Robert Owens

Born in Denison, Texas, on September 19th, 1925, Robert Owens grew up in Berkeley, California, and spent significant time around the piano as a child. His father was a businessman and his mother was a fine pianist who played at bars in the evenings.  She began giving him lessons at age 4. His first piano teacher was his mother. By the age of 15, Owens had already composed a piano concerto and premiered the work with the Berkeley Young People’s Symphony Orchestra.

Owens served in the military and followed his service with studies and performances throughout Europe. Originally placed in Mississippi in a training camp for airmen, Owens would be transferred to Arkansas and, due to his qualifications in reading and typing, began working in the front office doing administration for a commanding officer whom he served until the end of the war.  During this time, Owens managed to learn German from some German prisoners of war being held nearby. When the war concluded, Owens used the GI Bill to travel to France and attempt to study at the Paris Conservatoire.  While he was ultimately unsuccessful, he did manage to find a teacher there who saw potential in him.  Thus he began studying piano performance with Jules Gentil and pianist Alfred Cortot at the École de Musique where he would receive the Diplome de Perfection in piano.  He made his concert debut in Copenhagen in 1952.

He returned to the United States in 1957 to accept a position at Albany State College in Georgia. This year also marks the beginning of his serious compositional output.  During his time in Georgia, Owens began to really feel the effects of racial segregation in the American south for the first time. Before he even arrived, the school where he intended to teach was burned down. Owens even had to delay teaching music to his students because the education for Blacks was so poor that he deemed it more important to begin by teaching them basic English. After two years, with racial tensions climbing ever higher, Owens left Georgia.

Owens was introduced to Langston Hughes in 1958. Hughes gave Owens a copy of Fields of Wonder and invited him to “see what you can do with it.” Silver Rain was debuted by John Caldwell (chair of the music department at Albany State College) later that year and Owens would go on to devote himself to setting Hughes’ poetry to music, with more than 45 settings of Hughes in Owens’ oeuvre today.  Although the two men did not have significant contact throughout the rest of their lives, their artistic connection was profound.  Upon hearing his own words in Owens’ setting, Hughes said “My God, they just sound so much more beautiful with music.”

Owens moved to Germany in 1959 where he would live for the rest of his life. Many of his songs, especially his Langston Hughes settings, became popular among American singers there.  He continued to compose and also developed a notable ability for acting in German theater.

–Christie Finn & Jonathan Taccolini

Sources:

– Liner Notes to Darryl Taylor’s recording “Fields of Wonder: Songs and Spirituals of Robert Owens” (Albany Records)

– Reimer, Jamie. “Fields of Wonder: Exploring the Langston Hughes Song Cycles of Robert Owens (an Introductory Analysis and Performance Guide): ‘Tearless’, Op. 9, ‘Silver Rain’, Op. 11, ‘Desire’, Op. 13, ‘Heart on the Wall’, Op. 14, ‘Border Line’, Op. 24, ‘Mortal Storm’, Op. 29.” University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 2008. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=musicstudent

– Rogers, Philip J. “Robert Owens Biography,” February 17, 2020. http://afrovoices.com/robert-owens-biography/.