One of the few African Americans to have enjoyed a successful career in the rather closed-in world of acade, 22 His private studies in composition were with George Whitefield Chadwick in Boston and Edgard Varse in New York. DRAMATIC : Opera : Blue Steel (1934); Troubled Island (1941); A Bayou Legend (1940; PBS, 1981); A Southern Interlude (1943); Costoso (1950); Mota (1951); The Pillar (1956); Minette Fontaine (1958); Highway 1, U.S.A. (1962; Miami, May 13, 1963). . D. held a graduate degree from Oberlin CollegeConservatory of Music. 151515). There are also two rare gems by the composer on the CD, and a work by Olly Wilson called Expansions II, which connects Stills mid-century music to more recent times. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. ." Nevertheless, Still later dropped out of Wilberforce and entered Oberlin University to study music. He was saluted on his 75th birthday with an all-Still concert by the Oberlin (Ohio) Orchestra, which presented the world premiere of his Symphony No. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. His father was bandmaster in Woodville; after his death when Still was in infancy, his mother moved the family to Little Rock, Ark., where she became a high school teacher. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/still-william-grant-1895-1978, Manheim, James "Still, William Grant 18951978 Dunbar was one of the first African American poets to achieve a national reputation from both white and black audiences. In high school Still studied the violin, and at age 16, urged on by his mother, he enrolled at Wilberforce University as a pre-medical student. Marker Address Rent ? Cons. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [7] In 1918 Still joined the United States Navy to serve in World War I. 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] On February 8, 1939, he married pianist Verna Arvey, driving to Tijuana for the ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California. Encyclopedia of World Biography. An outstanding achievement was his handling of melody in his strongly lyrical pieces. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. [7] They separated in 1932 and divorced February 6, 1939. William Grant Still, (born May 11, 1895, Woodville, Mississippi, U.S.died December 3, 1978, Los Angeles, California), American composer and conductor and the first African American to conduct a professional symphony orchestra in the United States. Contemporary Black Biography. Many ensembles made recordings, and names like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw became well-known. How did the music of the Harlem Renaissance influence music today? In 1934, Still moved to Los Angeles, where he composed music for films alongside his classical works, helping shape a style that other composers and arrangers used for scoring films and popular music. Still's accomplishments clearly placed him among the foremost composers of his day. . Classical Mus, Composer Q. William Graham Sumner is a more important historical figure than I had realized until recently. He grew up in a home with cultured, middle-class values, and his stepfather encouraged his interest in music by taking him to see operettas and buying him operatic recordings; he was also given violin lessons. Which of the following best characterizes the music at The Godfathers climax? Born in Woodville, Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and started studying violin there. Music: History, Composers, and Performers: Biographies. He mastered several orchestral and band instruments, conducted the schools band, organized a concert of his own compositions, and formed a string quartet featuring himself as cellist. William Grant Still. Composer, conductor Richard Fields, Piano. 1 (Afro-American. On the line provided, write the plural form of the following item. [22][16], Still arranged music for films. Listening Guide: William Grant Still. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. His father, William Grant Still Sr., a college-educated math professor and bandmaster, died in Stills infancy. OBannon, Ricky. What have the artifacts found at the site revealed about Anglo-Saxon culture? He was the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, as well as first to have an opera produced by a major company in the United States. First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance: This site uses cookies to offer you the best possible experience. According to the Duke University Library website, Stills Afro-American Symphony was, until 1950, the most popular of any symphony composed by an American. It touched off a period of sustained success for Still; works such as his orchestral suite The Deserted Plantation found performances at major venues (the Paul Whiteman Orchestra performed that work at the Metropolitan Opera House). It is a symphonic piece for full orchestra, including celeste, harp, and tenor banjo. The 1930s were very productive years for William Grant Still Jr.,'s career and also caused a change in his personal life. He made band arrangements and played in the orchestras. His mother, Carrie remarried Charles Shepperson. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. On October 4, 1915,[7] Still married Grace Bundy, whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce. [19] Still developed a close professional relationship with Hanson; many of Still's compositions were performed for the first time in Rochester. ." Still broke various racial boundaries in the American music landscape, in addition to advocating black culture as a composer. