|pages = 1–3}}</ref> Her grandfather, who had been a [[Slavery|slave]], sang her traditional [[Spiritual (music)|spirituals]] as a child, which later influenced her work.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://townsendopera.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Tawawa-House-Summary1.pdf|title=Tawawa House by Zenobia Powell Perry|date=2014|website=Townsend Opera|access-date=3 July 2015}}</ref>


As a child, Perry met [[Booker T. Washington]] and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915, where he "declared she was a future [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegegian]]."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url = http://www.zenobiapowellperry.org/Chronology.html|title = Zenobia Powell Perry Chronology|date = May 2002|accessdate = 3 July 2015|website = Zenobia Powell Perry Website|publisher = |last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle}}</ref> Perry took piano lessons as a child with Mayme Jones who had been taught by [[Robert Nathaniel Dett]].<ref name=":2" /> She won a piano competition in 1919.<ref name=":5" /> Perry also learned to play violin as a child.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|url = http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=45177702&site=ehost-live|title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century (review)|last = McBride|first = Renee|date = December 2009|journal = Notes|doi = 10.1353/not.0.0243|pmid = |access-date = 2 July 2015|pages = 313–316|subscription = yes|volume = 66|issue = 2}}</ref> One of her biggest musical influences, however, came from the experience of hearing [[Hazel Harrison]] in concert, after which she knew she wanted to study music.<ref name=":4" />
As a child, Perry met [[Booker T. Washington]] and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915, where he "declared she was a future [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegegian]]."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url = http://www.zenobiapowellperry.org/Chronology.html|title = Zenobia Powell Perry Chronology|date = May 2002|access-date = 3 July 2015|website = Zenobia Powell Perry Website|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle}}</ref> Perry took piano lessons as a child with Mayme Jones, who had been taught by [[Robert Nathaniel Dett]].<ref name=":2" /> She won a piano competition in 1919.<ref name=":5" /> Perry also learned to play violin as a child.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century (review)|last = McBride|first = Renee|date = December 2009|journal = Notes|doi = 10.1353/not.0.0243 |pages = 313–316 |volume = 66|issue = 2|s2cid = 162277408}}</ref> One of her biggest musical influences, however, came from the experience of hearing [[Hazel Harrison]] in concert, after which she knew she wanted to study music.<ref name=":4" />


In 1925, Perry graduated from Boley High School. Her father was not supportive of her decision to study music, however her mother allowed to pursue music, sending her to [[Omaha, Nebraska]] and studying at the Cecil Berryman Conservatory in 1929.<ref name=":4" /> After her return to Boley, Dett visited her family to ask them to send her to the [[Hampton University|Hampton Institute]] where she could study with him.<ref name=":4" /> However, soon after, Dett left Hampton for the [[Eastman School of Music]] and Perry decided on her own to study privately with Dett in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref name=":4" /> Perry studied with Dett until May 1932.<ref name=":5" />
In 1925, Perry graduated from Boley High School. Her father was not supportive of her decision to study music, but her mother was, and sent her to [[Omaha, Nebraska]], to study at the Cecil Berryman Conservatory in 1929.<ref name=":4" /> After her return to Boley, Dett visited her family to ask them to send her to the [[Hampton University|Hampton Institute]], where she could study with him.<ref name=":4" /> However, soon after, Dett left Hampton for the [[Eastman School of Music]] and Perry decided on her own to study privately with Dett in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref name=":4" /> Perry studied with Dett until May 1932.<ref name=":5" /> She studied composition briefly during this time with Cortez Reece at Langston University in Oklahoma. <ref>{{Cite web |title=zenobiapowellperry.org |url=http://zenobiapowellperry.org/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=zenobiapowellperry.org}}</ref>


In 1935, she went on to study the [[Tuskegee Institute]] and because of her family's connection with Washington and a promise from Perry to study education as well as music, she was allowed to attend.<ref name=":4" /> At Tuskegee she studied with [[William L. Dawson (composer)|William L. Dawson]] who encouraged her to compose original work; she was already preparing arrangements for the Tuskegee Institute Chorus.<ref name=":4" /> Perry graduated in 1938.<ref name=":1" />
In 1935, she went on to study at the [[Tuskegee Institute]], and, because of her family's connection with Washington and her promise to study education as well as music, she was allowed to attend.<ref name=":4" /> At Tuskegee she studied with [[William L. Dawson (composer)|William L. Dawson]] who encouraged her to compose original work; she was already preparing arrangements for the Tuskegee Institute Chorus.<ref name=":4" /> Perry graduated in 1938.<ref name=":1" />


