Why do we still not believe in Negro symphony conductors?
Four years ago an Overgrown Path post recounted how in the 1950s classical music super-agent Arthur Judson told the African American conductor Everett Lee " I don't believe in Negro symphony conductors ", and another post described how Rudolph Dunbar died in 1988 a forgotten and marginalised figure, despite becoming the first black conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic . That is Rudolph Dunbar in the photo; the Guyanese musician - who was a friend of the controversial child prodigy Philippa Schuyler - was a talented conductor and an outstanding clarinetist, who in 1939 wrote the standard work on the instrument, the ' Treatise on the clarinet (Boehm system) '. Despite achieving considerable success on the podium, Rudolph Dunbar's career faltered and stalled, and another post discussed allegations that a senior figure in the BBC had derailed his career , allegations that were subsequently supported by an authoritative source . Arthur Judson stigmatized Negr