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Artist
William Grant Still
12+ albums
Classical20th Centuryamerican classicalcontemporary classicalamerican
about
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. Though a prolific composer of operas, ballets, symphonies, and other works, he was best known for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony (1931). Still was brought up by his mother and grandmother in Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied medicine at Wilberforce University, Ohio, before turning to music. He first studied composition at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, then under the conservative George Whitefield Chadwick at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and later under Edgard Varèse during the latter’s most radical avant-garde period. The diversity of Still’s musical education was extended when, in the 1920s, he worked as an arranger for the bandleader Paul Whiteman and for the blues composer W.C. Handy. Early orchestral works included Darker America (1924) and From the Black Belt (1926) for chamber orchestra. Still’s concern with the position of African Americans in U.S. society is reflected in many of his works, notably the Afro-American Symphony; the ballets Sahdji (1930), set in Africa and composed after extensive study of African music, and Lenox Avenue (1937); and the operas The Troubled Island (1938; produced 1949), with a libretto by Langston Hughes, and Highway No. 1, U.S.A. (produced 19
top songs
1
3 Visions: No. 2, Summerland
48,6522Three Visions: II. Summerland
12,7043Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American": II. Sorrow (Adagio)
10,04943 Visions: No. 2. Summerland
5,8505Africa: Land of Romance
4,1896Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American": I. Longing (Moderato assai)
2,6187Wood Notes: III. Moon Dusk: Slowly and expressively
1,7578Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American": III. Humor (Animato)
1,6949Prince and the Mermaid Suite: II. Waltz
98710In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
921albums
Still: Afro-American Symphony
Still: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 - Wood Notes
STILL: Piano Music
STILL: In Memoriam / Africa / Symphony No. 1, 'Afro-American'
Oregon Festival of American Music Presents William Grant Still
Citizen
William Grant Still
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Three Visions: II. Summerland
Still: Orchestral Works
Still, W.G.: Symphonies Nos. 4, "Autochthonous" and 5, "Western Hemisphere" / Poem
Piano Recital: Waites, Althea - Price, F.B. / Still, W.G. / Bland, E.
Still: Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American" / Kaintuck' / Dismal Swamp - Wilson: Expansions III