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. How does the music of William Grant Still fit the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance as expressed in the Suite for violin? [26], Still was known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers". ." In Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. He conducted the university band, learned to play various instruments, and started to compose and to do orchestrations. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. In 1919 he was drawn to New York by a steady job as a staff arranger for Handys Pace and Handy publishing firm. 20925 Professional Plaza, Suite 230. Still also frequently uses syncopation in the melody and accompaniment (rhythms with accents displaced on the weak beat) and chords including both major and minor thirds, further suggesting African American-influenced jazz music. Accessed 30 Jan 2-18. She collaborated with him on his music. Still spent a year in the Navy in 1918, and further musical studies at Oberlin College stimulated his interest in the classics once again. William Grant Still. The Black Perspective in Music, vol. William Grant Still. 5, Western Hemisphere (revision of discarded No. In 1987 National Review critic Ralph de Toledano wrote that in his great outpouring of musicsome two hundred compositions in every categoryStill expressed the sweep and melody of this country, the pounding heart of jazz, the surging human protest of the blues, and the attenuated sensibility of popular song. By the end of the twentieth century, new recordings and performances of Stills compositions were bringing his music to light once again. [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. Why was he buried in a ship? Southern, Eileen, The Music of Black Americans, 3rd ed., Norton, 1997. http://chevalierdestgeorges.homestead.com, http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sgo/exhibit/captions/caption1.html (Duke University Library), http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sgo/texts/borroff2.html. [6], William Grant Still Jr. was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1984. He began to think about a career as a classical composeran option not even on the horizon for African Americans at the timeafter the Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor came to Ohio on a U.S. tour. VOCAL : Plain Chant for Americans for Baritone and Orch. The blues are represented musically in William Grant Stills Suite for Violin and Piano. Still was associated in the music industry with W. C. Handy, Harry Pace and his Black Swan Phonograph Company, the Deep River Hour on CBS Radio, and Columbia Pictures. Without contemporary recording tools, they were unable to preserve traditional music. performing ragtime and jazz, which she despised. All in all William Grant Still was the composer of more than 150 works. When he composed his Suite for Violin and Piano in 1943, he was inspired by three sculptures: Richmond Barths African Dancer, Sargent Johnsons Mother and Child, and Augusta Savages Gamin. Louis Blues and Hesitation Blues. Handy provided Still with employment on and off for several years. [citation needed], In 1981, the opera A Bayou Legend was the first by an African-American composer to be performed on national television. [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. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. In 1939 he remarried; his second wife, Verna Arvey (who later wrote a biography of Still), was a Jewish concert pianist, and he wrote the piano collection Seven Traceries and other piano music as a result. William Grant Still In 1943, William Grant Still wrote his Suite for Violin and Piano, which took as its inspiration three sculptures: Richmond Barth's African Dancer, Sargent Johnson's Mother and Child, and Augusta Savage's Gamin. Encyclopedia.com. 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. Manheim, James "Still, William Grant 18951978 The fourth movement opens with a poignant melody showcasing some of Stills most beautiful orchestral writing. Education. He found plenty of work writing arrangements for theater orchestras and performinghe was part of the original orchestra for the all-black musical hit Shuffle Along and worked as musical director for the Black Swan record label. Explore videos, essays, and more on the Sound/Stage website. Still was brought up by his mother and grandmother in Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied medicine at Wilberforce University, Ohio, before turning to music. . . ." In 1930 I rented a room in a quiet building not far from my home in New York and began to work. And he was inspired: the symphony was finished in two months. //. His ballets include Sadhji (1930), Lenox Avenue (1937), and La Guiablesse (1927). After the war he went to Harlem, where he continued to work for Handy. He wrote jazz arrangements for blues masters and bandleaders such as Artie Shaw, Paul Whiteman and W.C. The final movement, Lento conrisoluzione(Aspiration), begins with a poignant hymn-like section reminiscent of gospel and choral music, and gradually culminates into a lively finale. Suite for Violin and Piano - William Grant Still (music starts at 3:57)African DancerMother and ChildGaminTeresa Ling, violinJeannette Fang, pianofilmed by T. | [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. composer, born in Woodville, Mississippi, but grew up in Little Rock Arkansas, where he began to study violin. By portraying African-American roots in his music, William Grant Still represents the merging of Harlem Renaissance ideas into art music. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. [1]:5, Still's mother moved with him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught high school English. Columbia Records released a new recording of Still's Afro-American Symphony in 1974. The tone is at odds with the activity. William Grant Still was a prolific opera composer. The years following 1918 were busy. ." When Howard Hanson led the Rochester Philharmonic in a performance of Still's Afro-American Symphony in 1931, it marked the first time a symphonic work by a black composer was performed by a leading symphony orchestra. LifeStance Health. Johnson. