William Grant Still

Still, William Grant - 1895–1978, American composer, b. Woodville, Miss. Still was of Native American, African-American, and European ancestry. He studied music at Oberlin, with Chadwick at the New England Conservatory, and with Edgar Varèse. Much of his music reflects his African heritage. Among his works are four ballets, five symphonies, and seven operas. His opera Troubled Read More...

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William Grant Still

1 .

William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography
by Judith Anne Still, Michael J. Dabrishus, Carolyn L. Quin. 340 pgs.

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Presenting the life and professional career of "The Dean of Afro-American Composers," this is the first comprehensive book on the writings by and about Still, the compositions with manuscript sources, the performances of Still's works, and the reviews of those performances. It includes a touching personal reminiscence by his daughter Judith Anne. The full resources of the extensive collection known as The William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, give this book the distinction of being the first one about Still that utilizes diaries, letters, scrapbooks, and family papers to provide information on his works and performances.

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Title Page

CONTENTS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A Personal Reminiscence Of William Grant Still

Notes

Biographical Sketch Of William Grant Still

Notes

Works and Performances

Writings by William Grant Still And Verna Arvey

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

DISCOGRAPHY

APPENDIX A: ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WORKS

APPENDIX B: PRELIMINARY LIST OF ARRANGEMENTS AND ORCHESTRATIONS

INDEX

About the Authors

Recent Titles in Bio-Bibliographies in Music
2 .

Woodwind Music of Black Composers ("Still, William Grant " begins on p. 57)
by Aaron Horne. 150 pgs.

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This pioneering reference contains biographical data on 90 19th and 20th century Black composers from three continents and their compositions for woodwinds, including information on their education and professional experience, and on their continuing musical influence. A separate woodwind music index of both published and unpublished works for soloists and chamber ensembles groups the music by medium and numbers into 27 categories that contain 430 works with exact instrumentation, publisher, more. Also contains, a key to publishers, collections, manuscripts, and a discography.

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Recent Titles in the Music Reference Collection

Contents

Foreword

List of Abbreviations

Key to Publishers, Collections and Manuscripts

Biographical Background and a Bibliography of Black Composers and Their Woodwind Works

African Composers

Afro-American Composers

Afro-Latin Composers

Afro-European Composers

Woodwind Music Index

Discography

Bibliography

About the Compiler
3 .

Varied Carols: A Survey of American Choral Literature (Discussion of William Grant Still begins on p. 103)
by David P. DeVenney. 318 pgs.

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This survey of choral literature, written by American composers from 1760 through the 1990s, examines nearly 3,000 pieces of choral music written by over 300 composers. Along with a descriptive analysis, the literature is placed within a historical perspective. Familiar and less well-known composers and their music are examined. The study seeks to remedy the superficial treatment choral music is often given in standard textbooks on American music and to acknowledge and expose the varied richness of the literature.

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Contents

Introduction

Introduction and Background

Chapter 1: Choral Music in Early America

Notes

Chapter 2 the Early Nineteenth Century

Notes

Chapter 3: Composers of the Mid-Nineteenth Century: the Beginning of a Classical Tradition

Notes

Chapter 4 Coming of Age: the Second New England School

Notes

Chapter 5 the End of the Century: Impressionism and the Flowering of Romanticism

Notes

Chapter 6 a New Century

Notes

Chapter 7 the Glory Years

Notes

Chapter 8 the Glory Years II

Notes

Chapter 9: Contemporary Composers: the Older Generation

Notes

Chapter 10 Contemporary Composers: the Current Scene

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Author
4 .

Composers of Today: A Comprehensive Biographical and Critical Guide to Modern Composers of All Nations ("William Grant Still" begins on p. 258)
by David Ewen. 316 pgs.

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Books of the Same Author

Introduction

Key to Pronunciations

Joseph Achron 1886-

George Antheil 1900-

Kurt Atterberg 1887-

Louis Aubert 1877-

Georges Auric 1899-

Granville Bantock 1868-

Béla Bartók 1881-

Arnold Bax 1883-

Robert Russell Bennett 1894-

Lord Berners 1883.

Julius Bittner 1874-

Arthur Bliss 1891-

Marc Blitzstein 1905-

Ernest Bloch 1880-

Rutland Boughton 1878-

Walter Braunfels 1882-

Frank Bridge 1879-

Alfred Bruneau 1857-1934

Charles Wakefield Cadman 1881-

Alfredo Casella 1883-

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 1895-

Juan José Castro 1895-

Gustave Charpentier 1860.

Frederick Shepherd Converse 1871-

Henry Cowell 1897-

Sir Frederic H. Cowen 1852-

Sir Walford Davies 1869-

Claude Debussy 1862-1918

Frederick Delius 1863-1934

Ernst Von Dohnányi 1877.

