Home -> Composers -> Still, William Grant

Français
 

William Grant Still  (1895-1978) African American Composer, Arranger, Conductor & Oboist Dean of African American Composers
Table of Contents   1 Birth   2 Youth   3 Instruments   4 Wilberforce University   5 Oberlin College   6 W.C. Handy   7 Musical Training   8 Shuffle Along   9 Harlem Renaissance 10 Genres 11 Classical Composer 12 Darker America 13 Arranger 14 John Alden Carpenter 15 Artistic Maturity 16 Deep River Hour 17 Conductor 18 Afro-American Symphony 19 Symphonic Debut 20 Recognition 21 Grace Bundy Still 22 Europe 23 La Guiablesse 24 Song of a New Race 25 Guggenheim 26 Los Angeles 27 Public Relations 28 Columbia Pictures 29 Opera 30 Kaintuck' 31 Hollywood Bowl 32 Lenox Avenue 33 1939 World's Fair 34 A New Family 35 Dances 36 Sunday Symphony 37 Africa 38 In Memoriam 39 Skyward My People Rose 40 Piano Music 41 Death 42 Legacy 43 Resources 44 Works 45 Bibliography	William Grant Still (Photo is the sole property of William Grant Still Music, and is used with permission.)

Audio Sample:
1 Cedille 90000 055 (2000); African Heritage Symphonic Series,
   Vol. I; Chicago Sinfonietta; Paul Freeman, Conductor
   Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American)
2 Koch International Classics 3-7084-2 H1 (1991); Africa: Piano
   Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano
   Blues From "Lenox Avenue"
3 Koch International Classics 3-7192-2 H1 (1994); William Grant
   Still: Summerland; Alexa Still, flute; Susan DeWitt Smith, piano;
   New Zealand String Quartet Summerland
4 Koch International Classics 3-7154-2 H1 (1993); William Grant
   Still: La Guiablesse, Danzas de Panama, Quit Dat Fool'nish,
   Summerland; Berliner Symphoniker; Isaiah Jackson, Conductor
   Danzas de Panama

1 Birth
Dominique-René de Lerma, Professor of Music at Lawrence University, has specialized in African heritage in classical music for four decades.  He has kindly made his research file on William Grant Still available to this site.  William Grant Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi on May 11, 1895.  He was the son of two teachers, Carrie Lena Fambro Still (1872-1927) and William Grant Still (1871-1895), who was also a partner in a grocery store. 

2 Youth
Young William was only three months old when his father died.  Carrie Still then took him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where they lived with her mother.  She taught high school English there for 33 years.  During William's childhood Carrie married Charles B. Shepperson, a postal clerk.  He bought many 78 rpm records of opera, which the boy greatly enjoyed.  The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour. 

3 Instruments
William started violin lessons at age 14.  Prof. De Lerma notes that the youth also taught himself how to play the clarinet, saxophone,
oboe, double bass, cello and viola, and showed a great interest in music.  His maternal grandmother introduced him to African American spirituals by singing them to him.  At age 16 he graduated from M. W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock. 

4 Wilberforce University
His mother wanted him to go to medical school, so Still pursued a Bachelor of Science degree program at Wilberforce University in Ohio from 1911 to 1915.  He then dropped out of school.  On October 4, 1915 he married Grace Bundy, an acquaintance from Wilberforce.  Prof. De Lerma explains Still's dissatisfaction with the school:

He was unhappy at Wilberforce where he directed the band from 1911 to 1915 and made arrangements because there was no music in the curriculum. First recital of his music in 1913.  He moved to Oberlin in 1917, following two years of work in Columbus where in 1914 he began playing the oboe and cello professionally at the Athletic Club. Also played oboe and violin in the tours of the National Guard Band, 1915-1916.

5 Oberlin College
Prof. De Lerma gives the details of Still's studies at Oberlin, which were interrupted by service in the U.S. Navy:

He studied at Oberlin with Maurice P. Kessler (violin), George Whitfield Andrews (composition), Friedrich J. Lehman (counterpoint and theory), and Charlotte Andrews Stevens, and played in the student string quartet.  Made band arrangements. The lure of music was too strong. Further study, made possible by an inheritance from his father, was undertaken in 1917 and 1919 at Oberlin (where he first heard an orchestra).  His stay at Oberlin was interrupted when he enlisted service in the Navy (1918- 1919). Black sailors were restricted to aspects of food service but, when it became known that Still was a trained musician, he was engaged to play the violin for the meals of officers on the U.S.S. Kroonland.

