Dra Mu, Carmen (photograph)
Item
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Title
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Dra Mu, Carmen (photograph)
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Description
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This is a photograph of the Dra-Mu Opera Company Orchestra at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia taken in 1947.
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The Dra-Mu Opera Company was “an African-American troupe that provided young Blacks an opportunity to display their theatrical and musical talents when segregation prevented access to all-white orchestras” (Jones 2018). At the time, it was the only all-Black ensemble presenting exclusively opera music in the nation (New York Times 1946). It was co-founded by Raymond L. Smith and Henri Elkan in 1945 (Parmenter 1950; Van Atta 1980). They regularly performed at the Academy of Music (Parmenter 1950). A performance of “Carmen” opened the season in the fall of 1947 for the Dra-Mu Opera Company (The Philadelphia Inquirer 1947). The opera was written by Georges Bizet in 1875 in French, and is an opera in four acts likened to “a female Don Giovanni” (The Kennedy Center, n.d.). The Academy of Music is located at 240 South Broad Street, Philadelphia.
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Explore the opera “Carmen”
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Map to the Academy of Music
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Rights
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This work is not in copyright, but commercial uses of this digital representation are limited. For more information, contact blockson@temple.edu and see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/
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Format
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Image
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Language
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eng
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Spatial Coverage
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Philadelphia, PA
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Contributor
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Temple University Libraries, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection
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Identifier
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Dra Mu Opera Company Phila. Branch of National Association Of... Folder 5 The Dra Mu Company Presents Carmen
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Date Created
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1947
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Is Part Of
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Dra Mu Opera Company Philadelphia Branch
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Subject
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Opera--Performances
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Philadelphia (Pa.)
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Opera
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Photographs
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African American art
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Academy of Music (Philadelphia, Pa.)
