Dubose Heyward, Porgy
Dubose Heyward
Porgy
1925
When Dubose Heyward learned that his book, Porgy, was going to be transformed into the opera, Porgy and Bess he made a special trip to Oxford, Maryland to meet with his old friend Hervey Allen. As the former founder of the Charleston Poetry Society, Allen lived in South Carolina, and studied the music of the black church. Less familiar with African American spirituals, Dubose Heyward wrote to Allen requesting that they meet in Maryland to discuss spirituals. In 1934 they went to Copperville to learn about spirituals, and it was at this time that he collaborated with Gershwin on Summertime. The opera’s conductor, Alexander Smallens, visited the area twice in the early 1930s. These trips coincided with the period when he was directing the Philadelphia Orchestra and working with Baltimorean author Gertrude Stein on Four Saints in Three Acts, the avant-garde opera sung by an all-black cast.
