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Minnie T. Wright

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Minnie T. Wright was an American clubwoman and pianist from Boston[1] who composed music. She was one of the organizers seeking a building for African-American woman's club activities in Boston[2] and served as president of the Massachusetts Union of Women's Clubs from 1928 to 1932.[3][4] An African American, she belonged to the Women's Municipal League,[5] the Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World,[6] and attempted to set up official rules for joining the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, requiring that any applying clubs must be involved in charity and that every woman in the club must attend church.[7] She was elected as president of the Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs Inc[8] on September 6, 1934.[9]

Her compositions "A Summer Day" and "Love-Song" were recommended as "drawing room" pieces.[10] Louis Armstrong recorded her song "Love Song" as part of his 1933 single "Laughin' Louie", Armstrong historian Ricky Riccardi surmising it was "a theme Armstrong must have played countless times while accompanying silent movies with Tate’s Orchestra".[11] Vince Giordano and Gosta Hagloff identified the piece as one used as silent film accompaniment since the early 1920s, including Charlie Chaplin's Easy Street segment of the 1938 compilation The Charlie Chaplin Festival.[12][13][14] Howard Thurston also used "Love Song" as the accompanying music to his illusion "The Levitation of Princess Karnac". Of the piece, Jim Steinmeyer wrote: "The melody and bridges are fascinating; it’s easy to imagine how this was a theatrical showpiece and how it perfectly accompanied the famous illusion."[15] She was stated in The Diapason to have "won considerable reputation as a composer of music of the lighter and popular order".[16]

Music

[edit]
  • "Meeting" (1912), music, words by Laura M. Ford[17]
  • "A Summer Day", arranged by Adolf Schmid (1920)[18]
  • "Love-Song",[19] arranged by Otto Langey (1920)[18][20]
  • "Springtime", arranged by Maurice Baron (1924)[18]
  • "Ave Maria", arranged by Th. Baker (1924)[21]
  • "Dance of the Sea-Fairies" (1924)[21]
  • "Like as the Hart" (1924)[22]
  • "The Faun", arranged by Tom Clark (1926)[18][23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bulletin of the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. Vol. 7. Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. 1912. p. 40.
  2. ^ Daniels, John (1914). In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston Negroes. Johnson Reprint. p. 212.
  3. ^ GPO-CRECB-1930-pt8-v72-6-1 Page 15 Congressional Record
  4. ^ Leslie, LaVonne (November 30, 2012). The History of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Inc.: A Legacy of Service. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 9781479722655.
  5. ^ Journal of the National Medical Association. Vol. 11–12. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1919. p. 182.
  6. ^ Quigley, David; O'Toole, James, eds. (2003). "10: The Politics of Sex and Race in Boston's NAACP, 1920-1940". Boston's Histories: Essays in Honor of Thomas H. O'Connor. Boston: Northeastern University Press. p. 209. ISBN 1-55553-557-7. OCLC 50960800.
  7. ^ Collier-Thomas, Bettye (February 2, 2010). Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion. Knopf Doubleday. p. xxx. ISBN 9780307593054.
  8. ^ "Northeastern Clubs End Conference In Brooklyn". The New York Age. August 14, 1937. Retrieved November 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Mrs. Minnie T. Wright Heads N. E. Federation Of Women's Clubs". The Pittsburgh Courier. September 8, 1934. Retrieved November 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ The Musician. Vol. 26. Hatch Music Company. 1921. p. 31.
  11. ^ "Louis Armstrong's 1969-1971 Tapes: Reels 161-165". That's My Home. 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  12. ^ Brothers, Thomas (February 3, 2014). Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393241457.
  13. ^ Riccardi, Ricky (2020). Heart Full of Rhythm : The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-19-091411-0. OCLC 1137836373.
  14. ^ Riccardi, Rick (2020-04-13). "Six Minutes With Satch: Laughin' Louie / Tomorrow Night". The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  15. ^ Steinmeyer, Jim (2022-10-03). "WHAT WE HIDE: THE MELODY OF THURSTON'S LEVITATION". Jim Steinmeyer. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  16. ^ "Special Design Meets Needs Of Small City" (PDF). The Diapason. Vol. 15, no. 4. Scranton Gillette Communications. March 1, 1924. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  17. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1912). "Catalogue of Title-entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Under the Copyright Law ... Wherein the Copyright Has Been Completed by the Deposit of Two Copies in the Office, Part 3". U.S. Government Printing Office. 7 (2): 1481.
  18. ^ a b c d Andree, Dan; Ballard, Jessica; Berthold, Carol; Davis, Cory; Faux, Celia; Lapinski, Jessica; Mayton, Matthew; McComas, Garrett; Nichols, Katie; Pelczar, Somer; Pletka, Holly; Repking, Allison; Vallier, Nolan (2017). "Finding Aid for Hunleth Music Store Sheet Music and Photograph Collection, ca. 1880-1986". archon.library.illinois.edu. University of Illinois. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  19. ^ Wright, Minnie T. (February 28, 1920). Love - Song. G. Schirmer, Inc – via digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu.
  20. ^ Teachout, Terry (2009). Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 419. ISBN 9780151010899.
  21. ^ a b Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3. Library of Congress. 1925. pp. 851, 884.
  22. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1926). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Fourth Series. Library of Congress. p. 85.
  23. ^ Ferguson, Brent (17 June 2018). "The Faun". Silent Film Sound & Music Archive. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
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