Florence Price The Life, Compositions and Influence of a Black American Composer
Farina William

Over the last decade or more, classical music programming has expanded to an unprecedented extent, now including works by less familiar composers and underappreciated works by familiar names. At the center of this recent trend has been the musical legacy of Florence B. Price, an African American woman originally from Arkansas, later spending her professional career on the southside of Chicago. The rediscovery of Price’s manuscripts in an abandoned rural house circa 2009, along with subsequent publishings, major label recordings, and Grammy Awards, has further fueled this new development. This new biography of Price also appraises her career and legacy. William Farina is a retired real estate consultant for the federal government, now living in Evanston, Illinois. He has written books on Arthurian legend, early Christianity, the American Civil War, Shakespeare and baseball. “Wealth of scholarship… highlighting a Black American composer who worked mostly in the early twentieth century…serves as a biography on Florence Price… where this work shines is in its look into the various recordings of Price’s work from the mid-twentieth century to today… provides a discography, giving the reader an opportunity to listen along with Farina’s various references to recordings… valuable contributions to the study of underrepresented groups in music.”—ARSC Journal