Born in Mississippi in 1895, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, William Grant Still attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the Wilberforce University. He was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later Edgard Varèse. Because of his close association with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, he is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance.
Known primarily for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony, until 1950 this work was the most widely performed symphony composed by an American.
Solo Instrumental
Still: Romance
Saxophone & Piano
William Grant Still's Romance for alto saxophone and piano. Composed in 1954 for the American saxophonist Sigurd Rascher.
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Still: Summerland
Flute & Piano
Movement two from William Grant Still's Three Visions, for flute and piano. Summerland is often performed as a standalone piece for its serene and reflective character. Arranged here for flute and piano.
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Still: Incantation and Dance
Oboe & Piano
William Grant Still's Incantation and Dance for solo oboe and piano.
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Orchestral and Chamber
Still: Afro American Symphony
Orchestra Study Score
William Grant Still's first Symphony, Afro-American. One of the composers' most celebrated compositions, it was the first symphony composed by an African-American to be performed by a major orchestra.
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Still: Sahdji
Vocal Score
William Grant Still's Sahdji for ballet, chorus and bass soloist. A ballet in two parts, Sahdji was first performed in 1931 under the direction of Howard Hanson.
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Still: Suite
Violin & Orchestra
Originally written for violin and piano, William Grant Still's Suite for Violin and Orchestra was inspired by significant artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Each of the three movements depict three sculptures created in the 1930s: Richmond Barthé’s African Dancer, Sargent Johnson’s Mother and Child, and Augusta Savage’s Gamin.
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William Grant Still’s Pages from Negro History is set in three movements: Africa, Slavery, and Emancipation, and contains text by pianist and writer Verna Arvey, (Still’s wife). Still employs his trademark style of orchestrating in this work, which ranks among the most harmonically and melodically accessible in his oeuvre.
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Still: From the Black Belt
Chamber Orchestra
The “Black belt” refers to a region in the southern United States that was distinguished by the colour of its fertile soil. It was an area whose rich economy was based on cotton and tobacco plantations that were controlled by rich white people and worked by poor black laborers. Still’s piece From the Black Belt from 1926 is presumably a musical representation of these laborers.
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Still: Serenade
Orchestra
Still composed his Serenade for Orchestra in 1957 on a commission by the Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana. The piece reflects Still’s interest in American folk idioms, with conventional melodies and harmonies that nonetheless express a fresh and individual compositional voice.
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Still: Ennanga
Score & Parts
William Grant Still's Ennanga for harp, string orchestra, and piano. Drawing its name from a traditional Ugandan harp, Ennanga blends African and Western music elements together.
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Still: Dismal Swamp
Orchestra
Atypical among William Grant Still’s works, Dismal Swamp combines eerie effects and mysterious chromaticism in dramatic mixture with his more vernacular American elements to portray The Great Dismal Swamp. This swampland served as a temporary safe haven for runaway slaves en route to the North, as bounty hunters were unlikely to brave the dangerous terrain and wildlife in search of runaways.
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Still: Symphony No. 3
Orchestra Score
Symphony No. 3 The Sunday Symphony is actually the last of Still's five symphonies, and the only one never performed in his lifetime. It is said to express the spiritual day in the life of a devout worshiper. The original third symphony was revised in 1958 to become Symphony No. 5 Western Hemisphere. The premiere performance came in 1984 by North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (Carlton R. Woods, cond.).
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Still: Danzas de Panama
String Quartet
William Grant Still's Danzas de Panama. Version for string quartet. The composer was inspired to write his Danzas de Panama after discovering traditional Panamanian folk music collected by ethnomusicologist Elisabeth Waldo.
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Choral
William Grant Still's The Little Song that Wanted to Be a Symphony for voice and piano reduction.
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Still: We Sang Our Songs
TTBB & Piano
William Grant Still's We Sang Our Songs for male voices and piano.
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Still: Toward Distant Shores
SATB & Piano
William Grant Still's Toward Distant Shores for SATB choir and piano accompaniment.
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