Search - Marian Anderson :: Great Voices of the Century

In his delightful book about operatic sopranos called Demented, Ethan Mordden tells the story of Marian Anderson's Metropolitan Opera debut. She was not, in fact, the first African American singer to appear on the stage of the Met, and her triumphant debut as Ulrica in Verdi's A Masked Ball was slightly tarnished by the fact--pointed out by Mordden--that she had been referring to herself in the first person plural for some time previously. The point is that although her national acclaim came late in her career, Anderson was a great singer, she knew she was great, and her quiet self-confidence never wavered despite the prejudice which she had to endure. If you care about singing, you must hear her. --David Hurwitz