6 W.C. Handy
We learn from the research file that Still returned to Oberlin only briefly before moving to New York City to work for W.C. Handy:

Released from the Navy with the end of the war, he returned briefly to Oberlin and then in 1919 moved to New York, resuming his work with W.C. Handy as performer, arranger, and road manager and in Pace and Handy Music Company Band (he originally began working for Handy, who was then in Memphis, for the summer of 1916 as arranger and cellist).  Then freelanced in Columbus for the fall of 1916.

7 Musical Training
Still's  Afro-American Symphony  has been recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, under Neeme Jarvi, Conductor, on Chandos 9154 (1993).  Michael Fleming writes of Still's musical training in the liner notes:

His musical training was twofold, embracing the European tradition at Oberlin College, and the African-American in his work with W. C. Handy in New York.  He earned his living playing the oboe in the pit band for the musical  Shuffle Along.

8 Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along  was produced by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake.  Some of its musical arrangements were done by Still.  The show featured an African American cast and was so successful that it ran for 504 performances in New York City before going on tour.  Still's studies with the composer George Chadwick were without charge.  They took place at the New England Conservatory of Music, where Chadwick was Director, beginning in 1921.  A scholarship enabled him to study composition with the avant garde composer Edgar Varese in New York City for two years.  He also received a Guggenheim and Rosenwald fellowships.  Prof. De Lerma explains that Still later turned away from the techniques of Varese:

He subsequently abandoned the influence so that he could turn his attention to the folkloric.                     ... He also played in the pit orchestra of Dixie to Broadway (1924 and the summer of 1926).  Played in Leroy Smith Orchestra 1926, managed Earl Carroll’s Vanities (1926).

9 Harlem Renaissance
The "Harlem Renaissance", also called the "New Negro Movement", began about the time of Still's arrival in New York City, and continued into the early 1930s.  It proved that African Americans had a rich and vibrant culture which was fast becoming a prominent cultural feature of the United States and the world.  Two leading authors who influenced the movement were W. E. B. DuBois, who wrote  The Souls of Black Folk,  and Alain Locke, author of  The New Negro.  Still was a firm believer and an active participant in the "Harlem Renaissance", and his music showed its influence for the rest of his life.  He also performed classical music as an oboist with the Harlem Orchestra.

10 Genres
Aaron Myers is a contributor to Africana Encyclopedia. He characterizes William Grant Still as an:

...American composer whose musical works included African American themes and spanned jazz, popular, opera, and classical genres.                     ... He created over 150 musical works including a series of five symphonies, four ballets, and nine operas.

11 Classical Composer
Still became a classical composer while working in the record business.  Black Swan Records was a label owned by African Americans.  Prof. De Lerma tells us that Still was the director of Black Swan's classical division from 1921-1922, and was the label's music director from 1922-1924. 

The first performance of a classical work by Still took place on February 8, 1925.  The ensemble was the International Composer's Guild and the work was  From the Land of Dreams.  Still's Darker America  was performed in both 1926 and 1927.   

12 Darker America
Verna Arvey, Still's second wife, writes in her book, In One Lifetime, published by the University of Arkansas Press in 1984, that the composer had not yet settled on his own style of composing when he wrote Darker America:
                      

Yet Darker America won a publication prize at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (which was to play an important part in Still's life) and was described as the “high spot” of its New York concert by the Musical Courier, which told its readers that “there is no doubting the man's power.” The Eastman School of Music and its distinguished director, Dr. Howard Hanson, became increasingly important in Still's life.

The author adds that William Grant Still asked the jazz singer Florence Mills if she would sing a work with a classical orchestra if he were to write one for her.  When she agreed, he wrote Levee Land, with four songs for singer and orchestra.   Eugene Goosens conducted the International Composer's Guild in the premiere of the work on January 4, 1926.  Still and the critics were very pleased, and the audience insisted that the performance be repeated on the spot.