After Tuskegee, Perry became part of a black teacher training program which was headed by [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].<ref name=":0" /> Roosevelt would become a mentor and friend to Perry and even helped sponsor her graduate studies.<ref name=":0" /> In 1941 she took classes at the Colorado State Teachers College and started teaching first grade in 1942.<ref name=":5" /> In 1945, she received her Master of Arts degree from Colorado State College.<ref name=":5" />
After Tuskegee, Perry became part of a teacher training program for Black Americans that was headed by [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].<ref name=":0" /> Roosevelt would become a mentor and friend to Perry and even helped sponsor her graduate studies.<ref name=":0" /> In 1941 she took classes at the Colorado State Teachers College and started teaching first grade in 1942.<ref name=":5" /> In 1945, she received her Master of Arts degree from Colorado State College.<ref name=":5" />


She began "earnestly" writing her own music during the 1950s.<ref name=":1" /> From 1952 to 1954, Perry worked on her Masters in Music in composition at [[Wyoming University]] where she studied under [[Allan Arthur Willman]],<ref name=":5" /> [[Darius Milhaud]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music|last = Walker-Hill|first = Helen|publisher = Greenwood Press|year = 2007|isbn = 9780252074547|location = Westport, Connecticut|pages = 39–40|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pQt2ELdxAFMC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=Robert+Nathaniel+Dett+zenobia&source=bl&ots=XBSbfbHwIQ&sig=TAVUPNeCyWj1TIasa6ziSnSgcDg&hl=en&ei=SlEhSrrvD4TDtwfysbjCBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Nathaniel%20Dett%20zenobia&f=false|access-date = 2 July 2015}}</ref> and Charles Jones.
She began "earnestly" writing her own music during the 1950s.<ref name=":1" /> From 1952 to 1954, Perry worked on her master's degree in music composition at [[Wyoming University]], where she studied under [[Allan Arthur Willman]],<ref name=":5" /> [[Darius Milhaud]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music|last = Walker-Hill|first = Helen|publisher = Greenwood Press|year = 2007|isbn = 9780252074547|location = Westport, Connecticut|pages = 39–40|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pQt2ELdxAFMC&q=Robert+Nathaniel+Dett+zenobia&pg=PA39|access-date = 2 July 2015}}</ref> and Charles Jones.


===Career===
===Career===
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From 1955 to 1982, she was a faculty member and composer-in-residence at [[Central State University]], in [[Wilberforce, Ohio]].<ref name=":1" /> She continued to volunteer "on behalf of the African American community" after she retired.<ref name=":7" />
From 1955 to 1982, she was a faculty member and composer-in-residence at [[Central State University]], in [[Wilberforce, Ohio]].<ref name=":1" /> She continued to volunteer "on behalf of the African American community" after she retired.<ref name=":7" />


In 1998 she was honored by the University of Wyoming, winning the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Development/People/z-perry.html|title = A & S Outstanding Alumna 1998 – Zenobia Powell Perry|date = |accessdate = 2 July 2015|website = College of Arts and Sciences|publisher = University of Wyoming|last = |first = |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20041226015620/http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Development/People/z-perry.html|archivedate = 26 December 2004}}</ref>
In 1998 she was honored by the University of Wyoming, winning the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Development/People/z-perry.html|title = A & S Outstanding Alumna 1998 – Zenobia Powell Perry|access-date = 2 July 2015|website = College of Arts and Sciences|publisher = University of Wyoming|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041226015620/http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Development/People/z-perry.html|archive-date = 26 December 2004}}</ref>


=== Work ===
=== Work ===
[[File:Tawawa.JPG|thumbnail|right|Scene from a 2014 revival of ''Tawawa House'' in Modesto, California]]


