Rae Linda Brown

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Rae Linda Brown

| image =

| caption = Rae Linda Brown

| image_size =

| birth_name = Rae Linda Brown

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1953|10|7|}}

| birth_place = Hartford

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|8|20|1953|10|17|}}

| death_place = Seattle

| instrument =

| genre =

| occupation = Musicologist

| years_active =

| label =

| associated_acts =

| website =

}}

Rae Linda Brown (October 7, 1953 – August 20, 2017) was an American musicologist.

As a scholar, archivist, and editor, Rae Linda Brown conducted research on topics in American classical music, Black Music, and African-American classical music. Brown authored books and academic treatises on Florence Price and William Grant Still. As a professor and administrator, Brown led the creation of new academic programs at the University of California, Irvine, Loyola Marymount University, and Pacific Lutheran University. Brown wrote the groundbreaking biography, Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price, which was published posthumously in 2020.

Brown grew up in Hartford Connecticut and earned degrees at the University of Connecticut and Yale University.{{cite web|title=Obituary: Rae Linda Brown|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=rae-linda-brown&pid=186557965|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=LA Times}} Some of Brown's graduate work at Yale catalogued sheet music and scores in the James Weldon Johnson memorial collection at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and comprises Volume 23 of the Garland Critical Studies on Black Life and Culture.{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Rae Linda|title=Music, printed and manuscript, in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters: an annotated catalog|date=1982|publisher=Garland|isbn=978-0824093198|url=https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9780824093198|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=Dissertation}}

Brown's 1987 dissertation focused on composer Florence Price.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21538705|oclc = 21538705|title = Selected Orchestral Music of Florence B. Price (1888-1953) in the Context of Her Life and Work|last1 = Brown|first1 = Rae Linda|year = 1987}} Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s Brown rediscovered, edited, and published critical analyses of Florence Price's music. Brown's work in this area became the basis for a wider recognition of Price's role in and contribution to American music.{{cite book|last1=Price|first1=Florence|title=Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3|date=2007|publisher=A-R Editions|isbn=978-0-89579-638-7|url=https://www.areditions.com/price-symphonies-nos-1-and-3-mu19-a066.html|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3}}{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Rae Linda|title=The Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago and Florence B. Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement|journal=American Music|date=1993|volume=11|issue=2|pages=185–205|doi=10.2307/3052554|jstor=3052554}}{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Rae Linda|title=Selected Orchestral Music of Florence B. Price (1888-1953) in the Context of Her Life and Work|date=1987|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=237|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOB5MQEACAAJ|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=Selected Orchestral Music of Florence B. Price (1888-1953) in the Context of Her Life and Work}}{{cite magazine|last1=Ross|first1=Alex|title=The Rediscovery of Florence Price|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Conde Nast|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=The Rediscovery of Florence Price}}{{cite news |last1=Ege |first1=Samantha |last2=Shadle |first2=Douglas |title=As Her Music Is Reconsidered, a Composer Turns 135. Again. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/arts/music/florence-price-music.html |access-date=9 April 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=April 7, 2023}} This recognition contributed to the discovery of previously unknown scores that are now housed at the University of Arkansas.{{cite web|title=Florence Price Papers|url=https://libraries.uark.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/price.html|website=University or Arkansas Special Collections|publisher=University of Arkansas|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=Florence Price Papers}}{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Rae Linda|title=Dr. Rae Linda Brown on the Florence Price music discovery|url=https://vimeo.com/99915411|website=Vimeo|publisher=Jim Greeson|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=Dr. Rae Linda Brown on the Florence Price music discovery}}

Brown was a professor at the University of Michigan and The University of California, Irvine. While at Irvine, Brown served as the Robert and Marjorie Rawlins Chair of the Department of Music,{{cite web|last1=Gordon|first1=Ashleigh|title=The Life and Music of Florence Price: An Interview with Rae Linda Brown|url=https://www.aaihs.org/the-life-and-music-of-florence-price-an-interview-with-rae-linda-brown/|website=Black Perspectives|date=15 May 2017 |publisher=African American Intellectual History Society|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=The Life and Music of Florence Price: An Interview with Rae Linda Brown}} oversaw the completion of a new building for the department, the development of new academic programs in jazz, and the creation of a doctoral program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology.{{cite web|title=UCI ICIT|url=http://music.arts.uci.edu/icit/|website=UCI ICIT|publisher=University of California, Irvine|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=UCI ICIT}} From 2008 to 2015 Brown was the Vice President for Undergraduate Education at Loyola Marymount University;{{cite web|title=RAE LINDA BROWN TO BE NEW VP FOR UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AT LMU AUG. 1|url=https://argonautnews.com/rae-linda-brown-to-be-new-vp-for-undergraduate-education-at-lmu-aug-1/|website=The Argonaut|publisher=Loyola Marymount University|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=LMU}} from 2016 until her death Brown was the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pacific Lutheran University.{{cite web|title=PLU Names New Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs|url=https://www.plu.edu/marcom/news/2016/05/06/provost/|website=plu.edu|publisher=Pacific Lutheran University|access-date=23 March 2018|ref=PLU}} In 2017 Brown received the inaugural Willis C. Patterson Research Award for her work in the area of African-American Art Song.{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Darryl|title=Willis C. Patterson Research Award|url=http://www.darryltaylor.com/alliance/awards/details/3|website=African American Art Song Alliance|publisher=Darryl Taylor|access-date=24 March 2018|ref=Willis C. Patterson Research Award}}