13 Arranger
Still had played a variety of instruments to make a living.  When a conductor named Don Voorhees hired Still to do all the arranging for a radio program, Arvey writes, he no longer needed to take jobs as an instrumentalist.  She continues:

Don Voorhees and Still were linked through a couple of historic occasions. When the Columbia Broadcasting System network started, Voorhees broadcast an entire program of Still arrangements on the opening day.  And it was Voorhees who recorded (on a Columbia disc) Still's Fantasy on the “St. Louis Blues,”  the first such arrangement of what is now an American classic ever to be recorded.                         ... He scored a number of shows, including Rain or Shine, one edition of J. P. McEvoy's Americana, and Runnin' Wild, the show that contained the first Charleston.  Jimmy Johnson and Cecil Mack wrote the tune; Still was the first to orchestrate it.

14 John Alden Carpenter
Still's friendship with the prominent American composer John Alden Carpenter also furthered his career, Verna Arvey writes:

Through him and his artistic friends in Chicago, Still also became acquainted with that famous dancer and ballet master, Adolph Bolm, and with the latter's pupil, Ruth Page. It was from this association that Still's “La Guiablesse” was born.

Prof. De Lerma notes that Still also composed the music for Paul Whiteman's 1929 film The King of Jazz.

15 Artistic Maturity
Still's successes in 1930 were evidence of his artistic maturity as a composer.  In that year his African ballet Sahdji made use of a scenario by Alain Locke, Arvey relates.  Though the play lasted nearly an hour, the music was composed within a month.  She elaborates:

Sahdji, which Still dedicated to Howard Hanson, became the first ballet produced as a part of the American Music Festivals in Rochester, and starred Thelma Biracree as choreographer and soloist.  Its success paved the way for productions of other ballets by other American composers at the Eastman School. Buoyed by an October 24 (1930) performance of Africa, in Rochester, Still launched another ambitious venture, his now-famous Afro-American Symphony, which he constructed on an original theme in the blues idiom.                          ... He started work on this symphony on October 30, 1930. Ideas came to him so rapidly that he could hardly record them.

At the same time that Still found emotional fulfillment in composing, his relationship with his wife grew more strained.

16 Deep River Hour
Verna Arvey relates that the composer's concentration was interrupted by awareness that because of the Depression, he was unable to pay his bills.  Money was owed him, but he could not collect it, she writes.  A short time later, Don Voorhees asked him to do some arranging for the Maxwell House Coffee radio show he conducted.  The author continues:

The orchestrations so pleased Willard Robison, the guest soloist on the show, that he asked Still to orchestrate his new radio program, the “Deep River Hour.” Still agreed.  The “Deep River Hour” gained an immediate and enthusiastic following among musicians, partly because of the unique orchestral effects.  What few of them realized was that its orchestrator was using it as a musical training ground: trying out new tone combinations, experimenting with harmonies and rhythms, and in general bringing to it the freshness of his youth and his creative ideas.                          ... Still's work on the songs involved actual composing, and was far more than what is usually meant by “arrangements.”

17 Conductor
We learn from the author that the program had trouble finding a suitable conductor, so the musicians suggested Still for the position.  She continues:

It seemed to Still to be a workable solution.                         ... So Still became the first Negro ever to conduct a white radio program.                         ... Still had no formal training in conducting, therefore very little knowledge of baton technique.  All he knew was what he wanted to hear from the orchestra, so the orchestra members became his teacher. Move by move, they showed him what they had to see him do in order to get the effects he wanted. Learning to conduct also helped him in composing; he had never before known how things look to a conductor.  It was an entirely different point of view.                           ... Eventually the “Deep River” moved from CBS to NBC, where the officials adamantly refused to have a Negro conduct the orchestra, so someone else was called to do it.

18 Afro-American Symphony
Dominique-René de Lerma comments on Still's  Afro-American Symphony  in Africana Encyclopedia:

A contemporary of Work and Dawson, William Grant Still based his first symphony, the  Afro-American Symphony  (1930), on the blues and his experience as a jazz arranger.

Michael Fleming quotes the composer in the liner notes for Chandos 9154 (1993):

I knew I wanted to write a symphony; I knew that it had to be an American work; and I wanted to demonstrate how the blues, so often considered a lowly expression, could be elevated to the highest musical level.