Perry's music is classical and "incorporates [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]], tonal, mild [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]], with some [[jazz]] and [[Folk music|folk]] influence."<ref name=":33"/> According to biographer Jeannie Gayle Poole, she was "also influenced by black American and Native American folklore, music, language and poetry."<ref>{{Cite web |title=zenobiapowellperry.org |url=http://zenobiapowellperry.org/ |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=zenobiapowellperry.org}}</ref> She wrote an [[opera]], ''[[Tawawa House]]'', first performed in 1987 and revived in 2014.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal|last=Price|first=Deon Nielsen|date=January 2015|title=Zenobia Powell Perry Opera Premiered|url=http://www.muphiepsilon.org/readthetriangle?download=120:volume-108-issue-4-winter-2015|url-status=dead|journal=Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon|volume=108|issue=4|page=18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801020644/http://www.muphiepsilon.org:80/readthetriangle?download=120:volume-108-issue-4-winter-2015|archive-date=1 August 2015|access-date=8 December 2019}}</ref> Perry also wrote for orchestra, bands and composed a [[Mass (music)|mass]].<ref name=":33"/> One of her most widely performed pieces is ''Threnody,'' a song cycle composed for her daughter set to the poetry of Donald Jeffrey Hayes. It was initially filed for copyright under the title Atmosphere: A Cycle of Songs in 1974, labeled as Op. 12.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Threnody |url=https://songofamerica.net/song/threnody-2/ |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=Song of America |language=en-US}}</ref>
==== ''Tawawa House'' ====
Perry's [[opera]], ''Tawawa House,'' premiered at Central State University in 1987.<ref name=":2" /> However, the first fully staged production with sets and complete score was not performed until 2014 at the Townsend Opera in [[Modesto, California]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|url = http://www.muphiepsilon.org/readthetriangle?download=120:volume-108-issue-4-winter-2015|title = Zenobia Powell Perry Opera Premiered|last = Price|first = Deon Nielsen|date = January 2015|journal = Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon|doi = |pmid = |access-date = 2 July 2015|volume = 108|issue = 4|page = 18}}</ref> ''Tawawa House's'' score, reflects the influence of her teachers, Dett, Dawson and Mihaud.<ref name=":3" /> Perry's daughter, Janis, performed as a singer in the first performance of the opera.<ref name=":3" /> ''Tawawa House'' features a "unique fusion of traditional [[Spiritual (music)|Negro Spirituals]] and western [[classical music]]."<ref name=":6" /> Reception from audiences for the performance was mixed, which may have been because it was a new opera.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/performing-arts/donald-munro/article19535127.html|title = Fresno Opera Takes New Direction|last = Munro|first = Donald|date = 14 February 2015|work = The Fresno Bee|access-date = 3 July 2015|via = }}</ref>

The story is about a historical Ohio home which was part of the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref name=":3" /> It was located on the land where [[Wilberforce University]] would be built<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012102960.html|title = A Tender Spot in Master-Slave Relations|last = Parker|first = Lonnae O'Neal|date = 21 January 2011|work = The Washington Post|access-date = 3 July 2015|via = }}</ref> in Xenia Springs, Ohio.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url = http://townsendopera.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Tawawa-House-Summary1.pdf|title = Tawawa House by Zenobia Powell Perry|date = 2014|accessdate = 3 July 2015|website = Townsend Opera|publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref> Tawawa House was a summer resort which was "notorious for its popularity among slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses" during the 1850s.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|url = http://bookpage.com/behind-the-book/12256-real-life-resort-slaveowners-mistresses-inspires-fictional-debut#.VZcb3UZcosJ|title = Real-Life Resort for Slaveowners and Mistresses Inspires Fictional Debut|last = Perkins-Valdez|first = Dolen|date = 29 March 2011|work = Book Page|access-date = 3 July 2015|via = }}</ref> Travelers and vacationers were drawn to the natural springs in Xenia and stayed at the resort owned by lawyer and state legislator, Elias Drake.<ref name=":8" />


==== Archival collection ====
==== Archival collection ====
Zenobia Powell Perry's papers are held at the Center for Black Music Research at [[Columbia College Chicago|Columbia College]] in Chicago. The collection is titled ''Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts''. The collection as a whole consists primarily of original compositions and manuscripts produced by Powell herself.[[File:Tawawa.JPG|thumbnail|right|Scene from a 2014 revival of Tawawa House in Modesto, CA]]
Zenobia Powell Perry's papers are held at the Center for Black Music Research at [[Columbia College Chicago|Columbia College]] in Chicago. The collection is titled ''Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts''. The collection as a whole consists primarily of original compositions and manuscripts produced by Powell herself.

