Amanda Aldridge (1866 – 1956)
Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge (who also composed under the name Montague Ring) was born in London. Her father was African American actor Ira Aldridge, who emigrated to England and achieved fame on the London stage in several roles, including (of course) Othello.
Amanda Aldridge was a concert singer and opera singer until her throat was permanently damaged by laryngitis at about the age of 40. She then took to composing under the name Montague Ring, writing dances for wind bands and parlor songs, including some with titles of the sort popular during the early decades of the 20th century, such as “Little Missie Cakewalk” and “When the Coloured Lady Saunters Down the Street”.
Amanda Aldridge’s 1927 piano composition Four Moorish Pictures: An Eastern Suite is known mostly for its haunting first movement, “Prayer Before Battle,” here performed in a transcription for harp.