An Evening in the Theater

On Friday evening, I went to Boston to see "Breath and Imagination," about Roland Hayes (1887-1977), a son of former slaves who had a groundbreaking career as a classical tenor. I had expected it to focus more on his concert career, but it turned out to be mostly about his youth and education — how he matured into the successful singer he was — apparently having been inspired by hearing phonograph records of Enrico Caruso. Well-sung opera can be mesmerizing for people whose first encounter with it is devoid of prejudice against it.

At any rate, it's quite a story of his rise from rural poverty to international renown. The play focuses on his first twenty-five years, and on an incident in Georgia in 1942. He had bought the plantation where his parents had been slaves and was opening an integrated music school, when his wife and daughter were refused service in a shoe store in Rome, GA, because they inadvertently sat in the "Whites Only" section, and he was beaten by the police for protesting their treatment. There is a bit about his self-produced sell out concert in Symphony Hall in Boston, where he lived most of his adult life, and a bit about his concert experiences in Europe in the 1920's, and nothing about his life after 1942.

While the play turned out to have a different focus from what I had expected, the story it told may have been more important and inspiring than the story I expected. All in all, it's quite a story of triumph over adversity through hard work and determination to succeed.

Here are some recordings of  various sorts of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSiI9cx0G4U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlF8XDXqQjo&list=PL4229DCCC99FA1C9B&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wl9GHf2Uoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sibe38cQPQ  In 1923, he sang in Berlin. When he appeared on stage there was hissing and catcalls for a long period, maybe ten minutes. He stood there until the audience quieted and then sang "Du bist die Ruh" and won them over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8NGQGIogys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Is7R4XVbo