Her pedagogical piano works are included in the University of Colorado at Boulder's ''Hidden Voices: Piano Music by Black Women Composers''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zenobia Powell Perry {{!}} Hidden Voices: Piano Music by Black Women Composers {{!}} University of Colorado Boulder |url=https://www.colorado.edu/project/hidden-voices/zenobia-powell-perry |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=www.colorado.edu}}</ref>


===Personal life===
===Personal life===
In 1932 she was married to violinist "King" Earl Gaynor. While she was pregnant, Gaynor left and she raised their son on her own.<ref name=":2" /> They later divorced in 1933. Her son, Lemuel died in 1944 at age 11<ref name=":2" /> of a ruptured appendix.<ref name=":5" /> In 1941 she married Jimmie Rogers Perry and they had a daughter Janis in 1943.<ref name=":5" /> Perry was divorced again when her daughter was young.<ref name=":0" /> Perry raised her daughter alone while working towards her advanced degrees and studies and also while also working as a professor.<ref name=":2" />
In 1932, Zenobia Powell married violinist "King" Earl Gaynor. While she was pregnant, Gaynor left and she raised their son on her own.<ref name=":2" /> They later divorced in 1933. Her son, Lemuel, died in 1944 at age 11<ref name=":2" /> of a ruptured appendix.<ref name=":5" /> In 1941, she married Jimmie Rogers Perry and they had a daughter, soprano Janis-Rozena Peri, in 1943.<ref name=":5" /> Perry was divorced again while her daughter was young.<ref name=":0" /> Perry raised her daughter alone while working towards her advanced degrees and studies and also while also working as a professor.<ref name=":2" /> Perry also supported her elderly mother for many years. <ref>{{Cite web |title=zenobiapowellperry.org |url=http://zenobiapowellperry.org/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=zenobiapowellperry.org}}</ref>


In 1962, she joined the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] to aid in the civil rights struggle.<ref name=":0" />
In 1962, she joined the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] to aid in the civil rights struggle.<ref name=":0" />


In 1989 she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and her health deteriorated until her death.
In 1989 she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and her health deteriorated until her death. She died January 17, 2004, at the age of 95.<ref>{{Cite web |title=zenobiapowellperry.org |url=http://zenobiapowellperry.org/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=zenobiapowellperry.org}}</ref>

=== Works List ===

==== Opera ====
''Tawawa House: A Musical Drama in Two Acts'' (soloists, SATB choir, chamber orchestra), 1985; revised 2014

==== Choral ====
Choral Suite No. 1 (SATB corus, percussion, piano, tape sounds), 1963

Done Made My Vow to the Lord (SATB), 1974

Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? (soprano solo, SATB chorus and chamber orchestra)

Hallelujah (soprano, SATB, and piano)

Hymn of Praise (SATB)

Jubilee: Fare You Well (SATB chorus, tenor and bass soloists, and chamber orchestra)

Kingdom's Coming (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)

O Christians, What Cha Gonna Do? (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)<br>

O Peter, Go Ring Dem Bells (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)

Up Over My Head (soprano solo, SATB, and piano)

Walk Together Children (SATB and piano)

A Wheel in a Wheel (SATB chorus and chamber orchestra)

==== Vocal ====
Ah Got a Home in a Dat Rock, soprano and piano (1969)

Threnody Song Cycle, soprano and piano, Text: Donald Jeffrey Hayes (1968-1972) <ref name=":3" />

* Threnody (1969)
* Alien (1970)
* Benediction (1972)
* Poet (1969)
* Pastourelle (1971)

Cycle of Songs on Poems by [[Paul Laurence Dunbar]], for high voice and piano (1977-1983; revised 1995) <ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar |url=https://songofamerica.net/song/cycle-of-songs-on-poems-of-paul-laurence-dunbar/ |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=Song of America |language=en-US}}</ref>

* Sunset
* On a Clean Book
* Spring Song
* Drizzle
* Life

Certainly Lord, tenor and piano (1974)

They Call the Sun Ol' Hannah (baritone and chamber orchestra)

Shine Along (baritone and chamber orchestra)

Sinna Man, So Hard, Believe! (tenor and chamber orchestra)

Oh I Want Two Wings (soprano and orchestra)

I Gotta Move When the Spirit Say Move (baritone and orchestra)

I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger (soprano and orchestra)

Hallelujah to the Lamb (tenor and chamber orchestra)

Follow the Drinking Gourd (baritone and orchestra)

I Gotta Home in Dat Rock (soprano and orchestra)

O de Angels Down Bowed Down (high voice and piano)

Kid Stuff (soprano and piano)

The Cottage, soprano and chamber orchestra/piano (1964)

Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray, baritone and piano (1978)

