Chamber Music Piano
SKU: PR.140401310
Composed by Nora Holt.
Edited by Lara Downes.
Sws. Score. 8 pages.
Duration 2 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#140-40131. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.140401310).
ISBN
9781491134153. UPC:
680160684250. 9 x 12
inches. Key: G
major.
NORA’
S DANCE is a
jazz-influenced rag from
1921, and among the only
surviving compositions by
Nora Douglas Holt. A
charming and exciting
work rejuvenated by Lara
Downes’ 2021
recording for the Rising
Sun label, the rag is
both a fun 2 minutes for
pianists and audiences,
and also a fascinating
time capsule. Composed
several years after Scott
Joplin’s death,
and several years before
the Charleston pervaded
popular music,
NORA’S DANCE
blossoms with the energy
and jazz harmony starting
to emerge as The Roaring
20’s, using
ragtime and stride as the
seed for pianistic
style.
My own life in
music has been driven by
a quest to find strong
female role models,
trails to follow,
shoulders to stand on. In
Nora Douglas Holt, I find
an inspiring example of
creativity, independence,
and resilience –
with a dash of
troublemaking. She was a
free spirit, a force of
nature, and she lived a
fascinating and eventful
life on her own terms.
She reinvented herself
through five marriages
and at least as many
careers. From her
beginnings at the piano
at age four, she explored
many avenues of musical
expression –
performing, composing,
music journalism,
broadcasting, teaching
– all with
inventiveness, style, and
zeal.She made the most of
the Roaring ’20s,
as an artist, socialite,
jetsetter, muse, and
patroness of the Harlem
Renaissance. In 1921 she
started an independent
arts journal called
“Music and
Poetry,†where the
charming piano solo
Nora’s Dance was
first published. I think
the piece captures
beautifully, in a little
under 2 minutes, the
energy and excitement of
those heady years.In
1926, Nora left New York
to travel the world,
performing in nightclubs
throughout Europe and
Asia. She put her
belongings in storage
before she left, and when
she came back she
discovered that many of
her things had been
stolen, including more
than 200 of her musical
compositions. She never
composed again.When the
Depression hit, she moved
out to Los Angeles, where
she studied music
education at USC, taught
music in the LA public
schools, and opened her
own beauty salon. She
returned to New York in
the ’40s and
worked as a music critic
for several major
newspapers, then launched
yet another career, this
time in broadcasting. Her
popular radio concert
series “Nora
Holt’s Concert
Showcase†broadcast
to New York’s
classical music audience,
with a focus on Black
composers and
performers.Ahead of her
time, larger than life,
full of ideas…. I
am so pleased to
introduce you to the
feisty and free spirited
Nora Douglas Holt!
