National Negro Opera Company (U.S.)

The National Negro Opera Company was managed and directed by its founder, Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962). The company was founded in 1941. In the late 1940s, Mrs. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of company activities. There were active chapters in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, and Red Bank, New Jersey. In 1950, the National Negro Opera Foundation was incorporated to help raise funds to sustain the company. The company ceased operations with Mrs. Dawson's death in 1962.

The National Negro Opera Company was founded in 1941 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Mary Cardwell Dawson, musician and founder of the Cardwell School of Music. The companion National Negro Opera Foundation was established in 1950 in Washington, DC.

Agency Sketch

The National Negro Opera Company, the first African-American opera company in the United States, was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941, by Mary Cardwell Dawson (born February 14, 1894, in Madison, North Carolina; died March 19, 1962). Ms. Dawson graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in June 1925, then did post-graduate work at the Chicago Musical College, and in New York and Boston. She began her professional career giving private voice lessons at the Cardwell School of Music, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, which she founded in 1927. She staged and directed the opera Romeo and Juliet at Carnegie Music Hall, in Pittsburgh (1926-1927) followed by the operetta The Merry Milk Maids, which she staged at nearby Schenley High School, in 1930. Mary Cardwell Dawson appeared as a soloist at the Century of Progress (World's Fair), Chicago, in 1933. That same year she organized the Cardwell Dawson Choir, made up of students at her school. The ensemble began a series of annual concerts in 1934, gradually developing into a prize-winning ensemble in the late 1930s. They won the Sun-Telegraph (Harvey Gaul) Award for Musical Excellance in both 1937 and 1938. The Cardwell Dawson Choir accepted invitations to appear at the Chicago and New York World's Fairs in the late 1930s. Seven years later, on May 27, 1944, the Choir received a first place award in the Nationalist Class of the Western Pennsylvania Choral Festival. Ms. Dawson served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians (hereafter referred to as the NANM) from 1939 to 1941, and was chairman of the association's opera committee.

Ms. Dawson launched the National Negro Opera Company (hereafter referred to as the NNOC) at the NANM annual convention, in August 1941. The NNOC was incorporated in the state of Illinois in 1942 with the stated purpose of "affording for the Negro the opportunity for the fullest expression in cultural development." The first operatic production was a performance of Verdi's Aida, presented at Pittsburgh's Syria Masque, on August 29, 1941. The stars in the first production included La Julia Rhea (as Aida), Minto Cato, Carol Brice, Robert McFerrin, and Lillian Evanti. After two years of various struggles and disappointments, the NNOC began to experience more consistant success, beginning with the August 29, 1943 performance of Verdi's La Traviata, performed at the Watergate, in Washington, D.C. - the stage being an anchored floating barge. The next year, on March 29, 1944, after successful performances in Chicago and Pittsburgh, the company staged La Traviata at New York City's Madison Square Garden, to enthusiastic crowds. The NNOC presented several musical spectaculars and operatic performances at Carnegie Hall and at Town Hall in New York, including such programs as "A Music and Dance Festival" (October 5, 1947), "An Afternoon of Stars" (April 3, 1948), and a performance of R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses, presented on June 15, 1951. In addition to regular offerings of operatic productions and occasional large-scale New York concerts, there were many solo recitals that featured Mary Cardwell Dawson or prominant soloists of the NNOC--concerts that were often billed as benefit concerts for the NNOC. The NNOC also sponsored nine annual music festivals between July 19, 1947 and August 27, 1955 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. These annual events consisted of bands, drill teams, dance groups, choruses, instrumental and vocal soloists - with appearances by well-known celebrities such as Noble Sissle and W. C. Handy, both of whom appeared at the August 7, 1948 event. Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators baseball team, donated use of Griffith Stadium for these annual events without charging any fees.

The NNOC was active between 1941 and 1962 (the year of Dawson's death), producing operas in several cities, such as Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago, in addition to productions staged in Pittsburgh. In the early 1940s, Ms. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of the NNOC's activities. Active Opera Guilds (city chapters) were established in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, Red Bank, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The National Negro Opera Foundation (hereafter NNOF) was incorporated in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 1950 to help raise funds to sustain the NNOC. Ms. Dawson served as director and general manager of the company from the founding of the company until her death on March 19, 1962.

The NNOC's repertoire during the years 1941-1960 consisted mainly of six operas and one oratorio ( The Ordering of Moses, arranged in operatic format by Ms. Dawson for operatic presentation). In addition to The Ordering of Moses, the operatic repertoire included Carmen (Bizet), Faust (Gounod), Aida (Verdi), La Traviata (Verdi), Il Trovatore (Verdi), and Ouanga (Clarence Cameron White).

The company reached its peak with performances of Clarence Cameron White's opera Ouanga presented in a concert version with ballet, at the Metropolitan Opera House, on May 27, 1956. The Met performance actually represented four premieres. It was the first time that the opera Ouanga had been staged in New York. Secondly, it was the first time an outside company had staged an operatic production using the Met's stage and facilities. Thirdly, it was the first opera ever presented at the Met by an African-American opera company, and lastly, it was the first time that an opera by an African-American composer (White) and librettist (John Frederick Matheus) had been performed at the Met. Four months later, on September 29, 1956, the NNOC gave another successful performance of Ouanga at New York City's Carnegie Hall.

The NNOC remained active through 1960, but the number of events gradually diminished, ceasing with Ms. Dawson's death in 1962.

The following section presents a chronological list of selected musical events and productions by the National Negro Opera Company and earlier events performed by ensembles in which Mary Cardwell Dawson was involved.