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Anne Gamble Kennedy

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nina07011960 (talk | contribs) at 01:37, 13 April 2018 (→Career). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: I've gone through and believe this article is ready for mainspace. I'm awaiting a response from the salting administrator. Vermont | reply here 21:39, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Comment: See my decline reason for my comments. Vermont | reply here 21:33, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Comment: Newly added sources are insignificant (discogs) or do not mention Gamble Kennedy at all. Evidence of significant coverage is needed. And the coverage must be of Anne Gamble Kennedy herself, not just people she knew or of her husband. (Notability is not inherited.) WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 13:16, 4 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Comment: The available sources indicate little more than mentions in passing, not the in-depth, significant coverage required. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 18:54, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please do not covert section back to boldface headers.
    Please use straight quotes, not angled
    Please do not remove appropriate wiki-links to other Wikipedia articles DES (talk)DESiegel Contribs 03:08, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
File:Anne Gamble pic.jpg
Anne Gamble Kennedy

Anne Gamble Kennedy (25 September 1920 – 11 June 2001) was an American classical pianist, piano professor, and accompanist for the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Nashville, Tennessee.

Early life

Anne Lucile Gamble was born in Charleston, West Virginia to Dr. Henry Floyd Gamble and the former Nina Hortense Clinton.[1] She was the younger of two children born to that union. She had two older step-siblings, Katherine Lee Gamble and Henry Floyd Gamble, Jr. Anne was eleven years old when her father was killed in a car accident in 1932. Dr. Gamble's mother had been a slave on the Howard's Neck Plantation in Goochland County, Virginia. His father, Henry Harmon Gamble, was a foreman on the same plantation, and of Scotch-Irish and Native-American descent.[1] Anne's mother was a teacher and one of the Jubilee Singers at Wilberforce University. While on tour with the Wilberforce Jubilee Singers in London, she witnessed and photographed the coronation of King Edward VII in 1901.[1]

Anne Gamble and famed contralto Marian Anderson were friends and colleagues. The two met when Anderson stayed in Dr. Gamble's home while in Charleston because, as an African-American, she was not allowed to stay in hotels.[2]

She received her early education in Charleston public schools, which were segregated at the time. Matriculating at Fisk University in 1937, she graduated cum laude in 1941 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her further education included a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with additional study at the Juilliard School of Music, George Peabody College, and artist training with pianist Ray Lev in New York.[3]

Career

File:Gamble and Kennedy.png
Duo Pianists Anne Gamble and Matthew Kennedy

Early in her career, Gamble had been engaged to appear as piano soloist with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. A few months before the concert, the conductor died suddenly. Her contract was canceled by the conductor's replacement.[4] She also auditioned for Duke Ellington while he was in Charleston, who invited her to perform in New York. Kennedy was a preforming artist and teacher, and launched a concert career after serving on the piano faculties of HBCUs Tuskegee Institute and Talladega College.[5] Her career was interrupted when she accepted an invitation extended by Professor John Wesley Work III in 1950 to teach piano at Fisk University for one semester.[6] The "one semester" resulted in Anne Gamble's tenure of thirty-two years.[7][8] For seventeen of her years at Fisk, she served as accompanist and piano soloist with the Fisk Jubilee Singers under directors John Wesley Work and Matthew Kennedy.[9][10][11][12] In 1956 she married Matthew Kennedy in the Fisk Memorial Chapel.[13] Their daughter is pianist, filmmaker, and orchestral conductor Nina Kennedy.[14]

Anne Gamble Kennedy and her husband traveled and performed as duo pianists,[15][13] and were known for their rendition of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos.[16] She received critical acclaim for her performances of Norman dello Joio's A Jubilant Song and Undine Smith Moore's Lord We Give Thanks to Thee with the Fisk Jubilee Singers under Matthew Kennedy at New York's Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.[17] Her final faculty recital at Fisk in 1970 included the Liszt Sonata, Bach-Tausig's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Chopin's Barcarolle, Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, and John W. Work's Appalachia Suite.[18]She also received critical acclaim for her performance of Beethoven's Choral Fantasy as piano soloist with the Nashville Symphony and the Fisk University Choir.[19][13][20]

