Antoinette Garnes

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Antoinette Garnes
A woman in profile, her dark hair in a bouffant updo with a top bun.
Antoinette Garnes, from a 1919 publication.
Bornabout 1887
DiedJuly 2, 1938
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Soprano singer, music educator

Antoinette Smythe Garnes (about 1887 – July 2, 1938) was an American soprano singer active in the 1920s in the United States.

Education[edit]

Antoinette Smythe Garnes was born about 1887, in Detroit. She studied at Detroit Central High School, Detroit Conservatory of Music, Howard University, and Chicago Musical College; at the last institution she studied with Edoardo Sacerdote,[1] earned a bachelor of music degree in 1919,[2] and was the college's first black winner of the Alexander Revell diamond medal.[3][4] She also played violin and piano. She earned a master of music degree from Chicago Musical College in 1920.[5]

Career[edit]

In 1923 Garnes was the only African American member of the Chicago Grand Opera Company.[6] She was a member of the Chicago Opera Association.[7] Erma Morris accompanied her for a performance in Detroit.[8] She sang at a meeting of the NAACP in Chicago in 1919.[3] Music critic Agnes Beldon noted Garnes's "sterling vocal ability and fine training".[9] Her solo recitals were sponsored by local black women's clubs, and benefited charities such as the Phyllis Wheatley Orphan's Home in Wichita.[10] She performed with Naida McCullough in California in 1932.[11] She also performed at Howard University with Sadie B Davis under the auspices of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.[12]

Garnes taught voice at Lincoln University, Wilberforce University and Hampton Institute.[13] She recorded on Harry Pace's Black Swan Records,[14][15] and her recording of two arias was promoted as "the first grand opera record ever made by a colored singer."[16] She was given an honorary membership in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at the organization's boule (annual meeting) in 1923.[17]

Personal life[edit]

Antoinette Smythe Garnes married twice; her first husband was Rev. Dr Theobold Augustus Smythe.[18] She was widowed when he died in Chicago.[19] Her second husband was dentist Harry W. Garnes.[20][21] She died from liver disease in 1938, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.[13][19][22]

Discography[edit]

  • "Caro Nome" (1923) Black Swan Records 7101
  • "Ah, F'ors 'E Lui" (1923) Black Swan Records 7102
  • "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair" Black Swan Records

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Second Young Artists' Concert of Chicago Musical College at Orchestra Hall". Music News. 14: 26. December 1, 1922.
  2. ^ Chicago Musical College (1911). Catalog of the Chicago Musical College. The College.
  3. ^ a b Phelps, Howard A. (September 1919). "Persons of Note". Half-Century Magazine. 7: 9.
  4. ^ "General Race News". The Half Century Magazine. 7: 15. August 1919.
  5. ^ "Madam Antoinette Smythe Garnes". The Broad Ax. 1922-07-22. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Suisman, David (2009). Selling sounds : the commercial revolution in American music. Harvard University Press. p. 227. ISBN 9780674033375. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Antoinette Garnes in Song Recital". Music News. 14: 23. July 14, 1922.
  8. ^ "Musical program featuring Antoinette Garnes presented by the Detroit Study Club | DPL DAMS". Detroit Public Library Digital Collections.
  9. ^ Beldon, Agnes (August 4, 1922). "Chicago Musical College". Music News. 14: 4.
  10. ^ "Antoinette Garnes, Lyric Soprano". The Negro Star. 1922-01-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Soprano to Give Half Hour at U. C." Daily Gazette. August 17, 1932. p. 5. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  12. ^ "Alpha Kappa Alpha Presents Miss Virginia Moore". Howard University Journal. 6 (15): 1. February 5, 1909.
  13. ^ a b "Antoinette Garnes". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  14. ^ "Black Swan Records: July Releases (advertisement)". The Crisis. 24: 139. July 1922.
  15. ^ Kenney, William Howland (1999-07-08). Recorded Music in American Life: The Phonograph and Popular Memory, 1890-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988014-0.
  16. ^ Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (2017-02-27). The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-1003-8.
  17. ^ Johnson, Charles Spurgeon (February 1924). "Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Boule". Opportunity. 2: 64.
  18. ^ U.S., Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-current
  19. ^ a b "Mrs. Antoinette Garnes Dies". The Indianapolis News. 1938-07-02. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Madam Antoinette Smythe Garnes". The Broad Ax. September 6, 1919. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Mrs. Antoinette Smythe Garnes". The Broad Ax. 1919-09-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Member Local Colored Teachers Training Group Dies Rather Suddenly". The Democrat-Argus. 1938-06-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

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