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William Grant Still

May 11, 2023

William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas,[1] attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music,[2][3] and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later, Edgard Varèse.[4] Because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance.

William Grant Still
Portrait of Still by Carl Van Vechten
Born
William Grant Still Jr.

(1895-05-11)May 11, 1895
Woodville, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedDecember 3, 1978(1978-12-03) (aged 83)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education
Occupations
Spouses
  • Grace Bundy
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1915; div. 1939)​
  • ​
    (m. 1939)​
Children6
RelativesCeleste Headlee (granddaughter)
Signature

Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera. Still is known primarily for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony (1930),[5] which was, until 1950, the most widely performed symphony composed by an American.[citation needed] Also of note, Still was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony (which was, in fact, the first one he composed) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television.[6]

Life

William Grant Still Jr. was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi.[1]: 15  He was the son of two teachers, Carrie Lena (née Fambro) Shepperson (1872–1927)[7][8] and William Grant Still Sr.[1]: 5  (1871–1895). His father was a partner in a grocery store and performed as a local bandleader.[1]: 5  William Grant Still Sr. died when his infant son was three months old.[1]: 5 

Still's mother moved with him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught high school English.[1]: 6  She met and in 1904[7] married Charles B. Shepperson, who nurtured his stepson William's musical interests by taking him to operettas and buying Red Seal recordings of classical music, which the boy greatly enjoyed.[1]: 6  The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour.[citation needed][9] His maternal grandmother Anne Fambro[7] sang African-American spirituals to him.[10]: 6, 12 

 
William Grant Still Residence at 1262 South Victoria Avenue, 2012

Still started violin lessons in Little Rock at the age of 15. He taught himself to play the clarinet, saxophone, oboe, double bass, cello and viola, and showed a great interest in music.[11] At 16 years old, he graduated as class valedictorian from M. W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock in 1911.[10]: 3 

His mother wanted him to go to medical school, so Still pursued a Bachelor of Science degree program at Wilberforce University, a historically black college in Ohio.[12] Still became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He conducted the university band, learned to play various instruments, and started to compose and to do orchestrations. He left Wilberforce without graduating.[1]: 7 

Upon receiving a small amount of money left to him by his father, he began studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.[3] Still worked for the school assisting the janitor, along with a few other small jobs outside of the school, yet still struggled financially.[3] When Professor Lehmann asked Still why he wasn't studying composition, Still told him honestly that he couldn't afford to, leading to George Andrews agreeing to teach him composition without charge.[3] He also studied privately with the modern French composer Edgard Varèse and the American composer George Whitefield Chadwick.[4]: 249 [7]

On October 4, 1915,[7] Still married Grace Bundy, whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce.[1]: 1, 7  They had a son, William III, and three daughters, Gail, June, and Caroline.[7] They separated in 1932 and divorced February 6, 1939.[7] On February 8, 1939, he married pianist Verna Arvey, driving to Tijuana for the ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California.[1]: 2 [7] They had a daughter, Judith Anne, and a son, Duncan.[1]: 2 [7] Still's granddaughter is journalist Celeste Headlee, a daughter of Judith Anne.

On December 1, 1976, his home was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #169. It is located at 1262 Victoria Avenue in Oxford Square, Los Angeles.[13]

Career

 
William Grant Still

In 1916, Still worked in Memphis for W.C. Handy's band.[7] In 1918 Still joined the United States Navy to serve in World War I. After the war he went to Harlem, where he continued to work for Handy.[7] During his time in Harlem Still was involved with other important cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, Arna Bontemps, and Countee Cullen, and is considered to be part of that movement.[14]

He recorded with Fletcher Henderson's Dance Orchestra in 1921,[15]: 85  and later played in the pit orchestra for Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's musical, Shuffle Along[1]: 4  and in other pit orchestras for Sophie Tucker, Artie Shaw, and Paul Whiteman.[16] With Henderson, he joined Henry Pace's Pace Phonograph Company (Black Swan).[17] Later in the 1920s, Still served as the arranger of "Yamekraw", a "Negro Rhapsody" (1930), composed by the Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson.[18]

In the 1930s, Still worked as an arranger of popular music, writing for Willard Robison's Deep River Hour and Paul Whiteman's Old Gold Show, both popular NBC Radio broadcasts.[16]

