Representation in Music: The Works of William Grant Still
Story by Holt Templeton, photograph Curtesy of www.allclassical.org
Black History Month is an awkward time for the classical music community. While our ranks are made up of an incredibly diverse crowd of individuals, our cast of characters in the ivory tower of classical music are decidedly not so. Even our canon of American composers, which we proudly celebrate as evidence of representation, does not have much in the way of racial diversity. What do Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Samuel Barber have in common? Among other things, they were all white men who composed using the musical traditions of Europe. That said, composers in history who do not fit this mold can be found. Indeed, cursory research turns up innumerable names of women and people of color who composed in the classical idiom. Potentially the most prominent of these is a man referred to as the “Dean of African-American Composers,” or more simply, William Grant Still.
Still was born to two educators in the small town of Woodville, Mississippi on May 11, 1985. Shortly after his birth, Still’s father died, leaving the infant’s schoolteacher mother to move to Ohio where she remarried. Growing up, Still was surrounded by a variety of musical influences. Most notable among these were the opera records of his stepfather and the Black American spirituals sung by his grandmother. At age fourteen, the young Still’s formal music education began when he started studying the violin. In addition, he taught himself to play the clarinet, oboe, and cello, among other instruments. After graduating high school at the top of his class, Still enrolled at Wilberforce College in Ohio as a pre-med student. Thankfully for our ears, he did not pursue this line of work for long, as he dropped out of the school to pursue a career as a musician. Shortly thereafter, Still entered the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied and taught for a period, only interrupted by a stint in the U.S. Navy.
In the early 1920’s, Still relocated to New York City, where he became a major figure in the musical side of the Harlem Renaissance. It was there that Still penned his first symphony, known as “Afro-American.” With the Rochester Philharmonic debuting the work, Still became the first Black composer to have a work performed by a major orchestra. Importantly, Still represented Black American music in his works with themes derivative of jazz, the blues, and popular music. In 1934, William Grant Still moved once more to Los Angeles, California, where he composed music for films and other projects. Here, Still made history once again when he conducted the LA Philharmonic, becoming the first Black person to conduct a major symphony orchestra.
With all that said, learning about a composer’s life only goes so far. Instead, I believe that a figure can be best examined through the study of their cultural legacy. In this case, this can be achieved by listening to Still’s work. Here are two selections:
Symphony No. 1 in Ab Major, “Afro-American”
As Still’s most famous work, this piece won him a place in history when it was debuted by the Rochester Philharmonic under the baton of Howard Hanson. From there, this work made it to New York City with a performance in Carnegie Hall. By employing themes influenced by the blues and spirituals, Still crafted a symphony that was as African-American as it was European in tradition. In its four movements, each accompanied by excerpts of poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Still portrays different aspects of Black American life. “I seek in the 'Afro-American Symphony' to portray not the higher type of colored American, but the sons of the soil, who still retain so many of the traits peculiar to their African forebears; who have not responded completely to the transforming effect of progress,” wrote Still in his journal. The first of the movements, titled “Longing,” comes in traditional sonata form, with its two major subjects being derived from the Blues and spirituals. In the following two movements, titled “Sorrow” and “Humor,” respectively, Still borrows from and develops the melodic material of the first movement to expand the piece into different moods. In the fourth movement, titled “Rashana,” Still borrows from traditional hymns in a lively finale.
“Three Visions” for Piano
On a less grand scale, William Grant Still left behind a healthy body of works for solo piano, of which the most famous is his “Three Visions.” Here, Still musically describes three different “visions” of what happens to a soul after death. In its opening movement, titled “Dark Horseman,” he presents a nightmarish vision of death, with the pounding hooves of a horseman carrying an anguished soul away. This fright gives into the work’s second and most famous movement, called “Summerland.” Here, the listener experiences divine peace and beauty, as Still portrays a more pleasant, heavenly afterlife. The composer adapted this movement for chamber orchestra, including a harp, which provides an opulent throng typifying heaven for the listener. In the third and final movement, “Radiant Pinnacle,” Still creates an aural representation of a cosmic ascent to divinity, as a soul grows spiritually over ages. Musically, this takes the form of colorful harmony almost reminiscent of Impressionist composers such as Maurice Ravel, and a steady rhythmic flow depicting spiritual progress. This work was dedicated to Still’s wife Verna Arvey and maintains profundity in brevity as its run-time is a mere eleven minutes.
