Monday Musicale with the Maestro – August 31, 2020 – WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978)
WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978)
Last week’s Monday Musicale and Conductor’s Corner installments focused on the composer Florence Price, showcasing “Nimble Feet,” a movement from one of her last piano works, Dances in the Canebrakes. Today I will focus on another African-American trailblazer, composer and conductor William Grant Still, who orchestrated the version of Price’s work performed by the DSO. Friday’s blog provided a brief introduction to his life and work, but this “Dean of American Firsts” deserves far more.
Perhaps because I too am a composer-conductor, this is my favorite pic of William Grant Still. He has just conducted a rehearsal at the Hollywood Bowl of one of his orchestral works. Look at that smile! This is EXACTLY how you feel when you hear that your musical child is strong and healthy.
William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi, and his father (the town bandmaster) died when William was three years old. Still took to music at an early age—especially classical music, developing an impressive gift for composition that led to studies with great composers like George Chadwick and Edgard Varèse.
Still received a degree from my alma mater, the Oberlin Conservatory, and by the mid 1920’s was supporting himself as an arranger for jazz artists such as Paul Whiteman and Artie Shaw. He also took part in the Harlem Renaissance, playing oboe in the pit orchestra for Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Along—the first Broadway musical created and performed by an all-Black cast and creative team.
Throughout the decade, Still had become increasingly interested in writing symphonic works, and by 1929 he’d begun to compose his first symphony, subtitled “Afro-American.” In 1965 he looked back on the experience, describing his vision for the work:
I knew I wanted to write a symphony. I knew that it had to be an American work, and I wanted to demonstrate how the blues, so often considered a lowly expression, could be elevated to the highest level.
In 1931 the work was premiered by the Rochester Symphony, led by the great American composer and conductor Howard Hanson. It was a huge success, and soon Still’s symphony was being performed by other orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by the legendary Leopold Stokowski. During the 1930’s, Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony was performed by at least 34 American orchestras, and it remains his most frequently played work.
It would be wonderful to say that after the success of this first symphony, William Grant Still’s career became a meteoric one with an unstoppable ascent to the top of the music business. But as is the case for many African-Americans, the obstructions continually raised by white racism impeded his progress. Like other Blacks of his generation, including my parents, Still had to be patient and stoical. He had to “keep his eyes on the prize,” relying on hard work, internal validation, and a deep spiritual life.
Still was a good deal less stoical, however, about having to suffer the daily humiliations he endured outside the field of music. In 1950 he wrote,
My race has hampered me in my life away from music and away from my friends. To the average American I am simply another colored man. Even in the north, east and west where there are no laws enforcing racial segregation, until recently I could not buy a house and live where I would like to live, because of residential restrictions.
In 1947 I drove with my family to Oberlin to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Oberlin College. On the way we were refused service in restaurants and had to buy sandwiches in grocery stores, so that we could eat in our car. We were sometimes not able to secure sleeping accommodations. The ironic fact struck us that one of the finest colleges in America was honoring me, yet I could not buy a hot meal in a public place in my own country. . . I, a citizen, taxpayer and property owner!
In Friday’s blog (28 August 2020), I made clear my disdain for all who opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, including the Republican Party’s presidential candidate that year, Barry Goldwater. With Still’s heartfelt and pained remarks in mind, I am compelled to add that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was not only necessary, but 100 years overdue.
On July 28, 1995, President Clinton issued a proclamation celebrating the Centennial of William Grant Still and noting his profound legacy to us:
Music has always been a powerful, unifying force in our world, bringing people together across lines of ethnicity and geography. William Grant Still understood this, and throughout his long, rich career, he created works of such beauty and passion that they pierced the artificial barriers of race, nationality, and time. Today, one hundred years after his birth, his skilled compositions in chamber music, opera, ballet, symphony, and so many other forms of classical music continue to enrich our culture, and he remains a source of inspiration for musicians and music lovers around the globe.
As we mark the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, I join you in honoring this man who contributed so much to our national heritage.
Our video today features the third movement from William Grant Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony. Titled “Humor,” the piece is a joyous dance with many of the “blue” notes that make its sound uniquely African-American. Another nod to the roots of this music is Still’s inclusion of a banjo—the first time one had ever been used in a symphonic work!
William Henry Curry
Music Director, Durham Symphony Orchestra
Durham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro William Henry Curry
Third movement (Symphony No. 1 ‘Afro American’) – William Grant Still
Hayti Heritage Center – March 03, 2019
‘Songs of the South’
Celebrating Maestro Curry’s 50 years conducting
& 11 years with the Durham Symphony!
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This project was supported by the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund and the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.
