Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler [Anglais] [Relié]

A child prodigy born in Harlem to a noted black journalist and a domineering white mother, classical musician and roving journalist Schuyler (1931-1967) became a 1940s and 1950s racial icon (and inspiration for blacks to take piano lessons). The author describes mother Josephine's boldness in crossing the race barrier and re-creates her assiduous efforts to develop young Philippa's faculties. Haunted by American racism, Philippa found refuge, on tour, in Latin America's more relaxed racial climate; she later had a love-hate relationship with Africa and eventually attempted to perform under an assumed Spanish identity. Further pressured by a troubled love life, Schuyler nonetheless also developed as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction (Who Killed the Congo?), advancing her once-liberal father's right-wing views. She died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam, where she had gone to write. Talalay, assistant archivist/editor at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, has produced an incisive and readable biography of an intriguing figure.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Philippa Schuyler led an accomplished, complex, and tragic life. She was the first "colored girl" to achieve national prominence at an early age. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s was difficult for an African American female who not only was the daughter of an interracial union but also a child prodigy, both intellectually and musically. Her father, George Schuyler, a noted black writer, influenced her thinking and political views. Her mother, Josephine Cogdell, daughter of a white, wealthy Texas family, sacrificed her position to marry the infamous Messenger editor, Schuyler. Philippa's musical career, concertizing and composing, lovers, associates, and friends spanned continents. She exerted an influence on the culture of her time and was a role model for children of that era. Her inspiration transcended music--one woman noted that after attending her performance, she decided to become a writer. In her twenties, Philippa became an author of fiction and nonfiction and a roving reporter spending a great deal of time relating events of the Vietnam War. Her untimely death in 1967 marked the tragic end of Philippa's duality: in her careers, music and journalism, and identity, black or white. Lillian Lewis

A pianist and composer at the age of four, Philippa Schuyler was often compared to Mozart. In the 1930s and 40s, she graced the pages of Time and Look and grew up under the adoring gaze of an entire nation. She was the role model and inspiration for a generation of African-American children, but as an adult she mysteriously dropped out of sight, leaving her fans to wonder what had happened to "that little Harlem genius." In fact, she had grown up to become a world class performer, a talented composer, an author, and a journalist. But Schuyler was rejected by the elite milieu of classical music in the United States and forced to find an audience for her talents abroad. Suffering under the dual sting of racism and her own conflicted identity, she assumed an elaborate false persona when she did return home. She was still in search of herself when her life was cut short by a helicopter accident in war-torn Vietnam.

The first authorized and complete biography of Philippa Schuyler, Composition in Black and White draws on previously unpublished letters, diaries, and interviews, to tell the story of a turbulent, adventurous life and a complex personality. Philippa Schuyler was born of the controversial interracial marriage of George Schuyler, a renowned journalist of the Harlem Renaissance, to Josephine Cogdell, a Texan heiress and granddaughter of slave owners. Influenced by behavioral psychology and by theories of "hybrid vigor," her parents brought Philippa up so strictly that later she would speak of herself as their "puppet" and would struggle to escape their influence. Kathryn Talalay describes Philippa's early successes as a concert pianist and composer in the United States until she began to encounter racism, and details her sojourns through South America, Europe and Africa, where she performed for kings, queens and presidents. Composition in Black and White also explores Schuyler's decision to pass as Caucasian and describes how she reinvented herself as an Iberian-American named "Felipa Monterro" who lectured and wrote for the ultra-conservative John Birch society. We witness Schuyler's growing interest in writing and follow her exploits as a traveling journalist. Finally, we see how the tragedy of her untimely death was compounded by the fact that her journalistic work in Vietnam had forced her to come to terms with who she was and what she believed in.

Extensive research and first-hand interviews make Composition in Black and White not only the definitive chronicle of Schuyler's troubled life but also a vivid history of the tumultuous times she lived through from the Great Depression, through the early Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam war. Talalay has created a highly perceptive and provocative portrait of a fascinating woman.

An authorized biography of Philippa Schuyler describes her significant talents as a pianist and composer, abilities that caused her to be compared to Mozart when she was a small child, and further recounts the racial discrimination that shaped her brief career. UP.