Still's first major orchestral composition, Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American", was performed in 1931 by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson.[7] It was the first time the complete score of a work by an African American was performed by a major orchestra.[7] By the end of World War II the piece had been performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, and London.[7] Until 1950 the symphony was the most popular of any composed by an American.[19] Still developed a close professional relationship with Hanson; many of Still's compositions were performed for the first time in Rochester.[7]

In 1934, Still moved to Los Angeles. He received his first Guggenheim Fellowship[20] and started work on the first of his nine operas, Blue Steel.[21]

In 1936, Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl; he was the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra in a performance of his own works.[22][16]

Still arranged music for films. These included Pennies from Heaven (the 1936 film starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans) and Lost Horizon (the 1937 film starring Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt and Sam Jaffe).[7] For Lost Horizon, he arranged the music of Dimitri Tiomkin. Still was also hired to arrange the music for the 1943 film Stormy Weather, but left the assignment because "Twentieth-Century Fox 'degraded colored people.'"[7]

Still composed Song of a City for the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.[23] The song played continuously during the fair by the exhibit "Democracity."[23] According to Still's granddaughter, he couldn't attend the fair except on "Negro Day" without police protection.[24]

In 1949, his opera Troubled Island, originally completed in 1939, about Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti, was performed by the New York City Opera.[7] It was the first opera by an American to be performed by that company[25] and the first by an African American to be performed by a major company.[22] Still was upset by the negative reviews it received.[7]

In 1955, he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra; he was the first African American to conduct a major orchestra in the Deep South.[22] Still's works were performed internationally by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Orchestra.[citation needed]

In 1981, the opera A Bayou Legend was the first by an African-American composer to be performed on national television.[26]

Still was known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers".[14][22] Still and Arvey's papers are held by the University of Arkansas.[14]

Legacy and honors

Selected compositions

Still composed almost 200 works, including nine operas,[34]: 200  five symphonies,[34]: 200  four ballets,[35] plus art songs, chamber music, and works for solo instruments.[7] He composed more than thirty choral works.[16] Many of his works are believed to be lost.[7]: 278 

