William Grant Still: An African-American Composer In The 1920's

William Grant Still was an African American composer born in Woodsville, Mississippi on May 11, 1895. He grew up playing violin, starting at the age of 14, in Little Rock Arkansas. He attended Wilberforce University in 1911 determined to be a composer of concert music and opera. Early in his musical career, his primary role model in the classical world was Coleridge- Taylor, a british composer of mixed race. Around 1916, Still started to work for W.C. Handy in the arranging business. He arranged for local theatres as well as some early radio shows. However, it was the early 1920’s that launched his career into success. Around 1920, Edgard Varese was traveling on a transatlantic trip when he met Colonel Charles Young, described as “a bright

The 1920’s were a new era in the US, composers following WWI had a new found sense of national self confidence. This generation of composers were determined to establish themselves and their music including: Aaron Copland, Henry Cowell, etc, Still was no exception to this. Therefore, Grant Still had decided to launch his career during an incredible decade. Varese was one of the founders of the International Music Guild in 1921, a group determined to found a performing center for music separate to their European counterparts. Varese was able to help Still navigate his way through an all-white music industry at the time; showcasing his music in the guild, encouraging his writing gift, and allowing him space to find his own voice. Later, Still was given the opportunity to create many more milestones for his career. In 1932, he was the first African American to conduct the first white radio orchestra, playing “Deep River.” In 1936, he was the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in Los Angeles, PO. However, despite Varese’s influence, Still’s music did not always go over smoothly with

However, Still walked the fine line of being called too “simple” if he tried to compose music including more African American idioms. Still felt the pressure and expectation to write music resembling the characteristics of his African American heritage as were his counterparts at the time. Therefore, Still made race the center of his work around the late 1920’s. During the rise of blues music in the United States, Still found this genre to be appealing to him. He was able to write music with the African American idioms he felt compelled to include representing his heritage and the expectations of the masses; however, he was also able to include modernist chromaticism that was popular in other works by George Gershwin, etc. Blues music was a way for Still to express exactly what he wanted to say as an artist, getting a compromise out of his music. “Darker America” was his last entry into the International Composer’s Guild, however it was one that would be well known by the end. It explored themes of hope and sorrow, combining the idioms of his culture with the modern chromatics that were well known in the music