Villa-Lobos and Marian Anderson, pt. 2

On March 14, 1945, Villa-Lobos was the guest of honour at a reception at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The guest list was impressive; here are the names David Appleby lists in his Villa-Lobos biography:

Marian Anderson, Bidu Sayao, Walter Damrosch, Arthur Rodzinski, Leopold Stokowski, Benny Goodman, Aaron Copland, Carleton Sprague Smith, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Fiorello La Guardia, Sigmund Romberg, George Szell, Joseph Szigetti, Arturo Toscanini, Ezio Pinza, Claudio Arrau, Morton Gould, Yehudi Menuhin, Eugene Ormandy, Jose Iturbi, Deems Taylor, Nelson Rockefeller, Olin Downes and Oscar Thompson.

Here's a picture of the composer with Aaron Copland and the Brazilian Consul Oscar Correia taken that day:

And here, along with Mindinha, is a friend Villa-Lobos made in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1930s, soprano Marian Anderson. I've seen this picture on the web before, but didn't know when it was taken. Judging from Villa's outfit, we have the answer.

Back in 2009 I posted about Villa's relationship with Anderson. The two had become close back in Brazil and they kept up a correspondence, and would run into each other over the years as international musicians tend to do. I wish that Anderson had recorded some Villa-Lobos songs, especially the Poema da Itabira, which was dedicated to her.

#BlackHistoryMonth