File:Anne Gamble Portrait.jpg
Drawing of Anne Gamble by Aaron Douglas

In 1954, artist Aaron Douglas selected Anne Gamble Kennedy for a series of portraits of distinguished Fisk faculty, commissioned by Fisk University.[21]

After her retirement from Fisk, Kennedy was known for her performances of her own arrangement of Albert Malotte's "The Lord's Prayer".[22] She participated in community activities, including The Women's Advisory Committee of the Tennessee Performing Arts Foundation; music consultant for the Fine Arts Committee of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce; member of "The Outing" Committee, Nashville Symphony Benefit; Vice President of the John W. Work, III Memorial Foundation;[23] the Nashville Chapter of Links, Inc.; and a Life Member of the NAACP. A music scholarship at Fisk University has been named in honor of Anne Gamble Kennedy and her husband, titled "The Matthew and Anne Gamble Kennedy Scholarship Fund".[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Henry Floyd Gamble". West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
  2. ^ Kennedy, Anne Gamble. Correspondence : with Marian Anderson, 1970–1981. OCLC 63559238.
  3. ^ FBCCH, (2001). Anne Gamble Kennedy funeral program: First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill – Archives.
  4. ^ Kennedy, N. (1987). Anne Gamble and Matthew Kennedy: Taped interviews: Fisk University Library.
  5. ^ "Music Critics Praise Anne Gamble, Pianist". The Pittsburgh Courier. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 27, 1947. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Moon, Fletcher F. (2016). "So "Fisk" ticated Ladies and Gentlemen: Highlights From 150 Years of Fisk University's Musical Tradition, Impact, and Influence". Tennessee State University.
  7. ^ "Fisk Seniors Urged To Help Hopeless". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. May 12, 1975. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Stone, Ruth M. (September 25, 2017). "The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The World's Music: General Perspectives and Reference Tools". Routledge – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Jubilee Singers Acclaimed by Audience" (PDF). The Madisonian. Vol. 7, no. 2. February 2, 1959.
  10. ^ Still, Judith Anne; Dabrishus, Michael J.; Quin, Carolyn L. (April 3, 1996). "William Grant Still: A Bio-bibliography". Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 207 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Gerri Major's Society World". Jet. Vol. 44, no. 6. Johnson Publishing Company. May 17, 1973. ISSN 0021-5996 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Hillinger, Charles (April 6, 1986). "Group Hits the Right Notes at Fisk: Jubilee Singers Preserve Black Songs of Plantation Life". The Los Angeles Times.
  13. ^ a b c "Two Generations of Pianists Scheduled". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. February 1, 1981. p. 88 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "A Spiritual Sound". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. May 15, 1986. p. 98 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Anne Gamble Kennedy and Matthew Kennedy will perform..." The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. October 3, 1980. p. 52 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Matthew Kennedy: ONE MAN'S JOURNEY -Part 6". NinaKennedyFilmMaker. October 20, 2009 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ Nicholas, Louis (October 7, 1971). "Emotion Fills Fisk Tribute to Singers". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Anne Gamble Kennedy will appear in faculty piano recital..." The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. January 11, 1970. p. 40 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Fisk Festival Music-Filled". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. April 20, 1975. p. 89 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Nicholas, Louis (April 26, 1975). "Fisk Choir Strong". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Special Collections and Archives, Aaron Douglas Collection, 1921-1973" – via Fisk University.
  22. ^ FBCCH, (2001). Anne Gamble Kennedy funeral program: First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill – Archives.
  23. ^ "John W. Work III Memorial Foundation Scholarship Fund". The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
  24. ^ "Matthew & Anne Gamble Kennedy Designated Fund for Fisk University". The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Category:African-American classical pianists Category:American classical pianists Category:American female musicians Category:American pianists Category:Women classical pianists Category:Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Fisk University alumni Category:Oberlin College alumni

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