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Still, Judith Anne; Dabrishus, Michael J.; Quin, Carolyn L. (1996). William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-25255-6. OCLC 65339854.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Soll, Beverly (2005). I Dream a World: The Operas of William Grant Still. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-55728-789-2.
  3. ^ a b c d "William Grant Still". publishing.cdlib.org. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at Horne, Aaron (1996). Brass Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29826-4.
  5. ^ Thurman, Kira (August 27, 2021). "When Europe Offered Black Composers an Ear – Spurned by institutions in America, artists were sometimes given more opportunities across the Atlantic". The New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Bogdan, Dennis (September 23, 2021). "Comment – A Black Composer Finally Arrives at the Metropolitan Opera". The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Whayne, Jeannie M. (2000). Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 262, 276–278. ISBN 978-1-55728-587-4.
  8. ^ "Fraternal gathering". February 24, 2019.
  9. ^ Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 307.
  10. ^ a b Smith, Catherine Parsons (2008). William Grant Still. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03322-3.
  11. ^ Still, Judith Anne, Michael J Dabrishus, and Carolyn L Quin. (1996). William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut.: Greenwood Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-313-25255-6.
  12. ^ William Grant Still at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  13. ^ a b . Cityplanning.lacity.org. Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Murchison, Gayle (1994). ""Dean of Afro-American Composers" or "Harlem Renaissance Man": "The New Negro" and the Musical Poetics of William Grant Still". The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 53 (1): 42–74. doi:10.2307/40030871. ISSN 0004-1823. JSTOR 40030871.
  15. ^ Gibbs, Craig Martin (2012). Black Recording Artists, 1877-1926: An Annotated Discography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7238-3.
  16. ^ a b c d e Griggs-Janower, David (1995). "The Choral Works of William Grant Still". The Choral Journal. 35 (10): 41–44. ISSN 0009-5028. JSTOR 23550334.
  17. ^ Smith, Jessie Carney (December 1, 2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-425-2.
  18. ^ Staff (2021). James P. Johnson. OxfordMusicOnline.com. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14409. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  19. ^ Borroff, Edith, "Biographical Sketch of William Grant Still". Duke University Libraries.
  20. ^ a b "William Grant Still". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  21. ^ Southern, Eileen, and William Grant Still. "William Grant Still." The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 3, no. 2, 1975, pp. 172–173
  22. ^ a b c d "William Grant Still, 1895–1978". The Library of Congress. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Music From The 1939 World's". NPR.org. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  24. ^ "A2Schools.org: PRI Co-Host Celeste Headlee, Conductor John McLaughlin Williams & Singer Daniel Washington in Ann Arbor Jan. 13". AfriClassical. January 16, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  25. ^ Shirley, Wayne, "Two Aspects of Troubled Island", American Music Research Center Journal, 2013.
  26. ^ Oglesby, Meghann. "Black History Spotlight: William Grant Still". www.classicalmpr.org. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  27. ^ Schiff, Zina (May 2022). Still: Summerlanc – Violin Suite – Pastorela – American Suite (CD). Naxos. Naxos Catalog No. 8.559867.
  28. ^ "Awards – Citation of Merit". www.muphiepsilon.org. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  29. ^ "William Grant Still Residence". HistoricPlacesLA. Office of Historic Resources, Department of City Planning. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  30. ^ a b Borroff, Edith (2021). "Biographical Sketch of William Grant Still". Duke University. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  31. ^ a b Staff (2021). "African American Composer William Grant Still is Born". University of Richmond. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  32. ^ Dabrishus, Michael J.; Quin, Carolyn L.; Still, Judith Anne (1996). William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-31325255-6.
  33. ^ Still, William Grant; Adams, Wellington (1937). Twelve Negro spirituals. Handy Brothers Music Co. OCLC 320893340.
  34. ^ a b Kirk, Elise Kuhl (2001), American Opera, pp. 200–204. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252026233
  35. ^ a b c "William Grant Still, African American Composer, Arranger & Oboist". chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  36. ^ Staff (2021). "Happy birthday, William Grant Still". Celeste Headlee. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  37. ^ a b Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 310.
  38. ^ Staff (2019). "Hesitating Blues, The – W C Handy (arr. William Grant Still)". The Wind Repertory Company. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  39. ^ Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 224.
  40. ^ "STILL, W.S.: Symphonies Nos. 2, "Song of a New Race" and 3, "The Sunday Symphony" / Wood Notes (Fort Smith Symphony, Jeter) – 8.559676". www.naxos.com. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  41. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (May 28, 2021). "A Black Composer's Intense Opera Gets a Rare Staging – William Grant Still's one-act "Highway 1, U.S.A." runs in St. Louis through June 17". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2021.

Sources

Further reading

  • Reef, Catherine (2003). William Grant Still: African American Composer. Morgan Reynolds. ISBN 1-931798-11-7
  • Sewell, George A., and Margaret L. Dwight (1984). William Grant Still: America's Greatest Black Composer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi
  • Southern, Eileen (1984). William Grant Still – Trailblazer. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press.
  • Still, Verna Arvey (1984). In One Lifetime. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press.
  • Still, Judith Anne (2006). Just Tell the Story. The Master Player Library.
  • Still, William Grant (2011). My Life My Words, a William Grant Still autobiography. The Master Player Library.

External links

  • William Grant Still, Music, Official Site
  • William Grant Still, Music at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
  • William Grant Still, Bibliography, at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas
  • William Grant Still, A Study in Contradictions, University of California
  • William Grant Still, Interview (1949; 30:49), radio broadcast by Voice of America
  • William Grant Still, "Composer, Arranger, Conductor & Oboist". Extensive information at AfriClassical.com
  • William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers, University of Arkansas, Special Collections Department, Manuscript Collection MC 1125