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982. Where did William Grant Still grow up quizlet? In 1974, Opera/South in Jackson, Mississippi, presented the world premiere of Still's A Bayou Legend, originally composed in 1941. [4]:249[7]. Still, William Grant, eminent black American composer; b. Woodville, Miss., May 11, 1895; d. Los Angeles, Dec. 3, 1978. His musical works were performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and the BBC Orchestra. How does A Black Pierrots emotional climax happen? (February 23, 2023). Animato beac82 518 subscribers Subscribe 665 149K views 10 years ago William Grant Still (1895 - 1978): Symphony No. The first melody, played by a muted trumpet, overlays the instantly recognizable harmonic pattern of the 12-bar blues. . Burkholder, J. Peter, Grout, Donald Jay, andPalisca, Claude V. Burkholder, J. Peter, andPalisca, Claude V. Norton Anthology of Western Music. Wyatt, Lucius "Still, William Grant ." [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. William Grant Still, "Composer, Arranger, Conductor & Oboist". ." He also arranged music scores for films such as Pennies from Heaven, Lost Horizon, Stormy Weather. [7] It was the first time the complete score of a work by an African American was performed by a major orchestra. There his musical talents blossomed. After graduation, he pursued a medical degree at Wilberforce University. In his music he occasionally made use of actual Negro folk songs, but mostly he invented his thematic materials. He died of heart failure in Los Angeles on December 3, 1978. He decided to become a composer and studied at Oberlin and the New England Conservatory. Still died on December 3, 1978 in Los Angeles. ." Though a prolific composer of operas, ballets, symphonies, and other works, he was best known for his Afro-American Symphony (1931). While scholars havent reached a decisive conclusion, musicologist Catherine Parsons Smith suggests that Still believed Gershwin had picked up the melodic and rhythmic ideas of the tune from improvisations by Still while playing in the orchestra pit of Shuffle Along ten years earlier. Occupation. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/still-william-grant, MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE "Still, William Grant Still was also geographically in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance. It was premiered by Howard Hanson and the Rochester Philharmonic. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Kay, Ulysses 19171995 He was born in Octo, New York, New York, United States. After completion of the symphony, Still linked each movement to verses from poems by the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), which heighten the emotional impact of each movement. William Grant Still Flashcards | Quizlet More than 50 major battles were fought on American soil. C. All possible answers. At the end of the war, he went back to his life. "William Grant Still William Schuman had an ordinary childhood in New York City, with little to suggest that he would b, Joplin, Scott During World War I, he played violin in the U.S. Army; afterward returned to work with Handy, and became oboist in the Shuffle Along orch. While working with W.C. In the whole history of African-American music, Still was one of the figures who thought most deeply about how to reconcile his African heritage with the European forms that dominated American concert life. See also Music in the United States; Opera. 1, Afro-American Symphony (1930; Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 29, 1931), No. 1 "Afro-American", was performed in 1931 by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson. William Grant Stills is a musician that has been playing music for many years. Ba11et : La Guiablesse (1927); Sahdji (1930); Lennox Avenue (1937); Miss Sallys Party (1940). B. taught himself music and composition on thejob in musical show orchestras. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more blog posts this month featuring composers, conductors and musicians in celebration of Black History month, including Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Andr Watts, Kathleen Battle and more! In his early years he played in various dance orchestras and pit orchestras for musicals. Symphony No. At which school did Charles Ives study music? Each of these works was created in the 1930s and each artist was associated with the Harlem Renaissance. This four-movement piece was originally composed in 1937, and revised in 1970. While there he worked with Pace and Handy Music Publishing Co. The Afro-American Symphony fits within the standard framework of a European four-movement symphony but incorporates African American musical idioms throughout the piece. His second marriage was to Verna Arvey. [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. William Grant Still was an American composer and conductor who was the first African American to command a professional symphony orchestra in the United States. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 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. His mother, Carrie Lena Fambro, and his father, William Grant Still Sr, were both teachers. All Rights Reserved. Other musical pieces he wrote were Sahadji and Lenox Avenue. Of note, his musical collaboration with Paul Whiteman had him complete 100 arrangements in one year. Article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted to. 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