William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions

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List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
A Brief Chronology
Carolyn L. Quin
Contributed Essays
The Formative Years of William Grant Still:Little Rock, Arkansas, 1895-1911
Willard B. Gatewood
"Dean of Afro-American Composers" or "Harlem Renaissance Man": The New Negro and the Musical Poetics of William Grant Still
Gayle Murchison
Toward a Biography
Finding His Voice: William Grant Still in Los Angeles
An Unknown "New Negro"
The Afro-American Symphony and Its Scherzo
"they, Verna and Billy"
"Harlem Renaissance Man" Revisited:The Politics of Race and Class in Still's Late Career
Sources
Personal Notes
William Grant Still
William Grant Still and Irving Schwerke:Documents from a Long-Distance Friendship
Edited by Wayne D. Shirley
William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions
Harold Bruce Forsythe
Plan for a Biography of Still
Harold Bruce Forsythe
William Grant Still
Verna Arvey
Major Sources on Still
Note on Recordings
Index
Contents

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During the 1930s and 1940s William Grant Still (1895-1978) was known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers." He worked as an arranger for early radio, on Broadway, and in Hollywood; major symphony orchestras performed his concert works; and an opera, written in collaboration with Langston Hughes, was produced by the New York City Opera. Despite these successes the composer's name gradually faded into obscurity. This book brings William Grant Still out of the archives and examines his place in America's musical heritage. It also provides a revealing window into our recent cultural past. Until now Still's profound musical creativity and cultural awareness have been obscured by the controversies that dogged much of his personal and professional life. New topics explored by Catherine Parsons Smith and her contributors include the genesis of the Afro American Symphony, Still's best-known work; his troubled years in film and opera; and his outspoken anticommunism.

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