May 11, 2023
william, grant, still, 1895, december, 1978, american, composer, nearly, hundred, works, including, five, symphonies, four, ballets, nine, operas, over, thirty, choral, works, plus, songs, chamber, music, works, solo, instruments, born, mississippi, grew, litt. William Grant Still Jr May 11 1895 December 3 1978 was an American composer of nearly two hundred works including five symphonies four ballets nine operas over thirty choral works plus art songs chamber music and works for solo instruments Born in Mississippi he grew up in Little Rock Arkansas 1 attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music 2 3 and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later Edgard Varese 4 Because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African American literary and cultural figures Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance William Grant StillPortrait of Still by Carl Van VechtenBornWilliam Grant Still Jr 1895 05 11 May 11 1895Woodville Mississippi U S DiedDecember 3 1978 1978 12 03 aged 83 Los Angeles California U S EducationM W Gibbs High SchoolWilberforce UniversityOberlin Conservatory of MusicOccupationsComposerconductorSpousesGrace Bundy m 1915 div 1939 wbr Verna Arvey m 1939 wbr Children6RelativesCeleste Headlee granddaughter SignatureOften referred to as the Dean of Afro American Composers Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera Still is known primarily for his first symphony Afro American Symphony 1930 5 which was until 1950 the most widely performed symphony composed by an American citation needed Also of note Still was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra the first to have a symphony which was in fact the first one he composed performed by a leading orchestra the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company and the first to have an opera performed on national television 6 Contents 1 Life 2 Career 3 Legacy and honors 4 Selected compositions 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksLife EditWilliam Grant Still Jr was born on May 11 1895 in Woodville Mississippi 1 15 He was the son of two teachers Carrie Lena nee Fambro Shepperson 1872 1927 7 8 and William Grant Still Sr 1 5 1871 1895 His father was a partner in a grocery store and performed as a local bandleader 1 5 William Grant Still Sr died when his infant son was three months old 1 5 Still s mother moved with him to Little Rock Arkansas where she taught high school English 1 6 She met and in 1904 7 married Charles B Shepperson who nurtured his stepson William s musical interests by taking him to operettas and buying Red Seal recordings of classical music which the boy greatly enjoyed 1 6 The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour citation needed 9 His maternal grandmother Anne Fambro 7 sang African American spirituals to him 10 6 12 William Grant Still Residence at 1262 South Victoria Avenue 2012 Still started violin lessons in Little Rock at the age of 15 He taught himself to play the clarinet saxophone oboe double bass cello and viola and showed a great interest in music 11 At 16 years old he graduated as class valedictorian from M W Gibbs High School in Little Rock in 1911 10 3 His mother wanted him to go to medical school so Still pursued a Bachelor of Science degree program at Wilberforce University a historically black college in Ohio 12 Still became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity He conducted the university band learned to play various instruments and started to compose and to do orchestrations He left Wilberforce without graduating 1 7 Upon receiving a small amount of money left to him by his father he began studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music 3 Still worked for the school assisting the janitor along with a few other small jobs outside of the school yet still struggled financially 3 When Professor Lehmann asked Still why he wasn t studying composition Still told him honestly that he couldn t afford to leading to George Andrews agreeing to teach him composition without charge 3 He also studied privately with the modern French composer Edgard Varese and the American composer George Whitefield Chadwick 4 249 7 On October 4 1915 7 Still married Grace Bundy whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce 1 1 7 They had a son William III and three daughters Gail June and Caroline 7 They separated in 1932 and divorced February 6 1939 7 On February 8 1939 he married pianist Verna Arvey driving to Tijuana for the ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California 1 2 7 They had a daughter Judith Anne and a son Duncan 1 2 7 Still s granddaughter is journalist Celeste Headlee a daughter of Judith Anne On December 1 1976 his home was designated Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument 