(2nd part in a series – the whole symphony will be played throughout the month)

William Grant Still was the first African-American to conduct a symphony orchestra as well as the first to have his symphonic music and operas played by a major orchestra. It’s no wonder he’s known as “the Dean” of African-American Composers.

Back when I was in college (music conservatory), a major component of American music history was finding a true American voice, distinct from European Art Music. Some composers simply copied the European style. Dvorak was convinced the American voice would come from the melodies of the Native Americans. Then there’s Copland‘s very popular “American” sound and style of composition (might Daugherty, whom we heard yesterday, be the next Copland?) And of course, there are the composers like Gershwin who adopted African-American styles as their own.

So where does that leave William Grant Still? His first symphony, “Afro-American”, is in four movements, and has more character than the Second New England School, all the richness of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, far more depth than any of Copland’s popular works, and can claim the African-American heritage better than Gershwin can. Everybody should know this music.

You might mistake this first movement for something by Gershwin. The main theme uses a twelve-bar-blues pattern.

William Grant Still was the first African-American to conduct a symphony orchestra as well as the first to have his symphonic music and operas played by a major orchestra. It’s no wonder he’s known as “the Dean” of African-American Composers.

American music history deals a lot with American composers’ search for a “true American voice”, distinct from European Art Music. Some composers simply copied the European style. Dvorak was convinced the American voice would come from the melodies of the Native Americans. Then there’s Copland‘s very popular “American” sound and style of composition (might Daugherty, be the next Copland?) And of course, there are the composers like Gershwin who adopted African-American styles as their own.

So where does that leave William Grant Still? His first symphony, “Afro-American”, is in four movements, and has more character than the Second New England School, all the richness of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony“, far more depth than any of Copland’s popular works, and can claim the African-American heritage better than Gershwin can. Everybody should know this music.

Here’s the third movement of the symphony, which might be one of the only orchestral compositions featuring the banjo!

One of the challenges of being a composer is finding that sweet spot where good music lies. If your style is too conservative, audiences will be bored – they’ve heard this before. If you writing is too progressive, audiences will put off – they don’t understand it. There’s also an argument that there is a finite number of melodies that can be composed, and what does one do when they’re all used up?

Sometimes, the best stuff is the simplest stuff. The main theme to the second movement of Dvořák‘s New World Symphony is so simple that it might as well be a nursery rhyme or a preschool song. But it continues to stir the souls who hear it, over a century after it was composed. It’s a bit to the right of the sweet spot, but boy is it sweet.

Sweet.