How Charming is the Place (soprano and organ/piano)

Trouble, Trouble (baritone and chamber orchestra)


The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llab (soprano, flute and piano)

==== Instrumental ====
Arkansia, suite for violin and piano (1955)

Benediction, for violin and piano (see ''Threnody'')

Conversations, two flutes and piano (1975)

String Quartet no. 1

Three Designs for Four Strings

Two Letters for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Three Pieces for Horn and Piano

Pastels for orchestra

Mass in F-sharp minor

Sonatine for clarinet and piano

Four Seasons for clarinet and Piano

Four Mynyms for Three Players (flute, oboe/clarinet, and piano)

==== Piano ====
Vignette no. 1

Vignette no. 2

Times Seven

Ties

Teeta

Sonatine

Soliloquy

Round and Round

Rhapsody

Promenade

Pavanne

Nocturne

A Jazz Trifle

Flight

Childhood Capers

Blaize

Character Matters

Orrin and Echo

Suite from ''Tawawa House'' (piano 4-hands)

=== Legacy ===
In 1981, Perry's daughter soprano Janis-Rozena Peri performed the song cycle ''Threnody'' at Carnegie Recital Hall.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rothstein |first=Edward |date=1981-06-03 |title=MUSIC NOTED IN BRIEF; Janis-Rozena Peri Sings Rachmaninoff and Bizet |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/03/arts/music-noted-in-brief-janis-rozena-peri-sings-rachmaninoff-and-bizet.html |access-date=2023-10-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>


==Honors==
==Honors==
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*1999 Woman of the Year Award, [[Paul Laurence Dunbar]] House State Memorial, Dayton, Ohio.<ref name=":5" />
*1999 Woman of the Year Award, [[Paul Laurence Dunbar]] House State Memorial, Dayton, Ohio.<ref name=":5" />
*2002 Member of the [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/june/notebook.html|title=NOTEBOOK|work=www.ascap.com|accessdate=10 August 2015}}</ref>
*2002 Member of the [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/june/notebook.html|title=NOTEBOOK|work=www.ascap.com|access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref>
*2003 [http://home.muphiepsilon.org/HonorsAwards/ElizabethMathiasAward.htm Elizabeth Mathias Award] from the [[Mu Phi Epsilon]] fraternity of professional musicians.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url = http://www.muphiepsilon.org/daytonalumni/about.htm|title = About the Dayton, Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon|date = 15 August 2007|accessdate = 3 July 2015|website = The Dayton Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon|publisher = |last = |first = |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070915072215/http://muphiepsilon.org/daytonalumni/about.htm|archivedate = 15 September 2007}}</ref>
*2003 [http://home.muphiepsilon.org/HonorsAwards/ElizabethMathiasAward.htm Elizabeth Mathias Award] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705025727/http://home.muphiepsilon.org/HonorsAwards/ElizabethMathiasAward.htm |date=2015-07-05 }} from the [[Mu Phi Epsilon]] fraternity of professional musicians.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url = http://www.muphiepsilon.org/daytonalumni/about.htm|title = About the Dayton, Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon|date = 15 August 2007|access-date = 3 July 2015|website = The Dayton Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070915072215/http://muphiepsilon.org/daytonalumni/about.htm|archive-date = 15 September 2007}}</ref>


Awards from Ohio institutions for her life achievements and contributions to Ohio culture.
Awards from Ohio institutions for her life achievements and contributions to Ohio culture.
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==Read more==
==Read more==


*{{Cite book|title = The Concert Songs of Zenobia Powell Perry|last = Lanier|first = Jo Ann|publisher = |year = 1988|isbn = |location = |pages = |oclc = 22150454}}
*{{Cite book|title = The Concert Songs of Zenobia Powell Perry|last = Lanier|first = Jo Ann|year = 1988|oclc = 22150454}}
*{{Cite book|title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|publisher = Scarecrow Press|year = 2008|isbn = 9780810863767|location = Lanham, Maryland|pages = }}
*{{Cite book|title = American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century|last = Pool|first = Jeannie Gayle|publisher = Scarecrow Press|year = 2008|isbn = 9780810863767|location = Lanham, Maryland}}