169 It is located at 1262 Victoria Avenue in Oxford Square Los Angeles 13 Career Edit William Grant Still In 1916 Still worked in Memphis for W C Handy s band 7 In 1918 Still joined the United States Navy to serve in World War I After the war he went to Harlem where he continued to work for Handy 7 During his time in Harlem Still was involved with other important cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes Alain Locke Arna Bontemps and Countee Cullen and is considered to be part of that movement 14 He recorded with Fletcher Henderson s Dance Orchestra in 1921 15 85 and later played in the pit orchestra for Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake s musical Shuffle Along 1 4 and in other pit orchestras for Sophie Tucker Artie Shaw and Paul Whiteman 16 With Henderson he joined Henry Pace s Pace Phonograph Company Black Swan 17 Later in the 1920s Still served as the arranger of Yamekraw a Negro Rhapsody 1930 composed by the Harlem stride pianist James P Johnson 18 In the 1930s Still worked as an arranger of popular music writing for Willard Robison s Deep River Hour and Paul Whiteman s Old Gold Show both popular NBC Radio broadcasts 16 Still s first major orchestral composition Symphony No 1 Afro American was performed in 1931 by the Rochester Philharmonic conducted by Howard Hanson 7 It was the first time the complete score of a work by an African American was performed by a major orchestra 7 By the end of World War II the piece had been performed in New York Chicago Los Angeles Berlin Paris and London 7 Until 1950 the symphony was the most popular of any composed by an American 19 Still developed a close professional relationship with Hanson many of Still s compositions were performed for the first time in Rochester 7 In 1934 Still moved to Los Angeles He received his first Guggenheim Fellowship 20 and started work on the first of his nine operas Blue Steel 21 In 1936 Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl he was the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra in a performance of his own works 22 16 Still arranged music for films These included Pennies from Heaven the 1936 film starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans and Lost Horizon the 1937 film starring Ronald Colman Jane Wyatt and Sam Jaffe 7 For Lost Horizon he arranged the music of Dimitri Tiomkin Still was also hired to arrange the music for the 1943 film Stormy Weather but left the assignment because Twentieth Century Fox degraded colored people 7 Still composed Song of a City for the 1939 World s Fair in New York City 23 The song played continuously during the fair by the exhibit Democracity 23 According to Still s granddaughter he couldn t attend the fair except on Negro Day without police protection 24 In 1949 his opera Troubled Island originally completed in 1939 about Jean Jacques Dessalines and Haiti was performed by the New York City Opera 7 It was the first opera by an American to be performed by that company 25 and the first by an African American to be performed by a major company 22 Still was upset by the negative reviews it received 7 In 1955 he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra he was the first African American to conduct a major orchestra in the Deep South 22 Still s works were performed internationally by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra citation needed In 1981 the opera A Bayou Legend was the first by an African American composer to be performed on national television 26 Still was known as the Dean of Afro American Composers 14 22 Still and Arvey s papers are held by the University of Arkansas 14 Legacy and honors EditStill received three Guggenheim Fellowships in music composition 1934 1935 1938 20 at least one Rosenwald Fellowship 16 and a Mu Phi Epsilon Citation of Merit 27 28 In 1949 he received a citation for Outstanding Service to American Music from the National Association for American Composers and Conductors 7 In 1976 his home in Los Angeles was designated a Historic Cultural Monument 13 29 He was awarded honorary doctorates 7 30 31 from Oberlin College Wilberforce University Howard University Bates College the University of Arkansas Pepperdine University the New England Conservatory of Music the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the University of Southern California 30 32 31 He was posthumously awarded the 1982 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for music composition for his opera A Bayou Legend 7 33 6 Selected compositions EditStill composed almost 200 works including nine operas 34 200 five symphonies 34 200 four ballets 35 plus art songs chamber music and works for solo instruments 7 He composed more than thirty choral works 16 Many of his works are believed to