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1925 Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon



In 1962. when Mattiwilda Dobbs came home to sing in front of a desegregated audience at the Atlanta Auditorium, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. presented her with a banquet of Roses (1) Geekie the Opera Star circa 1955 (2)

Poster from Armastad Research

 Mattiwilda (Geekie) and Bengt Janzon, a Swedish journalist, in a wedding toast in New York in December 1957 (3)
 In Mozart’s “Seraglio”
as the heroine Constanze

Mattiwilda (Geekie) Dobbs Rodriguez Janzon
1925 -2015
Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon was the fifth of six
daughters born to Irene and John Wesley
Dobbs. She grew up in Sweet Auburn, and was drawn to music
from an early age. Once, her father met Duke Ellington
at Ma Suttons restaurant and convinced the Duke
to come to his home and play piano for his girls to their
great delight.

After graduating as valedictorian of her class
at Spelman College, Mattiwilda headed to New York City,
at her father’s insistence, to pursue voice lessons. She decided
to focus on opera, even though there weren’t many opportunities
for African Americans in the opera world then.
At age 26, she won an international music competition in Geneva,
and her career took off. She was the first black woman to appear in
a principal role at the world-famous La Scala Opera House in Milan Italy.
She played Elvira in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. Her father
was very proud of her accomplishments and carried articles
about her success with him to pull out and talk about when
the topic arose.

Ms. Dobbs’s first husband, Luis Rodriguez Garcia de la Piedra, a Spanish
journalist she married in 1953, died the following year. (Only days after his death,
she honored a commitment to sing at Covent Garden before the new monarch,
Queen Elizabeth II.)  In 1957, Dobbs married Bengt Janzon,
a Swedish journalist, and she was known afterward in private life as Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon.

As she became an internationally famous opera
star, Mattiwilda continuously refused to perform before segregated
audiences in Atlanta – with blacks on one side of the aisle
and whites on another. Finally, in 1962, she performed for
a desegregated audience at the Atlanta City Auditorium. After
her performance concluded, Mayor Ivan
Allen, Jr. presented Mattiwilda with a bouquet of roses
and said, “You have brought great honor to Atlanta by
your appearances all over the world” (pictured above).

From the Daily London Express, May 26, 1961:

“Mozart’s Seraglio” is a perfect Glyndebourne opera- enhanced last night by Oliver Messel’s enchanting designs and a well chosen cast. The only survivor from Peter Ebert’s original production 5 years ago is Matiwilda Dobbs, the American Negro soprano, who is practically irreplaceable as the heroine Constanze.
She moves through the farcical comedy of captives in a
Turkish Harem with the dignity of a goddess and the voice
of an angle. The florid music she has to sing revealed
her clarity and accuracy of technique, a marvelous sweetness
of tone, and eloquent dramatic expression when required.
1 Mattiwilda Dobbs files; from Pomerantz, Gary M. Where Peachtree Street Meets Sweet Auburn– A Saga of Race and Family. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
2 the Atlanta Journal Constitution; IBID
3 the Atlanta Journal Constitution; IBID


The above text was researched and written by Lauren Keating in 2002, freelance
writer.

MORE LINKS:
https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/mattiwilda-dobbs-janzon-40
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattiwilda_Dobbs
https://aaregistry.org/story/mattiwilda-dobbs-born/