William Grant Still

William Grant Still

William Grant Still (May 11, 1895 - December 3, 1978) was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own (his first symphony) 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. He is often referred to as "the dean" of African-American composers.

Biography

William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi. His mother was a teacher and his father was a local bandleader. They were of mixed origin: African-American, Native American, Spanish and Anglo (Scots-Irish). His father, William Grant Still Sr., died when William was a few months old and his mother took him to Little Rock, Arkansas where she married Charles B. Shepperson and taught high school English. Shepperson, his stepfather, nurtured his musical interests by taking him to operettas and buying Red Seal recordings of Classical Music. He grew up in Little Rock and took violin lessons there.

He then attended Wilberforce University, founded as an African-American school, in Ohio. He conducted the university band, learned to play various instruments and started to compose and to do orchestrations. He also studied with Friedrich Lehmann at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music on scholarship. He later studied with George Chadwick at the New England Conservatory again on scholarship, and then with the ultra-modern composer, Edgard Varese.

Still initially composed in the modernist style but later merged musical aspects of his African-American heritage with traditional European classical forms to form a unique style. In 1931 his Symphony No. 1 was performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Howard Hanson, making him the first African-American composer to receive such attention. In 1936 Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and became the first African-American to conduct a major American Orchestra. In 1949 his opera Troubled Island was performed by the New York City Opera and became the first opera by an African-American to be performed by a major company. In 1955 he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra and became the first African-American to conduct a major orchestra in the Deep South. Still's works were also performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Orchestra. He was the first African-American to have an opera performed on national^[where?] television. Additionally, he was the Recording Manager of the Black Swan Phonograph Company.

Between 1919 and 1921, Still worked as an arranger for W.C. Handy's Band and later played in the pit orchestra for Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's musical "Shuffle Along." 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.

Still eventually moved to Los Angeles, California, where he 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). For Lost Horizon he arranged the music of Dimitri Tiomkin. Still was also hired to arrange the music for the film Stormy Weather but left the assignment after a few weeks due to artistic disagreements.

William Grant Still received two Guggenheim Fellowships. He also was awarded honorary doctorates 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.

Still married Verna Arvey, a journalist and concert pianist, in 1939. They remained together until he died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California in 1978.

Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American"

Main article: Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American"

The piece of music for which Still is best remembered today is his Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American". The symphony is in four movements. It combines themes from blues music with a symphonic dimension and meticulous orchestration. Still was influenced by the great jazz musicians of his day and, in particular, by W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues." The sound of the blues opens the symphony. Still and George Gershwin knew each other's music. The theme in the third movement, which resembles Gershwin's I Got Rhythm, has been a source of controversy, with Still claiming that Gershwin had stolen the theme from him after hearing Still improvise it at a rehearsal. ClassicsToday praised the symphony as "a "highly original, thought-provoking, and ultimately enjoyable creation."[1]

Selected compositions

• From the Land of Dreams (1924, believed lost until 1997)
• Levee Land (1925)
• From the Black Belt (1926)
• La Guiablese, Ballet (1927)
• Sahdji , Ballet (1930)
• Africa (1930)
• Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American" (1930)
• A Deserted Plantation (1933)
• Blue Steel Opera (1934)
• Symphony in G Minor (1937)
• Lenox Avenue, for radio announcer, chorus, & orch. (1937)
• Seven Traceries (1939)
• "And They Lynched him on a Tree" (1940)
• Miss Sally's Party, Ballet (1940)
• Can'tcha line 'em, for orch. (1940)
• Old California, for orch. (1941)
• Troubled Island Opera, produced 1949 (1937-39)
• A Bayou Legend, (1941)
• A Southern Interlude, Opera (1942)
• Incantation and Dance, for oboe & pf.
• In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy (1943)
• Suite for Violin & Piano, including the movement later arranged for String Orchestra as Mother and Child (1943)
• Festive Overture (1944)
• Poem for Orchestra (1944)
• Wailing Women, for soprano and chorus (1946)
• Danzas de Panama (Dances of Panama) Made up of three movements (1953)
• The Little Song That Wanted to Be a Symphony (1954)
• Little Red Schoolhouse (1957)
• The American Scene (1957)

Further reading

• Reef, Catherine. (2003). William Grant Still: African American Composer. Morgan Reynolds. ISBN 1-931798-11-7
• Smith, Catherine Parsons. (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21543-5
• Still, Verna Arvey. (1984). In One Lifetime. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press.
• Still, Judith Anne, Michael J. Dabrishus, and Carolyn L. Quin. William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 1996.
• Janower, David, "The Choral Works of William Grant Still," in The Choral Journal, May 1995. http://www.albany.edu/music/docs.music/materials/Grant_Still.pdf

External links

• William Grant Still Music, site with comprehensive information about him and his music
• Interview, Transcript, African American Music Collection, University of Michigan
• William Grant Still; Composer, Arranger, Conductor & Oboist Extensive info at AfriClassical.com

See also

• Still's Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American"
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an earlier Anglo-African composer whom Still greatly admired
• List of African American firsts