I. Briskly - Music

William Grant Still Born May 11 1895 Woodville Mississippi U.S.—died December 3 1978 Los Angeles California American Composer And Conductor And The First African American To Conduct A Professional Symphony Orchestra In The United States. Though A Prolific Composer Of Operas Ballets Symphonies And Other Works He Was Best Known For His First Symphony Afro-American Symphony 1931 . Still Was Brought Up By His Mother And Grandmother In Little Rock Arkansas And Studied Medicine At Wilberforce University Ohio Before Turning To Music. He First Studied Composition At Oberlin Conservatory Of Music In Oberlin Ohio Then Under The Conservative George Whitefield Chadwick At The New England Conservatory Of Music In Boston And Later Under Edgard Varèse During The Latter’s Most Radical Avant-Garde Period. The Diversity Of Still’s Musical Education Was Extended When In The 1920s He Worked As An Arranger For The Bandleader Paul Whiteman And For The Blues Composer W.C. Handy. Early Orchestral Works Included Darker America 1924 And From The Black Belt 1926 For Chamber Orchestra. Still’s Concern With The Position Of African Americans In U.S. Society Is Reflected In Many Of His Works Notably The Afro-American Symphony The Ballets Sahdji 1930 Set In Africa And Composed After Extensive Study Of African Music And Lenox Avenue 1937 And The Operas The Troubled Island 1938 Produced 1949 With A Libretto By Langston Hughes And Highway No. 1 U.S.A. Produced 1963 And 1977 . During This Time Still Also Made History When He Conducted 1936 The Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1939 He Married Settling In Los Angeles. Still’s Compositions From The Mid-1930s Show The Jazz Band As A Major Influence On His Eclectic Musical Style. He Made Considerable Use Of Material In The African American Style—though Rarely Borrowing Actual Melodies—and Preferred Simple Commercial Harmonies And Orchestration The Use Of Which However Was Characterized By The Highest Professionalism And Seriousness Of Purpose. read less