Roland Hayes

Object Details

Artist

Winold Reiss, 16 Sep 1886 - 29 Aug 1953

Sitter

Roland Hayes, 3 Jun 1887 - 1 Jan 1977

Exhibition Label

Born on the plantation where his mother had once been a slave, lyric tenor Roland Hayes found his voice while singing African American spirituals in the church choir. He first encountered classical music through a recording of Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso. “That opened the heavens for me,” Hayes later recalled. “The beauty of what could be done with the voice just overwhelmed me.” Initially rebuffed by professional managers because of his race, Hayes arranged and promoted his own concerts, steadily gaining recognition while touring from coast to coast. In 1920 he traveled to Europe, where he gave a command performance for British royalty and won over a hostile crowd in Berlin. Returning to the United States in 1923, Hayes continued to break new ground, appearing as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and pushing for integrated seating at his concerts in southern cities.

El tenor lírico Roland Hayes, nacido en la plantación donde su madre había sido esclava, descubrió su voz cantando espirituales afroamericanos en el coro de su iglesia. Un disco del tenor italiano Enrico Caruso fue su primer encuentro con la música clásica. “Se me abrió el cielo”, recordaría más tarde. “La belleza que podía producir la voz me dejó sencillamente abrumado”. En un principio, rechazado por los agentes artísticos a causa de su raza, Hayes se dedicó a coordinar y promover él mismo sus conciertos, realizando giras de costa a costa que le ganaron un creciente reconocimiento. En 1920 viajó a Europa, donde ofreció un concierto especial para la realeza británica y terminó por cautivar a un reticente público berlinés. Ya de regreso en Estados Unidos en 1923, Hayes continuó rompiendo esquemas al presentarse como solista con la Orquesta Sinfónica de Boston y abogar contra la segregación de los asientos para sus conciertos en las ciudades sureñas.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; purchase funded by Lawrence A. Fleischman and Howard Garfinkle with a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

1924

Object number

NPG.72.81

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Drawing

Medium

Pastel on illustration board

Dimensions

Sheet: 49.4 × 40.6 cm (19 7/16 × 16")

Frame: 62.8 × 54.2 cm (24 3/4 × 21 5/16")

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Roland Hayes: Male

Roland Hayes: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Composer

Roland Hayes: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Teacher

Roland Hayes: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Singer

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.72.81

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4a788d4d6-b817-4c10-bf99-392ed201043b