be lost 7 278 Saint Louis Blues comp W C Handy arr Still 1916 36 37 310 Hesitating Blues comp W C Handy arr Still 1916 37 38 From the Land of Dreams 1924 7 2 4 Darker America 1924 4 251 From the Journal of a Wanderer 1925 39 224 Levee Land 1925 4 251 From The Black Belt 1926 4 252 La Guiablesse 1927 7 Yamekaw a Negro Rhapsody comp J P Johnson arr Still 1928 Sahdji 1930 2 4 Africa 1930 7 Symphony No 1 Afro American 1930 revised in 1969 4 253 A Deserted Plantation 1933 2 4 The Sorcerer 1933 2 4 Dismal Swamp 1933 4 251 Blue Steel 1934 2 4 Kaintuck 1935 4 252 Three Visions 1935 4 253 Summerland 1935 4 253 A Song A Dust 1936 4 253 Symphony No 2 Song of A New Race 1937 4 253 35 Lenox Avenue 1937 4 252 Song of A City 1938 4 253 Seven Traceries 1939 2 5 And They Lynched Him on A Tree 1940 4 251 Miss Sally s Party 1940 2 5 Can tcha line em for orchestra 1940 2 5 Old California 1941 4 252 Troubled Island opera produced 1949 1937 39 7 A Bayou Legend opera 1941 7 Plain Chant for America 1941 4 252 Incantation and Dance 1941 2 5 A Southern Interlude 1942 2 5 In Memoriam The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy 1943 4 252 Suite for Violin amp Piano 1943 2 5 Festival Overture 1944 4 251 Poem for Orchestra 1944 4 252 Bells 1944 4 251 Symphony No 5 Western Hemisphere 1945 revised 1970 4 253 35 From The Delta 1945 4 252 Wailing Woman 1946 2 5 Archaic Ritual Suite 1946 4 251 Symphony No 4 Autochthonous 1947 4 253 Danzas de Panama 1948 4 251 From A Lost Continent 1948 4 251 Wood Notes 1948 Miniatures 1948 4 250 Songs of Separation c 1949 Constaso 1950 4 251 To You America 1951 4 253 Grief originally titled as Weeping Angel 1953 citation needed The Little Song That Wanted To Be A Symphony 1954 4 252 A Psalm for The Living 1954 4 252 Rhapsody 1954 4 252 The American Scene 1957 4 251 Serenade 1957 4 252 Ennanga 1958 4 251 2 6 Symphony No 3 The Sunday Symphony 1958 4 253 40 Lyric Quartette 1960 2 7 Patterns 1960 4 252 The Peaceful Land 1960 4 252 Preludes 1962 4 252 Highway 1 USA 1962 4 252 41 Folk Suite No 4 1963 4 251 Threnody In Memory of Jan Sibelius 1965 4 253 Little Red School House 1967 4 252 Little Folk Suite 1968 4 252 Choreographic Prelude 1970 4 251 See also EditBlack conductors List of African American composers William L Dawson W C Handy James P Johnson Florence Price List of jazz influenced classical compositions Samuel Coleridge Taylor early Black British composerReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l Still Judith Anne Dabrishus Michael J Quin Carolyn L 1996 William Grant Still A Bio Bibliography Westport Conn Greenwood Press ISBN 978 0 313 25255 6 OCLC 65339854 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Soll Beverly 2005 I Dream a World The Operas of William Grant Still University of Arkansas Press ISBN 978 1 55728 789 2 a b c d William Grant Still publishing cdlib org Retrieved November 14 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at Horne Aaron 1996 Brass Music of Black Composers A Bibliography Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 29826 4 Thurman Kira August 27 2021 When Europe Offered Black Composers an Ear Spurned by institutions in America artists were sometimes given more opportunities across the Atlantic The New York Times Retrieved August 27 2021 Bogdan Dennis September 23 2021 Comment A Black Composer Finally Arrives at the Metropolitan Opera The New York Times Retrieved September 23 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Whayne Jeannie M 2000 Arkansas Biography A Collection of Notable Lives University of Arkansas Press pp 262 276 278 ISBN 978 1 55728 587 4 Fraternal gathering February 24 2019 Smith Catherine Parson 2000 William Grant Still A Study in Contradictions Berkeley CA University of California Press p 307 a b Smith Catherine Parsons 2008 William Grant Still University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0 252 03322 3 Still Judith Anne Michael J Dabrishus and Carolyn L Quin 1996 William Grant Still A Bio Bibliography Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press pp 16 17 ISBN 0 313 25255 6 William Grant Still at the Encyclopaedia Britannica a b Historic Cultural Monument HCM Report Cityplanning lacity org Department of City Planning City of Los Angeles Archived from the original on August 17 2011 Retrieved January 20 2020 a b c Murchison Gayle 1994 Dean of Afro American Composers or Harlem Renaissance Man The New Negro and the Musical Poetics of William Grant Still The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 53 1 42 74 doi 10 2307 40030871 ISSN 0004 1823 JSTOR 40030871 Gibbs Craig Martin 2012 Black Recording Artists 1877 1926 An Annotated Discography McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 7238 3 a b c d e Griggs Janower David 1995 The Choral Works of William Grant Still The Choral