Other noteworthy recordings of the  Afro-American Symphony include one by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karl Krueger, on Bridge 9086 (1999).

19 Symphonic Debut
The first performances of the  Afro-American Symphony were given by the Rochester Philharmonic, with Howard Hanson conducting, on Oct. 28 and 29, 1931.  The liner notes explain the significance of the composer's symphonic debut:

Howard Hanson [1896-1981], who conducted the premiere with the Rochester Philharmonic in 1931, was a noted exponent of contemporary American music.  Once he had paved the way, others moved quickly to take up Still's cause: the New York Philharmonic gave the New York premiere of the symphony in 1935 at Carnegie Hall.

Verna Arvey emphasizes the impact of a national tour of the
Philadelphia Orchestra:

Possibly Still's symphonic music received its greatest North American publicity when Leopold Stokowski played the fourth movement of the Afro-American Symphony on his cross-country tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for this tour was advertised extensively.

20 Recognition
By 1931, William Grant Still's music was being heard and appreciated in a growing number of venues, the author tells us:

Thanks to Howard Hanson, Still didn't lack performances of his work, and the results were gratifying. After the first rehearsal of Sahdji in May of 1931, Hanson wrote to say that the orchestra members put down their instruments and applauded, as the audience applauded after the performance. In the 1931-1932 season, Hanson also played the Afro-American Symphony and then repeated it at a subsequent concert, after which its composer was given a standing ovation by the audience.

 21 Grace Bundy Still
Verna Arvey writes that in 1932 Grace Bundy Still moved to Canada with their son and three daughters as well as her mother:

Around this time (1932) Still's wife, obviously as discontented as he, took her four children and her mother and went to live in Canada. She was going there, she said, to write for a magazine, though the job never materialized. Still never saw her again, but he did continue to see the children.

22 Europe
Arvey tells of two performances of Still's compositions in Europe in 1933.  One movement of the Afro-American Symphony was played in Berlin, and a concert in Paris included Africa:

In January of 1933, Hanson played the Third (Scherzo) Movement of the Afro-American Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where the audience ignored tradition and refused to let the concert continue until the Scherzo was repeated. That same year, Africa was played to a thunderous ovation by Richard Lert and the Pasdeloup Orchestra in Paris.

23 La Guiablesse
We learn from Verna Arvey's biography that the American composer Randall Thompson was among those who remarked on the manner in which African American musical influences appeared in Still's music in an original form. She says the ballet La Guiablesse is an excellent example:

It was this way in the West Indian ballet, La Guiablesse, which Still had completed in the intervening months and for which, lacking material from Martinique, he developed his own idiom. He later found it to be completely true to the drama, characters and locale. Both Howard Hanson and Thelma Biracree in Rochester – as well as Ruth Page in Chicago – produced this ballet  successfully in 1933, Ruth Page repeating it at the Chicago Grand Opera the following year, with Katherine Dunham as soloist - her first major opportunity.

24 Song of a New Race
For several years after his successful debut as a symphonist, Still continued to be regarded as primarily an arranger.  Michael Fleming has also written the liner notes for Still's  Symphony No. 2 in G Minor (Song of a New Race)  (29:22).  It was recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Jarvi, Conductor, on Chandos 9226 (1993).  Fleming recounts:

Yet he persisted, and on 10 December 1937, Leopold Stokowski conducted the  Symphony in G Minor  with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The composer provided subtitles for the four movements of the symphony: Yearnings, Sorrow, Humor  and  Aspiration.

25 Guggenheim
We learn from Verna Arvey that Still had been frustrated in his attempts to compose opera, so he applied for a fellowship, but was unsuccessful at first:

He had applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship so that he could have a year free in which to work on an opera, but he had been refused.  Dr. Hanson was visibly surprised to learn of the refusal, and suggested that he try again the following year.  He did, and this time he was awarded one. On May 22, 1934, he did walk away from Robison and the "Deep River Hour," drove to Los Angeles, and settled down to composing his new opera. Here we met and began to work together.

Verna Arvey was a 24-year-old journalist and concert pianist with interests in dance, film music, and music of the Americas.  Her articles were published in such magazines as Etude, Opera, Concert and Symphony, and American Dancer.