Arcady Dubensky 1890-

Paul Dukas 1865-

Paul Dupin 1865-

Georges Enesco 1881-

Manuel De Falla .1876-

Gabriel Fauré 1845-1924

Henri Gagnebin 1886-

Philippe Gaubert 1879-

George Gershwin 1898-

Umberto Giordano 1867-

Alexander Glazunov 1865-

Reinhold Glière 1874-

Michael Gniessin 1883-

Paul Graener 1872-

Percy Grainger 1882-

Alexander Gretchaninoff 1864-

Louis Gruenberg 1883-

Alois Hába 1893-

Henry Hadley 1871-

Reynaldo Hahn 1874-

Howard Hanson 1896-

Sandor Harmati 1892-

Roy Harris 1898-

Edward Burlingame Hill 1872-

Paul Hindemith 1895-

Gustav Holst 1874-1934

Arthur Honegger 1892-

Herbert Howells 1892-

Jacques Ibert 1890-

Vincent D'Indy 1851-1931

Michael Ippolitov-Ivanov 1859-

John Ireland 1879-

Frederick Jacobi 1891-

Leoš Janáček 1854-1928

Werner Janssen 1900-

Joseph Jongen 1873.

Werner Josten 1888-

Paul Juon 1872-

Heinrich Kaminski 1886-

Wilhelm Kienzl 1857-

Lyof Knipper 1898-

Zoltan Kodály 1882-

Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1897-

A. Walter Kramer 1890-

Alexander Kreyn 1883-

Ladislas Lajtha 1892-

Constant Lambert 1905-

Charles Martin Loeffler 1861-

Nikolai Lopatnikoff 1903-

Igor Markevitch 1912-

Frank Martin 1890-

Bohuslav Martinu 1890-

Joseph Marx 1882-

Pietro Mascagni 1863-

Daniel Gregory Mason 1873-

Nikolai Medtner 1880-

Nikolai Miaskovsky 1881-

Georges Migot 1891-

Darius Milhaud 1892-

Italo Montemezzi 1875-

Harold Morris 1890-

Alexander Mossolov 1900-

Leo Ornstein 1895-

Ignace Jan Paderewski 1860-

Hans Pfitzner 1869-

Willem Pijper 1894-

Paul Pisk 1893-

Walter Piston 1894-

Ildebrando Pizzetti 1880-

Francis Poulenc 1899-

John Powell 1882-

Serge Prokofieff 1891-

Henri Rabaud 1873-

Serge Rachmaninoff 1873-

Maurice Ravel 1875-

Rhené-Baton 1879-

Wallingford Riegger 1885.

Vittorio Rieti 1898-

Roger-Ducasse 1875-

Dane Rudhyar 1895-

Carl Ruggles 1876-

Victor De Sabata 1892-

Lazare Saminsky 1882-

Ernest Schelling 1876-

Joseph Schillinger 1895-

Max Von Schillings 1868-1933

Florent Schmitt 1870.

Arnold Schönberg 1874-

Cyril Scott 1879-

Alexander Scriabin 1871-1915

Bernhard Sekles 1872-

Roger Sessions 1896-

Dmitri Shostakowitch 1906-

Christian Sinding

Leone Sinigaglia 1868-

David Stanley Smith 1877

Leo Sowerby 1895-

William Grant Still 1895-

Albert Stoessel 1894-

Richard Strauss 1864-

Igor Stravinsky 1882-

Edwin J. Stringham 1890-

Alexander Tansman 1897-

Deems Taylor 1885-

Alexander Tcherepnine 1899-

Nikolai Tcherepnine 1873-

Virgil Thomson 1896-

Ernest Toch 1887-

Vincenzo Tommasini 1880-

Joaquin Turina 1882.

Edgar Varèse 1885-

Ralph Vaughan-Williams 1872-

Hector Villa-Lobos 1886-

H. Waldo-Warner 1874-

William Walton 1902-

Anton Webern 1883-

Kurt Weill 1900-

Jaromir Weinberger 1896-

Leo Weiner 1885-

Adolph Weiss 1891-

Egon Wellesz 1885-

Alexander Weprik .1899-

Riccardo Zandonai 1883-

Bibliography of Modern Music

Index
5 .

The Negro Genius: A New Appraisal of the Achievement of the American Negro in Literature and the Fine Arts (Chap. XI "Music in Recent Years: H. Lawrence Freeman, Clarence Cameron White, Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, William L. Dawson, Roland Hayes, Julius Bledsoe, Marian Anderson")
by Benjamin Brawley. 370 pgs.

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Title Page

Preface

Contents

Illustrations

Introduction: the Negro Genius

I: The Pioneers Jupiter Hammon -- Phillis Wheatley -- Gustavus Vassa

II: The Era of Effort for Freedom David Walker -- James Mc Cune Smith -- Henry Highland Garnet -- Frederick Douglass -- William Wells Brown

III: Poetry and the Arts, 1830-1865 George Moses Horton -- Daniel A. Payne -- James Whitfield -- George B. Vashon -- James Madison Bell -- Early Artists -- the Stage: Ira B. Al Dridge -- Music: Justin Holland, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, Thomas J. Bowers

IV: Literature, 1865-1890 Alexander Crummell -- George W. Williams -- Albery A. Whitman -- Frances E. W. Harper

V: Music and Art, 1865-1895 "Centennial Artists" -- Fisk Jubilee Singers -- "Blind Tom" -- the Hyers Sisters -- Marie Selika -- Flora Batson Bergen -- Sissieretta Jones