Journal 35 10 41 44 ISSN 0009 5028 JSTOR 23550334 Smith Jessie Carney December 1 2012 Black Firsts 4 000 Ground Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events Visible Ink Press ISBN 978 1 57859 425 2 Staff 2021 James P Johnson OxfordMusicOnline com doi 10 1093 gmo 9781561592630 article 14409 ISBN 978 1 56159 263 0 Retrieved February 4 2021 Borroff Edith Biographical Sketch of William Grant Still Duke University Libraries a b William Grant Still John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Retrieved January 7 2020 Southern Eileen and William Grant Still William Grant Still The Black Perspective in Music vol 3 no 2 1975 pp 172 173 a b c d William Grant Still 1895 1978 The Library of Congress Retrieved April 19 2018 a b Music From The 1939 World s NPR org Retrieved January 20 2020 A2Schools org PRI Co Host Celeste Headlee Conductor John McLaughlin Williams amp Singer Daniel Washington in Ann Arbor Jan 13 AfriClassical January 16 2012 Retrieved January 20 2020 Shirley Wayne Two Aspects of Troubled Island American Music Research Center Journal 2013 Oglesby Meghann Black History Spotlight William Grant Still www classicalmpr org Retrieved January 20 2020 Schiff Zina May 2022 Still Summerlanc Violin Suite Pastorela American Suite CD Naxos Naxos Catalog No 8 559867 Awards Citation of Merit www muphiepsilon org Retrieved October 17 2022 William Grant Still Residence HistoricPlacesLA Office of Historic Resources Department of City Planning Retrieved January 19 2020 a b Borroff Edith 2021 Biographical Sketch of William Grant Still Duke University Retrieved September 12 2021 a b Staff 2021 African American Composer William Grant Still is Born University of Richmond Retrieved September 13 2021 Dabrishus Michael J Quin Carolyn L Still Judith Anne 1996 William Grant Still A Bio Bibliography Wesport CT Greenwood Press ISBN 0 31325255 6 Still William Grant Adams Wellington 1937 Twelve Negro spirituals Handy Brothers Music Co OCLC 320893340 a b Kirk Elise Kuhl 2001 American Opera pp 200 204 University of Illinois Press ISBN 0252026233 a b c William Grant Still African American Composer Arranger amp Oboist chevalierdesaintgeorges homestead com Retrieved October 31 2018 Staff 2021 Happy birthday William Grant Still Celeste Headlee Retrieved February 23 2021 a b Smith Catherine Parson 2000 William Grant Still A Study in Contradictions Berkeley California University of California Press p 310 Staff 2019 Hesitating Blues The W C Handy arr William Grant Still The Wind Repertory Company Retrieved February 23 2021 Smith Catherine Parson 2000 William Grant Still A Study in Contradictions Berkeley California University of California Press p 224 STILL W S Symphonies Nos 2 Song of a New Race and 3 The Sunday Symphony Wood Notes Fort Smith Symphony Jeter 8 559676 www naxos com Retrieved October 31 2018 Walls Seth Colter May 28 2021 A Black Composer s Intense Opera Gets a Rare Staging William Grant Still s one act Highway 1 U S A runs in St Louis through June 17 The New York Times Retrieved May 30 2021 Sources EditHorne Aaron Woodwind Music of Black Composers Greenwood Press 1990 ISBN 0 313272 65 4 Roach Hildred Black American Music Past and Present second edition Krieger Publishing Company 1992 ISBN 0 894647 66 0 Sadie Stanley Hitchcock H Wiley The New Grove Dictionary of American Music Grove s Dictionaries of Music 1986 ISBN 0 943818 36 2Further reading EditReef Catherine 2003 William Grant Still African American Composer Morgan Reynolds ISBN 1 931798 11 7 Sewell George A and Margaret L Dwight 1984 William Grant Still America s Greatest Black Composer Jackson University Press of Mississippi Southern Eileen 1984 William Grant Still Trailblazer Fayetteville University of Arkansas Press Still Verna Arvey 1984 In One Lifetime Fayetteville University of Arkansas Press Still Judith Anne 2006 Just Tell the Story The Master Player Library Still William Grant 2011 My Life My Words a William Grant Still autobiography The Master Player Library External links EditWilliam Grant Still Music Official Site William Grant Still Music at the Internet Movie Database IMDb William Grant Still Bibliography at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas William Grant Still A Study in Contradictions University of California William Grant Still Interview 1949 30 49 radio broadcast by Voice of America William Grant Still Composer Arranger Conductor amp Oboist Extensive information at AfriClassical com William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers University of Arkansas Special Collections Department Manuscript Collection MC 1125 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title William Grant Still amp oldid 1154251256, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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