Price – In the Land O’Cotton for Brass Septet (PDF Download)

Florence Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognised as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition performed by a major symphony orchestra. She was a prolific writer, having written over 300 works in total from art songs and choral works to symphonies.

In the Land O’Cotton was composed as a suite for solo piano. Like much of Price’s music, the work is influenced by the history and lives of Black Americans. The suite references the cotton gin and the Juba dance which originated in Africa and was brought to America by enslaved peoples. It is here arranged for brass septet by Matthew Knight.