William Grant Still's music seamlessly blends folk, spirituals, neo-romantic, neo-impressionist, and modernist influences, incorporating blues and jazz into Romantic and impressionist harmonic idioms.
Historical Context
William Grant Still's marriage to Verna Arvey, who was of Russian Jewish heritage, took place in Mexico in 1939 due to laws against interracial marriage in the USA, which were only overturned in 1967.
Composer Biography
Still learned to play oboe, violin, cello, and clarinet, and despite initially planning a medical career, he pursued music, studying at Oberlin Conservatory and with George W. Chadwick and Edgard Varèse.
Composer Biography
William Grant Still, a pioneering 20th-century African American composer, lost his father at three months old, and his mother and stepfather cultivated his appreciation for classical music.
Cultural Impact
William Grant Still's daughter, Judith Still, has tirelessly worked to preserve and promote her father's legacy, even starting a family-owned publishing business after repeated rejections from other publishers.
Critical Reception
Despite William Grant Still's efforts, influential composers like Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland disparaged his music, and many musicians tried to blacklist him due to systemic racism.
Composer Biography
William Grant Still was the first Black man to conduct a major orchestra in the USA and also worked as an arranger, instrumentalist, and record producer for Black Swan Records.