26 Los Angeles
Dominique-René de Lerma provides an overview of Still's first 20 years in Los Angeles:

He moved to Los Angeles in 1934, having won the first of two consecutive Guggenheim Fellowships (third in 1938), followed by two years on a Rosenwald Fellowship (1939-1940), soon after sound was introduced to the cinema, and was engaged in writing music for such early films as Lost Horizon (1935), Pennies From Heaven (1936), and Stormy Weather  (1943).  Later he served as composer for television, writing music for Gunsmoke  and the original Perry Mason Show  (1954).  All the while, however, he gave serious attention to his symphonic, chamber, and operatic interests.

27 Public Relations
We learn from Verna Arvey that public relations tasks soon cut into the time Still had for composing:

It seemed to me that my own talents might be of use here, so I volunteered to handle the public relations and promotional side of the work.  Still (who by then was called Billy by his West Coast friends) agreed, so I started to work.  In addition to the secretarial and literary aspects of my labors, I often played over what he had written when his day's composing was over, because, although he could find his notes and chords on the piano, he was still far from being a performing artist on that instrument.  I also included some of his music in my own piano recitals, often lecturing about him and his compositions in the process. He paid me for all this, but not very much, since he was keeping only fifteen dollars a week for himself and sending the major part of his Guggenheim Fellowship money for the support of his family in the East.

He also started writing piano works specifically for performance by Verna Arvey.

28 Columbia Pictures
Still's work with Columbia Pictures was short-lived, the author explains:

Publicity in the Los Angeles papers brought Still a contract with Columbia Pictures for six months, and an option which was never picked up, for understandable reasons.  Billy was out of his element in the studios.  The man who brought him in (Howard Jackson, an old friend) soon lost his job as head of the studio music department.                     Time and time again during the six months, the  new studio music director would ignore Still and call in outside composers to do the work.

Verna Arvey adds that other studios were falsely told Still had been unable to do the work.  Also, she writes, a coworker loudly exclaimed in Still's presence, "A n____ in this line of work?"

29 Opera
When Still completed his first opera, Blue Steel, he set it aside,  Verna Arvey writes.  His second was Troubled Island, set in Haiti, with text mainly by Langston Hughes and partly by Verna Arvey.  It was the only opera for which she did not write most of the libretto.  It was also the only one of Still's operas to have the honor of being staged by a major opera company, the New York City Opera.  The website http://www.williamgrantstill.com lists his operas, some of which were set aside or left incomplete:

Blue Steel Troubled Island A Bayou Legend Costaso From the Furnace of the Sun Highway 1, USA Minette Fontaine Mota The Pillar A Southern Interlude

Just Tell The Story: Troubled Island  is a book about the historic performance by the New York City Opera.  It is edited by Judith Anne Still and Lisa M. Headlee, and is published by The Master-Player Library (2006).  A companion website is
www.troubledisland.com   Highway 1, USA  is available on a CD by Phillip Brunelle and the Vocalessence Ensemble, Albany Records 734 (2005).
 
30 Kaintuck'
After he wrote Blue Steel, Still received a commission for an instrumental work to be performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Goosens.  He responded by producing two works for piano and orchestra, Dismal Swamp and Kaintuck'.  Goosens chose Kaintuck', and allowed Verna Arvey and another pianist to perform it first on two pianos at a Los Angeles Pro Musica concert.  Howard Hanson conducted both works in Rochester.

31 Hollywood Bowl
One of the proudest and most historic moments of Still's career took place on July 23, 1936, when he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of his own compositions at the Hollywood Bowl.  Verna Arvey writes that this was the first time an African American conductor led a major symphony orchestra in concert in the United States.

32 Lenox Avenue
We learn the origin of the 1936 ballet Lenox Avenue from Verna Arvey, who wrote the script:

A new kind of music was requested for Still's next composition when CBS, under Deems Taylor's guidance, decided to commission six leading American composers to write compositions especially for radio.  It was a relatively new medium for serious music, so the project was considered experimental.  Still composed a series of pieces - actually a suite - for orchestra, piano soloist, chorus and narrator, inspired by street scenes in Harlem.

CBS opened the series of broadcasts with Lenox Avenue.  Verna Arvey says Still subsequently received letters, postcards and telegrams from about 130 listeners, and fewer than half a dozen
of them were unfavorable.

