Research Catalog

Title

Muriel Rahn papers, 1949-1956.

Author

Rahn, Muriel.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967.

Description

.8 lin. ft. (2 print boxes, 1/2 archival box)

Summary

• The Muriel Rahn Papers contain a scrapbook (1949-1950) covering Rahn's leading role in the opera "The Barrier"; it consists of news clippings, reviews, letters and telegrams (some from Langston Hughes), programs, photographs of a touring production. There are also contracts and letters for the 1953 national touring production of "Carmen Jones".
• A concert singer, Rahn frequently performed recitals of African American, classical, and popular music. The collection contains many pieces of manuscript music, copyist sheets, and music sheets. These include poems authored by Langston Hughes, set to music or arranged by a number of composers including Hall Johnson, F. Norman, and William Grant Still, many with handwritten dedications to Rahn from Hughes. There are also music scores and sheet music by other authors, some annotated.
• Dick Campbell Concerts, Inc., a management company owned by Rahn's husband, is represented by a brochure and promotional flyers portraying images of the artists and press information about them; and sheet music performed by the One World Ensemble, a quartet of vocalists Campbell organized representing four racial/ethnic backgrounds designed to show democratic principles at work. There are also letters regarding the dissolution of the company in 1956.

Subjects

• African American singers
• African American women singers
• Sheet music
• African American entertainers
• Scrapbooks
• Handbills
• Dick Campbell Concerts, Inc
• Black author
• African American theater
• Campbell, Dick, 1903-1994
• Women singers > United States
• African Americans > Music
• Rahn, Muriel
• African Americans in the performing arts
• African American actresses
• Lyrics

Genre/Form

• Scrapbooks.
• Sheet music.
• Handbills.
• Lyrics.

Note

• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

• Dick Campbell

Biography (note)

• Best known for her performance in the title role of the original 1943-1944 Broadway production of "Carmen Jones," Muriel Rahn (1911-1961) developed a reputation as a performer who was equally talented as a singer and an actress. This African American soprano was highly acclaimed for her concerts and performances in many Broadway and off-Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she launched her career in opera, appearing in several productions in New York and in Europe during the 1950s.
• Rahn's last Broadway appearance was as Cora Lewis in "The Barrier" (1950), an American opera based on Langston Hughes' play, "The Mulatto," which focused on race relations in the "New South." In 1932, she married Dick Campbell, who later became her manager and started the Dick Campbell Concerts, Inc., a concert management company serving primarily Black artists.

Call Number

Sc MG 848

OCLC

783653129

Author

Rahn, Muriel.

Title

Muriel Rahn papers, 1949-1956.

Biography

Best known for her performance in the title role of the original 1943-1944 Broadway production of "Carmen Jones," Muriel Rahn (1911-1961) developed a reputation as a performer who was equally talented as a singer and an actress. This African American soprano was highly acclaimed for her concerts and performances in many Broadway and off-Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she launched her career in opera, appearing in several productions in New York and in Europe during the 1950s.

Rahn's last Broadway appearance was as Cora Lewis in "The Barrier" (1950), an American opera based on Langston Hughes' play, "The Mulatto," which focused on race relations in the "New South." In 1932, she married Dick Campbell, who later became her manager and started the Dick Campbell Concerts, Inc., a concert management company serving primarily Black artists.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Added Author

Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 848