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
* [https://www.jeanniegaylepool.com/zenobia-powell-perry-1 Zenobia Powell Perry memorial website]
{{Commons category|Zenobia Powell Perry}}
* [https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cmbr_guides/30/ Guide to the Zenobia Powell Perry Collection], Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago
* [http://www.zenobiapowellperry.org Zenobia Powell Perry memorial website]
* https://www.colorado.edu/project/hidden-voices/zenobia-powell-perry
* [https://bmrcprocessingproject.uchicago.edu/sites/bmrcprocessingproject.uchicago.edu/files/Finding%20Aids/Zenobia%20Powell%20Perry.pdf Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts] – a finding aid
* https://www.explorepinebluff.com/post/meet-zenobia-powell-perry
{{Portal|African American}}
* https://www.aseatatthepiano.com/composers/zenobia-powell-perry
{{Portal|United States}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Zenobia Powell}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Zenobia Powell}}
[[Category:African-American classical composers]]
[[Category:African-American classical composers]]
[[Category:People from Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:African-American women classical composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:People from Boley, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:People from Boley, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Musicians from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Musicians from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Wilberforce University]]
[[Category:Wilberforce University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty]]
[[Category:University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty]]
[[Category:University of Northern Colorado faculty]]
[[Category:University of Northern Colorado faculty]]
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[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Pupils of Darius Milhaud]]
[[Category:Pupils of Darius Milhaud]]
[[Category:American female classical composers]]
[[Category:American women classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:American music arrangers]]
[[Category:American music arrangers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women musicians]]
[[Category:African-American women musicians]]

Latest revision as of 01:37, 9 November 2024

Zenobia Powell Perry
Born
Zenobia Powell

October 3, 1908
Boley, Oklahoma
DiedJanuary 17, 2004 (aged 95)
Xenia, Ohio
Notable workTawawa House

Zenobia Powell Perry (October 3, 1908 – January 17, 2004)[1] was an American composer, professor and civil rights activist.[2] She taught in a number of historically black colleges and universities and composed in a style that writer Jeannie Gayle Pool called "music with clear, classic melodies."[2] Her work has been performed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Detroit Symphony and West Virginia University Band and Orchestra.[2]

Biography

[edit]

Early life and education

[edit]
Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.
Perry with music students and teachers in 1949, including Milhaud and Martens. Perry is on the left.

Perry was born Zenobia Powell in the once-predominantly African-American town of Boley, Oklahoma to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (who had some Creek Indian heritage). Her family was well educated and middle class.[3] Her grandfather, who had been a slave, sang her traditional spirituals as a child, which later influenced her work.[4]

As a child, Perry met Booker T. Washington and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915, where he "declared she was a future Tuskegegian."[5] Perry took piano lessons as a child with Mayme Jones, who had been taught by Robert Nathaniel Dett.[3] She won a piano competition in 1919.[5] Perry also learned to play violin as a child.[6] One of her biggest musical influences, however, came from the experience of hearing Hazel Harrison in concert, after which she knew she wanted to study music.[6]

In 1925, Perry graduated from Boley High School. Her father was not supportive of her decision to study music, but her mother was, and sent her to Omaha, Nebraska, to study at the Cecil Berryman Conservatory in 1929.[6] After her return to Boley, Dett visited her family to ask them to send her to the Hampton Institute, where she could study with him.[6] However, soon after, Dett left Hampton for the Eastman School of Music and Perry decided on her own to study privately with Dett in Rochester, New York.[6] Perry studied with Dett until May 1932.[5] She studied composition briefly during this time with Cortez Reece at Langston University in Oklahoma. [7]

In 1935, she went on to study at the Tuskegee Institute, and, because of her family's connection with Washington and her promise to study education as well as music, she was allowed to attend.[6] At Tuskegee she studied with William L. Dawson who encouraged her to compose original work; she was already preparing arrangements for the Tuskegee Institute Chorus.[6] Perry graduated in 1938.[8]

After Tuskegee, Perry became part of a teacher training program for Black Americans that was headed by Eleanor Roosevelt.[2] Roosevelt would become a mentor and friend to Perry and even helped sponsor her graduate studies.[2] In 1941 she took classes at the Colorado State Teachers College and started teaching first grade in 1942.[5] In 1945, she received her Master of Arts degree from Colorado State College.[5]

She began "earnestly" writing her own music during the 1950s.[8] From 1952 to 1954, Perry worked on her master's degree in music composition at Wyoming University, where she studied under Allan Arthur Willman,[5] Darius Milhaud[8] and Charles Jones.