33 1939 World's Fair
Verna Arvey tells of another result of the commission for Lenox Avenue:

Indirectly, this led to another commission, for when Kay Swift and the other members of the New York World's Fair in 1939-40 Theme Committee wanted to select a composer to write their theme music, they went to the CBS offices and there heard airchecks of all the serious American composers' work which CBS had in its files.  None of the composers were aware of this at the time.  The Theme Committee itself did not know the names of the composers of any of the works.  They found two (A Deserted Plantation and Lenox Avenue) and agreed that whoever wrote either one of them could be their composer.  William Grant Still had written both.

Still composed the theme and it was continuously played in the Fair Perisphere, the author notes:

All the while (1939-40) the William Grant Still Theme Music was grinding away in the New York World Fair's Fair Perisphere, performance after performance daily, until at the Fair's end it was estimated to have been played about fifty or sixty thousand times.

34 A New Family
William Grant Still and Grace Bundy Still were divorced in 1939.  Still and Verna Arvey married on February 8, 1939, according to In One Lifetime.  The book also indicates that the couple's son Duncan Allan Still was born about a year later, and their daughter Judith Anne Still was born when her brother was two and a half. 

35 Dances
The African American Conductor Isaiah Jackson and the Berliner Symphoniker [Berlin Symphony Orchestra] have recorded two of Still's major dance works on Koch 3 7154 2H1 (1993).  The first is La Guiablesse  (18:35), consisting of nine brief dances.  The second major composition is  Danzas de Panama [Dances of Panama] (14:00).  The four dances are titled:  Tamborito, Mejorana, Punto  and  Cumbia.   Perna notes:

Still took these dance themes and cast them for string quartet, quintet or, as heard on this recording, for string orchestra.  He made every effort to approximate the sounds of native instruments thereby giving this piece an arresting character.

36 Sunday Symphony
Still's  Symphony No. 3 (Sunday Symphony)  (20:48) has been recorded by the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, led by Carlton R. Woods, Conductor.  The CD is Cambria 1060 (1996).  The liner notes explain:

It is the only symphony which was not performed during Still's lifetime.  In fact the William Grant Still Festival performance in 1984 and this recording were world premieres.

37 Africa
Rhapsody in Black and White  is an Italian CD on which Marco Fumo, piano, performs Still's symphonic poem,  Africa  (22:49).  The disc is Dynamic CDS 351 (2000).  The liner notes analyze the work and its form:

Africa  is a symphonic poem in three movements, a little in the fashion of the symphonic suites by Rimskji-Korsakov.                          ... Still here draws the picture of an imaginary Africa - not much was known about it in those days - using the music material at hand: the work's fabric is woven with beautiful themes, often in the fashion of blues or spirituals yet very idiomatic and showing right from the first measure those iridescent polytonal juxtapositions that can be considered his trademark.

A symphonic version of Africa (27:51) was recorded by the Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra under John Jeter, Conductor, on Naxos 8.559174 (2005).

38 In Memoriam
The Naxos CD also includes Still's  Afro-American Symphony  (24:57) and another 1930 work,  In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy  (7:22).  It  had been commissioned by the League of Composers, and was premiered on Jan. 5, 1944 by the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski. David Ciucevich writes in the liner notes:

The  New York Times  critic Olin Downes remarked on its powerful 'simplicity and feeling, without affectation or attitudinizing'. The wording of the title does carry an ironic aspect, reflecting the fact that African-Americans were fighting for world freedom and civilisation abroad while being denied those very freedoms at home.

39 Skyward My People Rose
Skyward My People Rose: Music of William Grant Still,  Clarion CLR 905 CD (2004) combines original vocal pieces with music adapted from Stephen Foster.  Soloists include Hilda Harris, mezzo soprano, and Yolanda Williams, soprano.  The groups are the VocalEssence Ensemble and the VocalEssence Orchestra.  Philip Brunelle is both organist and Conductor.  The CD is one of four Clarion discs in a VocalEssence collection called  Witness, devoted to music by African American composers.  The works are: Wailing Woman  (1946),  Swanee River (Old Folks at Home), And They Lynched Him on a Tree  (1940),  Miss Sally's Party: A Ballet for string orchestra (1940),  Reverie  (1962) and  Elegy  (1963). 

