Antoinette Garnes

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

Antoinette Garnes
Antoinette Garnes, from a 1919 publication.
Bornabout 1887
DiedJuly 2, 1938
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSoprano singer, music educator

Education

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

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]

Garnes taught voice at Lincoln University, Wilberforce University and Hampton Institute.[12] She recorded on Harry Pace's Black Swan Records,[13][14] and her recording of two arias was promoted as "the first grand opera record ever made by a colored singer."[15] She was given an honorary membership in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at the organization's boule (annual meeting) in 1923.[16]

Personal life

Antoinette Smythe Garnes married twice; her first husband was Rev. T. J. Smythe. She was widowed when he died in Chicago.[17] Her second husband was dentist Harry W. Garnes.[18][19] She died from liver disease in 1938, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.[12][17][20]

Discography
  • "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

References
  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. 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. "Antoinette Garnes". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  13. "Black Swan Records: July Releases (advertisement)". The Crisis. 24: 139. July 1922.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. Johnson, Charles Spurgeon (February 1924). "Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Boule". Opportunity. 2: 64.
  17. "Mrs. Antoinette Garnes Dies". The Indianapolis News. 1938-07-02. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Madam Antoinette Smythe Garnes". September 6, 1919. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
  19. "Mrs. Antoinette Smythe Garnes". The Broad Ax. 1919-09-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Member Local Colored Teachers Training Group Dies Rather Suddenly". The Democrat-Argus. 1938-06-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-06-09 – via Newspapers.com.
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