Career

[edit]

Perry worked as a professor for much of her life and began seriously composing when she was in her forties.[3] From 1941 to 1945 Perry taught while attending the Colorado State Teachers College.[5] Two years later, she held a faculty position at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), where she remained until 1955.[8] During the years of 1949 and until she left UAPB, Perry toured with Kelton Lawrence as a piano duo in order to recruit students for UAPB.[5]

From 1955 to 1982, she was a faculty member and composer-in-residence at Central State University, in Wilberforce, Ohio.[8] She continued to volunteer "on behalf of the African American community" after she retired.[9]

In 1998 she was honored by the University of Wyoming, winning the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.[10]

Work

[edit]
Scene from a 2014 revival of Tawawa House in Modesto, California

Perry's music is classical and "incorporates contrapuntal, tonal, mild dissonance, with some jazz and folk influence."[1] According to biographer Jeannie Gayle Poole, she was "also influenced by black American and Native American folklore, music, language and poetry."[11] She wrote an opera, Tawawa House, first performed in 1987 and revived in 2014.[12] Perry also wrote for orchestra, bands and composed a mass.[1] One of her most widely performed pieces is Threnody, a song cycle composed for her daughter set to the poetry of Donald Jeffrey Hayes. It was initially filed for copyright under the title Atmosphere: A Cycle of Songs in 1974, labeled as Op. 12.[13]

Archival collection

[edit]

Zenobia Powell Perry's papers are held at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College in Chicago. The collection is titled Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts. The collection as a whole consists primarily of original compositions and manuscripts produced by Powell herself.

Her pedagogical piano works are included in the University of Colorado at Boulder's Hidden Voices: Piano Music by Black Women Composers.[14]

Personal life

[edit]

In 1932, Zenobia Powell married violinist "King" Earl Gaynor. While she was pregnant, Gaynor left and she raised their son on her own.[3] They later divorced in 1933. Her son, Lemuel, died in 1944 at age 11[3] of a ruptured appendix.[5] In 1941, she married Jimmie Rogers Perry and they had a daughter, soprano Janis-Rozena Peri, in 1943.[5] Perry was divorced again while her daughter was young.[2] Perry raised her daughter alone while working towards her advanced degrees and studies and also while also working as a professor.[3] Perry also supported her elderly mother for many years. [15]

In 1962, she joined the NAACP to aid in the civil rights struggle.[2]

In 1989 she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and her health deteriorated until her death. She died January 17, 2004, at the age of 95.[16]

Works List

[edit]

Opera

[edit]

Tawawa House: A Musical Drama in Two Acts (soloists, SATB choir, chamber orchestra), 1985; revised 2014

Choral

[edit]

Choral Suite No. 1 (SATB corus, percussion, piano, tape sounds), 1963

Done Made My Vow to the Lord (SATB), 1974

Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? (soprano solo, SATB chorus and chamber orchestra)

Hallelujah (soprano, SATB, and piano)

Hymn of Praise (SATB)

Jubilee: Fare You Well (SATB chorus, tenor and bass soloists, and chamber orchestra)

Kingdom's Coming (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)

O Christians, What Cha Gonna Do? (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)

O Peter, Go Ring Dem Bells (SATB choir and chamber orchestra)

Up Over My Head (soprano solo, SATB, and piano)

Walk Together Children (SATB and piano)

A Wheel in a Wheel (SATB chorus and chamber orchestra)

Vocal

[edit]

Ah Got a Home in a Dat Rock, soprano and piano (1969)

Threnody Song Cycle, soprano and piano, Text: Donald Jeffrey Hayes (1968-1972) [13]

  • Threnody (1969)
  • Alien (1970)
  • Benediction (1972)
  • Poet (1969)
  • Pastourelle (1971)

Cycle of Songs on Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar, for high voice and piano (1977-1983; revised 1995) [17]

  • Sunset
  • On a Clean Book
  • Spring Song
  • Drizzle
  • Life

Certainly Lord, tenor and piano (1974)

They Call the Sun Ol' Hannah (baritone and chamber orchestra)

Shine Along (baritone and chamber orchestra)

Sinna Man, So Hard, Believe! (tenor and chamber orchestra)

Oh I Want Two Wings (soprano and orchestra)

I Gotta Move When the Spirit Say Move (baritone and orchestra)

I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger (soprano and orchestra)

Hallelujah to the Lamb (tenor and chamber orchestra)

Follow the Drinking Gourd (baritone and orchestra)

I Gotta Home in Dat Rock (soprano and orchestra)

O de Angels Down Bowed Down (high voice and piano)

