Beauford and Marian Anderson

Beauford loved Marian Anderson and her music. He captured her likeness in many sketches and paintings, including a portrait painted in 1965.


Marian Anderson
(1965) Oil on canvas
Photo from Harvard Gazette Archives

In 1956, he heard her perform in a "thrilling concert"* in Paris.

Anderson performed Kindertotenlieder by Gustav Mahler at this event. She sang in German, accompanied by the French National Radio Orchestra, at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées on November 22nd. The conductor of the orchestra was Jascha Horenstein.


Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
© Discover Paris!
While I have not been able to access any excerpts of the recording made of this concert, I was able to find recordings of Anderson performing the same music accompanied by the San Francisco Orchestra in 1950. Click here to listen!

*Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, by David Leeming