THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2018-2019 49
Program Notes
WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978)
SYMPHONY NO. 1, AFRO-AMERICAN
Duration: ca. 23 minutes
The year was 1931, and a new door in American
music swung open: the first symphony by an
African-American composer to be played by a
major orchestra. He later became the first African-
American to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
and the first American to have an opera, Troubled
Island, produced by the New York City Opera.
Not a bad record of firsts for a humble, soft-spoken
man from Woodville, Miss., who thought the world
of classical music just might suit his dream. William
Grant Still lived that dream, creating more than 150
works until his death in 1978 and giving the African-
American composer a voice in what historically had
been an insular, often racist profession.
Still’s father was a musician and his mother a
schoolteacher, so the combination seemed ideal for
nourishment in the liberal arts. After his father died
when Still was 3 months old, an astute stepfather
encouraged exposure to music, art, and literature in
the household. Soon, the young Still was absorbing
his stepfather’s collection of opera and symphony
recordings, and in high school he learned the
rudiments of music by joining a band. In Ohio, he
met blues pioneer W.C. Handy, who published Still’s
first musical arrangement, Hesitation Blues.
But Still wanted to evolve as a serious musician –
he played the violin and oboe – so he enrolled in
Oberlin College to study theory and counterpoint,
then went off to join the Navy during World War I.
Handy later offered him a job in New York, where
he stayed for 15 years. As radio orchestras became
popular in the 1920s, Still made a number of
arrangements, and impressed such prominent
figures as Paul Whiteman and Artie Shaw. Still
contributed to what was known as the Harlem
Renaissance, a cultural awakening of black culture
in the 1920s and ‘30s.
Then came a major change in his career. He began
studying with the French avant-garde composer
Edgar Varese, who helped shape the sound of new
music. Still learned to compose with more lyric
freedom, and with the help of Varese, his music
made its way onto concert programs sponsored by
the International Composers’ Guild.
Still knew that to be taken seriously as a composer,
he needed to write two large-scale works: a
symphony and an opera. One would feed the other;
while composing the First Symphony, he kept a
notebook of themes and ideas for an opera he
hoped to write, which he called Rashana.
“I knew that I wanted to write a symphony,” he said.
“And 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 musical level.”
Composed in 1930, the Afro-American Symphony
received its premiere a year later with the Rochester
Philharmonic. Transparent and accessible, it
enjoyed immediate success, with performances by
more than 35 orchestras during the 1930s.
Still built the symphony’s four sections around
poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The first
movement, marked moderato assai, makes use of
a traditional blues-based progression over 12 bars.
In his notebook on the symphony, Still called the
opening movement Longing. He called the second
movement Sorrow, and wrote a number of spirituallike
passages between harp and oboe.
Humor, the animated third movement, fits the bill
as a traditional scherzo by providing comic relief
through rollicking dance rhythms and the first-ever
use of the banjo in a symphony. But it also has
become controversial in its use of a tune – I’ve Got
Rhythm – commonly attributed to George Gershwin.
However, both composers worked in the same musical
circles and were complimentary of each other,
so any borrowing on Gershwin’s part might be considered
a tip of the hat.
The symphony concludes with a lento called
Aspiration, which weaves together themes heard
earlier, beginning with a hymn and concluding
the 30-minute work with a riveting flourish for full
orchestra.
“What I like about Still’s music is its honesty,’’ said
Thomas Wilkins, former resident conductor for TFO
and guest conductor for tonight’s program. “He’s
comfortable in his own skin. That’s always the first
thing that comes to mind with Still: He tells you who
he is and who is people are and what they wrestle
with.’’
Listeners who want to hear more of Still’s music
are in luck. TFO will perform his Poem for Orchestra
during its next Masterworks program, Jan. 18-20.