Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the
New York City Opera.[5][6] He is known primarily for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony (1930),[7] which was, until 1950, the most widely performed symphony composed by an American.[8] Still was able to become a leading figure in the field of American classical music as the first African-American to conduct a major American
symphony orchestra, have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, have an opera performed by a major opera company, and have an opera performed on national television.[9] The papers of Still and his second wife, the librettist and writer
Verna Arvey, are currently held by the University of Arkansas.[5]
Life
William Grant Still Jr. was born on May 11, 1895, in
Woodville, Mississippi.[1]: 15 He was the son of two teachers,
Carrie Lena Fambro Still Shepperson (1872–1927)[10][11] and William Grant Still Sr.[1]: 5 (1871–1895). His father was a partner in a grocery store and performed as a local bandleader.[1]: 5 William Grant Still Sr. died when his infant son was three months old.[1]: 5
Still's mother moved with him to
Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught high school English.[1]: 6 She met and in 1904[10] married Charles B. Shepperson, who nurtured his stepson William's musical interests by taking him to operettas and buying
Red Seal recordings of classical music, which the boy greatly enjoyed.[1]: 6 The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour.[citation needed][12] His maternal grandmother Anne Fambro[10] sang African-American
spirituals to him.[13]: 6, 12
Still started violin lessons in Little Rock at the age of 15. He taught himself to play the
clarinet, saxophone,
oboe, double bass, cello and
viola, and showed a great interest in music.[14] At 16 years old, he graduated as class valedictorian from
M. W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock in 1911.[13]: 3
His mother wanted him to go to medical school, so Still pursued a bachelor of science degree program at
Wilberforce University, a
historically black college in Ohio.[15] Still became a member of
Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He conducted the university band, learned to play various instruments, and started to compose and to do orchestrations. He left Wilberforce without graduating.[1]: 7
Upon receiving a small amount of money left to him by his father, he began studying at the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music.[3] Still worked for the school assisting the janitor, along with a few other small jobs outside of the school, yet still struggled financially.[3] When Professor Lehmann asked Still why he wasn't studying composition, Still told him honestly that he couldn't afford to, leading to George Whitfield Andrews[16] agreeing to teach him composition without charge.[3] He also studied privately with the modern French composer
Edgard Varèse and the American composer
George Whitefield Chadwick.[4]: 249 [10]
On October 4, 1915,[10] Still married Grace Bundy, whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce.[1]: 1, 7 They had a son, William III, and three daughters, Gail, June, and Caroline.[10] They separated in 1932 and divorced February 6, 1939.[10] On February 8, 1939, he married pianist
Verna Arvey, driving to
Tijuana for the ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California.[1]: 2 [10] They had a daughter, Judith Anne, and a son, Duncan.[1]: 2 [10] Still's
granddaughter is
journalistCeleste Headlee, a daughter of Judith Anne.
On December 1, 1976, his home was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #169. It is located at 1262 Victoria Avenue in
Oxford Square, Los Angeles.[17]
Career
In 1916, Still worked in Memphis for
W.C. Handy's band.[10] He then joined the United States Navy to serve in World War I in 1918, and eventually moved to
Harlem after the war, where he continued to work for Handy.[10] During this time, Still was involved with many cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance including the likes of
Langston Hughes,
Alain Locke,
Arna Bontemps, and
Countee Cullen.[5]
In the 1930s, Still worked as an arranger of popular music, composing works for popular
NBC Radio broadcasts like
Willard Robison's Deep River Hour and Paul Whiteman's Old Gold Show.[19]
Still's first major orchestral composition, Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American", was performed in 1931 by the
Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by
Howard Hanson.[10] It was the first time the complete score of a work by an African American was performed by a major orchestra.[10] By the end of World War II, the piece had been performed in orchestras located in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, and London.[10] During this time, the symphony was arguably the most popular of any composed by an American so far.[22] As a result of a close professional relationship with Hanson; many of Still's compositions were performed for the first time in Rochester.[10]
In 1934, Still moved to Los Angeles after receiving his first
Guggenheim Fellowship,[23] allowing him to start work on the first of his nine operas, Blue Steel.[24] Two years later, Still conducted the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra in a performance of his own works.[6][19]
With
1939 World's Fair in New York City, Still composed Song of a City for the exhibit "Democracity,"[25] which played continuously during the fair's run. [25] Despite writing music for the fair, he was unable attend the fair without police protection except on "Negro Day" .[26]
Three years after his death, A Bayou Legend became the first opera by an African-American composer to be performed on national television.[29] he died in Los Angeles in 1978
Still composed almost 200 works, including nine operas,[37]: 200 five symphonies,[37]: 200 four ballets,[38] plus art songs, chamber music, and works for solo instruments.[10] He composed more than thirty choral works.[19] Many of his works are believed to be lost.[10]: 278
^
abcMurchison, Gayle (1994). ""Dean of Afro-American Composers" or "Harlem Renaissance Man": "The New Negro" and the Musical Poetics of William Grant Still". The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 53 (1): 42–74.
doi:
10.2307/40030871.
ISSN0004-1823.
JSTOR40030871.