Amanda Christine Elizabeth Aldridge
Photograph held by Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center
Amanda Ira Aldridge (1866-1956) had an extensive career as a composer, contralto, and teacher. She began composing in her thirties, writing more than 25 songs, piano works, suites, sambas, and orchestral pieces under the pseudonym Montague Ring. Much of Aldridge’s compositional output was popular music written to be performed in the parlors of middle-class homes. She often utilized texts by prominent Black American poets in her songs, including works by H.E. Downing and P.L. Dunbar. Aldridge’s most famous piano work was Three African Dances, which derives thematic content from West African music.
Aldridge began performing publicly as a teenager, singing works by Handel at the Crystal Palace in 1881. Two years later, she won a competitive scholarship to the newly-formed Royal College of Music and was a student of Jenny Lind, Sir George Henschel, Frederick Bridge, and Francis Edward Gladstone. A review from The Daily Telegraph (3 June 1896) noted that Aldridge “possesses a contralto voice of considerable richness, which she uses with much skill and intelligence.” A decade later, the London Times favorably reviewed a June 1905 recital, indicating that “Miss Aldridge’s style is excellent, her voice warm and mellow, and her intelligence far beyond dispute; the combination may well serve to explain the measure of her success.” By 1913, reviews began to mention that Aldridge was also performing her own compositions in recitals. Her performing career ended, however, when her throat was damaged due to complications associated with laryngitis.
In addition to performing and composing, Aldridge was also a brilliant pedagogue, with prominent students that included Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, Lawrence Benjamin Brown, and Paul Robeson. In a letter of recommendation, Jenny Lind wrote of Aldridge: “I feel convinced that she has attained a real insight into the art of singing, and a correct judgment as to the formation and healthy development of the voice. I have therefore no hesitation in recommending her as a Master of singing.” In addition to singing, Aldridge also taught diction and elocution to students including the Countess of Dunmore, Lady Helen Nutting, and Lady Eileen Wellesley. She was still teaching in London’s West End for several hours a day at the age of 87, stating “Life without music would be unbearable. I cannot keep still. So many things are happening that I must be active to see it all.”
Aldridge came from a family of performing artists–her father was the renowned Shakespearean actor Ira Frederick Aldridge, her mother was the Swedish opera singer Amanda Pauline von Brandt, her brother Frederick was a pianist and composer, and her sister Luranah was an opera singer. She recalled, “From my birth I was in an atmosphere of music for my mother, who was Swedish, was an artiste with an unusually beautiful voice.”
Resources
Sources
Andrews, Joyce. “Amanda Aldridge, Teacher and Composer: A Life in Music.” Journal of Singing concert 66, no. 3 (Jan/Feb 2010): 253-268.
Fuller, Sophie. “Aldridge, Amanda Ira.” Grove Music Online. 2015.
Works Featured on Expanding the Music Theory Canon
Frolic from Carnival
Excerpt
Pages: Passing Tone, Neighbor Tone
The Desert Patrol from Three Pictures from Syria
Excerpt
Pages: 6/4 Chords, Pedal
Lazy Dance
Excerpt
Pages: 6/4 Chords, Neighbor Tone
Pierrette from Carnival
Excerpt
Page: Common-Tone Diminished 7th
Lazy Dance
Excerpt
Page: Period
Lazy Dance
Excerpt
Page: Period