Kid Stuff (soprano and piano)

The Cottage, soprano and chamber orchestra/piano (1964)

Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray, baritone and piano (1978)

How Charming is the Place (soprano and organ/piano)

Trouble, Trouble (baritone and chamber orchestra)


The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llab (soprano, flute and piano)

Instrumental

[edit]

Arkansia, suite for violin and piano (1955)

Benediction, for violin and piano (see Threnody)

Conversations, two flutes and piano (1975)

String Quartet no. 1

Three Designs for Four Strings

Two Letters for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Three Pieces for Horn and Piano

Pastels for orchestra

Mass in F-sharp minor

Sonatine for clarinet and piano

Four Seasons for clarinet and Piano

Four Mynyms for Three Players (flute, oboe/clarinet, and piano)

Piano

[edit]

Vignette no. 1

Vignette no. 2

Times Seven

Ties

Teeta

Sonatine

Soliloquy

Round and Round

Rhapsody

Promenade

Pavanne

Nocturne

A Jazz Trifle

Flight

Childhood Capers

Blaize

Character Matters

Orrin and Echo

Suite from Tawawa House (piano 4-hands)

Legacy

[edit]

In 1981, Perry's daughter soprano Janis-Rozena Peri performed the song cycle Threnody at Carnegie Recital Hall.[18]

Honors

[edit]

Her most important honors include:

Awards from Ohio institutions for her life achievements and contributions to Ohio culture.

  • 1987 Honored with a Music Citation for distinguished service to Ohio in the field of music at the Ohioans Library Association.
  • 1988 Honored by Ohio National Organization of Women at the NOW Banquet in Columbus, as a part of their second annual women's history celebration.
  • 1991 Inducted into the Greene County [Ohio] Women's Hall of Fame
  • 1993 Inducted in Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame
  • 1998 Named as one of Top Ten women for 1998 by Dayton Daily News.
  • 1999 Woman of the Year Award, Paul Laurence Dunbar House State Memorial, Dayton, Ohio.
  • 2000 Named 2000 Outstanding Senior Citizen of Green County, Ohio.
  • 2002 Cultural Arts Award for outstanding contributions in the field of Music Education, National Afro-American Museum, Wilberforce, Ohio.

Read more

[edit]
  • Lanier, Jo Ann (1988). The Concert Songs of Zenobia Powell Perry. OCLC 22150454.
  • Pool, Jeannie Gayle (2008). American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810863767.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Gray, Anne. (2007). The world of women in classical music. La Jolla, Calif.: WordWorld. pp. 207-208. ISBN 978-1-59975-320-1. OCLC 123539910.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Pool, Jeannie Gayle (2003). "Zenobia Powell Perry, An American Composer". International Alliance for Women in Music. Archived from the original on 3 October 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pool, Jeannie Gayle (2009). American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN 9780810863774.
  4. ^ "Tawawa House by Zenobia Powell Perry" (PDF). Townsend Opera. 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pool, Jeannie Gayle (May 2002). "Zenobia Powell Perry Chronology". Zenobia Powell Perry Website. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g McBride, Renee (December 2009). "American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century (review)". Notes. 66 (2): 313–316. doi:10.1353/not.0.0243. S2CID 162277408.
  7. ^ "zenobiapowellperry.org". zenobiapowellperry.org. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  8. ^ a b c d e Walker-Hill, Helen (2007). From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 9780252074547. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  9. ^ a b "About the Dayton, Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon". The Dayton Ohio Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon. 15 August 2007. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  10. ^ "A & S Outstanding Alumna 1998 – Zenobia Powell Perry". College of Arts and Sciences. University of Wyoming. Archived from the original on 26 December 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  11. ^ "zenobiapowellperry.org". zenobiapowellperry.org. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  12. ^ Price, Deon Nielsen (January 2015). "Zenobia Powell Perry Opera Premiered". Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon. 108 (4): 18. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Threnody". Song of America. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  14. ^ "Zenobia Powell Perry | Hidden Voices: Piano Music by Black Women Composers | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  15. ^ "zenobiapowellperry.org". zenobiapowellperry.org. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  16. ^ "zenobiapowellperry.org". zenobiapowellperry.org. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  17. ^ "Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar". Song of America. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  18. ^ Rothstein, Edward (1981-06-03). "MUSIC NOTED IN BRIEF; Janis-Rozena Peri Sings Rachmaninoff and Bizet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  19. ^ "NOTEBOOK". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
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