Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Over his career, Still wrote over 150 compositions, including operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber works, choral pieces, and solo vocal works. Stills melody has several key features that make it a classic blues tune, including its use of the standard twelve-bar blues harmonic progression, a swung rhythm, and a use of lowered fifth, third, and seventh scale degrees in the melodythat imitate blue notes. '"[7], Still composed Song of a City for the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. Still broke racial barriers and earned many firsts in the realm of classical music. in preparation for a medical career, but became active in musical activities on campus; after dropping out of college, he worked with various groups, including that of W.C. emeritus, Bakers Biographical Dictionary of American Music, centennial ed., Schirmer, 2001. Handy in Memphis in 1916, he decided that the Blues were not immoral or trivial, as some people wanted to believe, but instead an expression of the hopes and yearnings of a lowly people, wanting a better life. Musicologist Jon Michael Spencer has argued that Stills symphonic treatment of the blues allowed him to demonstrate the inherent dignity of black folk music as an act of racial vindication, not to critique it as inferior. Handy, but also received formal instruction from composers including George Chadwick of the first New England school, and the French modernist composer Edgard Varse. During the 1920s Still began to compose serious concert works. On October 4, 1915,[7] Still married Grace Bundy, whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce. However, African-Americans have deeply influenced the orchestral traditionin the United States and beyond. 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. Manheim, James "Still, William Grant 18951978 Orchestration: flutes (3 = piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bells, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, gong, triangle, vibraphone), harp, celesta, banjo, & strings, First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance: July 23, 1940, David Broekman conducting. [11] At 16 years old, he graduated as class valedictorian from M.W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock in 1911. (February 23, 2023). William Grant Still's Seven Traceries (1940) is a set of piano pieces that exhibits a number of post-tonal materials and techniques such as octatonicism, extended tertian sonorities, dense chromaticism, and extensive motivic development. Each strophe has a distinct piece of music. In 1919 he was drawn to New York by a steady job as a staff arranger for Handys Pace and Handy publishing firm. Born in Woodville, Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and started studying violin there. With its dark timbres, the second is a clear expression of sadness. While his mother taught English in high school, William Grant Still Jr., attended school. Also of note is Stills unusual instrumental timbres. Bringing together a lifetime of musical experiences, it has earned a place in the canon of the Western classical music tradition not in spite of, but because of its daring and creative integration of African American and European idioms. Become a sponsor, All Classical Public Media, Inc. . window.__mirage2 = {petok:"eiErqWV7MYX4klvDjnMyJpKCFZgEM3zDu4LlOdVoo2w-86400-0"}; CD. The musical background of William Grant Still. He died of a stroke in Los Angeles on December 3, 1978. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Fairfax County Police announced Wednesday they believe they have cracked a cold case involving the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago. How does A Black Pierrots emotional climax happen? The only book written on Still was by his wife, Verna Arvey, in William Grant Still (1939). The years following 1918 were busy. He took composition lessons from the American nationalist composer George Chadwick when Shuffle Along went on tour to Boston in 1922, and from 1923 to 1925 he studied with the highly experimental French-born composer Edgard Vrese in New York. A reawakening of interest in his music was signaled by a Public Broadcasting Service telecast of his opera Bayou Legend in 1981 (another first for a black composer). 3, no. The Afro-American Symphony was the second part of a symphonic trilogy, consisting also of Africa (1930) and the Symphony in G Minor, subtitled Song of a New Race (1937). He decided to become a composer and studied at Oberlin and the New England Conservatory. (1947), and Bates Coll. . In 1918, he joined the Navy to fight in the First World War, worked in the dining hall as a server, and he also played music for the officers during meal time. He met her after moving to L.A. The Afro-American Symphony is scored for full orchestra, including celeste, harp, and tenor banjo (the piece was the first time a banjo had been used in symphonic music). ." His daughter Judith still oversees his company and helps with the collection. 23 Feb. 2023 . 1 "Afro-American", was performed in 1931 by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson. Also, while in college he started to compose and do orchestras. B. taught himself music and composition on thejob in musical show orchestras. They had two children, Duncan Allan Still, and Judith Anne Still. 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. In his early years he took violin lessons and was exposed to a wide variety of music, ranging from spirituals and hymns to opera. With its sweeping arc and gentle syncopation, the second melody, introduced by the oboe, is reminiscent of a Black spiritual. He conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. 19171919 Oberlin College Wilberforce University existed from 1911 until 1915. He married the writer Verna Arvey, who collaborated with him as librettist in his stage works. [4]:249[7]. Making things even worse from Stills mothers point of view was that Still now began to make a living by. Varses International Composers Guild provided Still the opportunity to have some of his works performed in the 1920s, and in 1931 the Rochester Symphony Orchestra performed Stills Afro-American Symphony the first performance by a major orchestra of a symphony composed by a black American. Wyatt, Lucius "Still, William Grant In addition, he studied with the avant-garde composer Edgard Varse, who proved to be an important mentor. His stepfather encouraged his interest in music. Many of his compositions were inspired by the black experience in America. 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. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 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. For instance, the narrator states, I took six feeds a day and kept most of them down by the time the Vindictive was sunk in Ostend harbour, on which day I kicked with special vigour in my bath (para. [1]:6 The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour. In 1977, Opera Ebony revived Still's two-act opera Highway 1 USA in New York. The second movement, "Mother and Child," was calm and mesmerizing. 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. Which does not describe early twentieth century nationalist composers? Throughout his distinguished career he composed in many styles, frequently utilizing black motifs. Stills most well-known and performed piece is the Afro-American Symphony. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like 1895, teachers, 14 and more. Little known acknowledged fact about him is he as wellas Langston Hughes was a participant in the Harlem Renaissance. 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 widow Verna Arvey wrote and published his biography, In One Lifetime: A Biography of William Grant Still, in 1984. In the 1950s and 1960s Stills music fell out of favor as academic musicians prescribed the adoption of strict modernist styles. 23 Feb. 2023 . After serving in the Navy during World War I, Still went to New York City to work in W. C. Handy's music publishing company. American classical composers seeking a way to write music that was distinctly American took advantage of the new idiom of jazz as inspiration, including George Gershwin, Marc Blitzstein, and Leonard Bernstein. A. William Grant Still / Age at Death: 83 years (18951978). Accessed 30 Jan 2018. William Grant Still. [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. Accessed 30 Jan 2018. What Instruments Are Used in Hip Hop Music? 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). His contributions to African-American music are significant: He was the first African-American composer to have a symphony played by a major American orchestra (Afro-American Symphony ), the first to have an opera performed by a major company, the first to conduct a major orchestra, and one of the first to write for radio, films, and television. Still broke various racial boundaries in the American music landscape, in addition to advocating black culture as a composer. Still, M. Dabrishus, and C. Quin, W.G. 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