VI: The Maturing of Negro LIterature Charles W. Chesnutt -- Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Booker T. Washington -- Archibald H. GrimkÉ

VII: Music and Art, 1895-1920 Harry T. Burleigh -- Musical Comedy: Will Marion Cook and J. Rosamond Johnson -- Painting: Henry O. Tanner and William Edouard Scott -- Sculpture: Meta Warrick Fuller

VIII: Protest and VIndication W. E. Burghardt Dubois -- William Stanley Braithwaite -- James Weldon Johnson -- Leslie Pinckney Hill -- Alice Dunbar Nelson -- Georgia Douglas Johnson -- Walter White -- Jessie Fauset -- Countee Cullen -- Alain Locke

IX: The New Realists the Forerunners -- Claude Mckay -- Langston Hughes -- Eric Walrond -- Rudolph Fisher -- Sterling Brown -- Zora Neale Hurston -- Arna Bontemps

X: Drama and Stage, 1916-1936 Effort in the Drama: Willis Richardson and Randolph Edmonds -- Charles Gilpin -- Richard B. Harrison -- Rose Mcclendon -- Paul Robeson

XI: Music in Recent Years H. Lawrence Freeman -- Clarence Cameron White -- Nathaniel Dett -- William Grant Still -- William L. Dawson -- Roland Hayes -- Julius Bledsoe -- Marian Anderson

XII: The New Temper in Painting and Sculpture Archibald J. Motley, Jr. -- Aaron Douglas -- Richmond BarthÉ

Bibliography

Index
6 .

Religion in Rhythm: William Grant Still's Orchestrations for Willard Robison's Deep River Hour, in Black Music Research Journal
by Wayne D. Shirley. 41 pgs.

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7 .

Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s (Discussion of William Grant Still begins on p. 330)
by Carol J. Oja. 493 pgs.

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New York City witnessed a dazzling burst of creativity in the 1920s. In this pathbreaking study, Carol J. Oja explores this artistic renaissance from the perspective of composers of classical and modern music, who along with writers, painters, and jazz musicians, were at the heart of early modernism in America. She also illustrates how the aesthetic attitudes and institutional structures from the 1920s left a deep imprint on the arts over the 20th century. Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Virgil Thomson, William Grant Still, Edgar Varèse, Henry Cowell, Leo Ornstein, Marion Bauer, George Antheil-these were the leaders of a talented new generation of American composers whose efforts made New York City the center of new music in the country. They founded composer societies--such as the International Composers' Guild, the League of Composers, the Pan American Association, and the Copland-Sessions Concerts--to promote the performance of their music, and they nimbly negotiated cultural boundaries, aiming for recognition in Western Europe as much as at home. They showed exceptional skill at marketing their work. Drawing on extensive archival material--including interviews, correspondence, popular periodicals, and little-known music manuscripts--Oja provides a new perspective on the period and a compelling collective portrait of the figures, puncturing many longstanding myths. American composers active in New York during the 1920s are explored in relation to the "Machine Age" and American Dada; the impact of spirituality on American dissonance; the crucial, behind-the-scenes role of women as patrons and promoters of modernist music; cross-currents between jazz and concert music; the critical reception of modernist music (especially in the writings of Carl Van Vechten and Paul Rosenfeld); and the international impulse behind neoclassicism. The book also examines the persistent biases of the time, particularly anti-Semitisim, gender stereotyping, and longstanding racial attitudes.

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Title Page

Acknowledgements

Contents

Making Music Modern

Introduction: The Modern Music Shop

Enter the Moderns

Leo Ornstein: Wild Man of the 1910s

Creating a God: The Reception of Edgard Varèse

The Arrival of European Modernism

The Machine in the Concert Hall

Engineers of Art

Ballet Mécanique and International Modernist Networks

Spirituality and American Dissonance

Dane Rudhyar's Vision of Dissonance

The Ecstasy of Carl Ruggles

Henry Cowell's “throbbing Masses of Sounds”

Ruth Crawford and the Apotheosis of Spiritual Dissonance

Myths and Institutions

A Forgotten Vanguard: The Legacy of Marion Bauer, Frederick Jacobi, Emerson Whithorne, and Louis Gruenberg

Organizing the Moderns

Women Patrons and Activists

New World Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism: Orthodox Europeanism or Empowering Internationalism?

The Transatlantic Gaze of Aaron Copland

Virgil Thomson's “cocktail of Culture”

A Quartet of New World Neoclassicists

European Modernists and American Critics

Europeans in Performance and on Tour

Visionary Critics

Widening Horizons

Modernism and the “jazz Age”

Crossing Over with George Gershwin, Paul Whiteman, and the Modernists

Epilogue

Selected Discography

Appendix: Programs of Modern-Music Societies in New York, 1920–1931

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index
8 .

Arias, Communists, and Conspiracies: The History of Still's Troubled Island, in Musical Quarterly
by Tammy L. Kernodle. 22 pgs.

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9 .

Current Research Twelve Years after the William Grant Still Centennial, in Black Music Research Journal
by Gayle Murchison. 35 pgs.

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