Amanda Aldridge Explained

Caption:Aldridge
Birth Date:1866 3, df=yes
Birth Place:London, England
Death Place:London, England
Father:Ira Aldridge
Relatives:Luranah Aldridge (sister)

Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge, also known as Amanda Ira Aldridge (10 March 1866 – 9 March 1956), was a British opera singer and teacher who composed love songs, suites, sambas, and light orchestral pieces under the pseudonym of Montague Ring.

Life

Amanda Aldridge was born on 10 March 1866 in Upper Norwood, London, the third child of African-American actor Ira Frederick Aldridge and his second wife, Amanda Brandt, who was Swedish. She had two sisters, Rachael and Luranah, and two brothers, Ira Daniel and Ira Frederick.[1] Aldridge studied voice under Jenny Lind and George Henschel at the Royal College of Music in London, and harmony and counterpoint with Frederick Bridge and Francis Edward Gladstone.

After completing her studies, Aldridge worked as a concert singer, piano accompanist, and voice teacher. A throat condition ended her concert appearances, and she turned to teaching and published about thirty songs between the years 1907 and 1925 in a romantic parlour style, as well as instrumental music in other styles. Among her pupils were the children of London's politically-active Black middle-classes, including Amy Barbour-James, daughter of John Barbour-James, Frank Alcindor son of Dr. John Alcindor, and composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's sister Alice Evans.[2] Her notable students included African-American performers Roland Hayes, Lawrence Benjamin Brown, Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, and Bermudian-British actor Earl Cameron.[3] [4] [5] [6] In 1930, when Robeson performed as Othello in the West End, Aldridge was in attendance, and gave Robeson the gold earrings that her father Ira Aldridge had worn as Othello.[7] Aldridge also took the singer Ida Shepley under her wing and converted her from a singer to a stage actor.[4] In 1951, African-American weekly magazine Jet reported that she was still giving piano and voice lessons aged 86.[8]

Amanda cared for her sister, the opera singer Luranah Aldridge (1860 – 1932), when she became ill, declining an invitation in 1921 from W. E. B. Du Bois to attend the second Pan-African Congress, with a note explaining: "As you know, my sister is very helpless. … I cannot leave for more than a few minutes at a time."

At the age of 88, Aldridge made her first television appearance in the British show Music For You, where Muriel Smith sang Montague Ring's "Little Southern Love Song". After a short illness, she died in London on 9 March 1956, a day before her 90th birthday.[9]

In the Autumn 2020 edition of The Historian, Stephen Bourne assessed the composer's life and career in an illustrated feature "At home with Amanda Ira Aldridge".[10] Bourne had previously written Aldridge's article for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[11] In 2022, Google honoured Aldridge's memory with a Doodle.[12]

Style

Aldridge ended her singing career to compose and teach music after laryngitis damaged her throat. She mainly composed Romantic parlour music, a type of popular music performed primarily in parlours of the middle-class homes, frequently by amateur singers and pianists. Her music was published under the pseudonym Montague Ring. Under this name, she gained recognition for her many voice and piano compositions, including love songs, suites, sambas and light orchestral pieces, in a popular style that was infused with multiple genres.[13]

Works

Selected works include:

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Who was Amanda Aldridge? The parlour song composer and teacher who inspired a generation. Discover Music. Classic FM. Rosie. Pentreath. 29 January 2021. 11 April 2022.
  2. Book: Green, Jeffrey . https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfQrBgAAQBAJ&dq=amanda+aldridge+%22frank+alcindor%22+jeffrey+green&pg=PA196 . Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain 1901–1914 . 2012. Routledge . 978-1-136-31823-8 . en . The black bourgeoisie.
  3. Web site: Amanda Aldridge . 2022-06-17 . English Heritage Music Series . en-US.
  4. Shepley [née Humphrey], Ida (1908–1975), actress and singer]. 2020-11-17. 2004. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/100422. 978-0-19-861411-1.
  5. Mortimer . Owen . April 1955 . Ira Aldridge, Shakespearean Actor . . 62 . 4 . 203–214.
  6. Book: Vernon . Patrick . https://books.google.com/books?id=JU-fDwAAQBAJ&dq=earl+cameron+amanda+aldridge&pg=PT112 . 100 Great Black Britons . Osborne . Angelina . Little, Brown Book Group . 2020 . 978-1-4721-4429-4 . en . Earl Cameron (1917–2020) actor.
  7. Othello's Daughter. Alex. Ross. The New Yorker. 29 July 2013. The Rest Is Noise. 11 April 2022.
  8. 8 Nov 1951 . People . . 1 . 2 . 25.
  9. Amanda Aldridge, Teacher and Composer: A Life in Music. Andrews. Joyce. Journal of Singing. 66. 3. January–February 2010. 1086-7732. 28 April 2017.
  10. At home with Amanda Ira Aldridge. Stephen. Bourne. The Historian. Historical Association. 4 December 2020. 11 April 2022.
  11. Aldridge, Amanda Christina Elizabeth [pseud. Montague Ring]]. Stephen. Bourne. 10.1093/ref:odnb/61850. 23 September 2004. 978-0-19-861412-8 . 11 April 2022.
  12. Web site: Celebrating Amanda Aldridge . 2022-06-17 . www.google.com . en . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20220617035413/http://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-amanda-aldridge . 17 June 2022 .
  13. Book: Bourne, Stephen. Black Poppies. Stephen Bourne (writer). The History Press. 2014.

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