40 Piano Music
William Grant Still Piano Music  was recorded by the African American pianist Mark Boozer, who is an Associate Professor at Clark Atlanta University.  He has made a specialty of the music of William Grant Still.  The CD is Naxos 8.559210 (2005).  It opens with Three Visions, continues with Seven Traceries, Lenox Avenue, The Blues, and A Deserted Plantation, before concluding with a piano arrangement of Africa.

41 Death
The Epilogue of In One Lifetime tells us that William Grant Still was in a nursing home for the final three years of his long and productive life:

The last three years of Billy's life were spent in a nursing home as a result of a series of strokes and heart attacks.  Death came on December 3, 1978, at age 83.

42 Legacy
William Grant Still was so much more successful than other African American classical composers of his time that he was often referred to as the Dean of African American Composers.  He left a rich legacy of instrumental and vocal works of classical music, jazz, blues, and popular music.  His works are available on a huge  number of recordings.  The compositions and CDs discussed on this page are only a fraction of those in the Works list below.  Prof. De Lerma notes:

His materials are held by his daughter, Judith Anne Still, manager of William Grant Still Music, which moved to Flagstaff, Arizona.

The  Website  of William Grant Still Music can be found at: http://www.williamgrantstill.com

43 Resources

Interview  www.umich.edu/~afroammu/standifer/still.html  - African American Music Center, University of Michigan School of Music. Interviewer Jim Standifer spoke with William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Still at their home in Los Angeles in 1974.  When asked about the racial situation in his early life, Still replied, in part: "Oh, I have seen incidents that I abhorred.  For instance, I saw a Negro being beaten up by a couple policemen.  I saw the old Negro man, poor old fellow, he was coming out of a market, in Memphis, I'll never forget this, this deputy right behind him, shot him and killed him."

Dr. Estrella's Incredibly Abridged Dictionary of Composers www.stevenestrella.com/composers/composerfiles/still1978.html  - Biographical data, recommended CDs, books and sheet music, bibliography, and links from Dr. Estella's Incredibly Abridged Dictionary of Composers.  Essay contributed by Celeste Anne Headlee, granddaughter of William Grant Still.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Grant_Still  - Entry on William Grant Still in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Life, career, compositions, bibliography and links.  Excerpt: "He was the first African-American to conduct a major American orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television.  He is often referred to as the dean of African-American composers."

44 Works
Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma

CD: William Brown, tenor; Ann Sears, piano. Albany TROY (1999; Fi-yer!; A century of African-American song).

Orphans

AC: Albert Dominguez, piano. WGMS CASM-1002 (1988).

AC: William Grant Still PAS [Performing Arts Society] of the National Association of Negro Musicians. WGMS M-1003 (1989; William Grant Still; Voices and piano).

CD: Fritz Gearhart, violin; Paul Tardif, piano. Koch International Classics 3-7268-2 (1996). Still work; Suite, violin & piano. A first mvt originally for flute & piano, arr. by composer.

CD: Koch 7602

CD: Northern Arizona University Wind Symphony; Patricia J. Hoy, conductor. NAUW 0001 (1994, From the delta).

CD: Oral Moses, bass-baritone; George Morrison Bailey, piano. Albany TROY (2001; Amen!; African-American composers of the 20th century).

CD?: Lois Adele Craft, harp; Annette Kaufman, piano; Kaufman String Quartet [Louis Kaufman, George Berres, violins; Alexander Neiman, viola; Terry King, cello]. WGS MCA 1001 (1988).

CD?: William Grant Still PAS [Performing Arts Society] of the National Association of Negro Musicians. WGMS M-1003 (1989; William Grant Still; Voices and piano).

LP: Albert Dominguez, piano. WGMS MCA-1002 (1988).

LP: New England Conservatory Jazz Repertory Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, conductor. Golden Crest CRSQ 31043 (1976; Happy feet).

LP: Westphalian Symphony Orchestra; Paul Freeman, conductor. Turnabout TVS-34536 (1974, The contemporary Black composer in the USA).

A bayou legend, opera in 3 acts for soprano, mezzo-soprano, 4 tenors, 2 baritones, 2 basses, chorus & orchestra, in 3 sets
(1941). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. Text: Verna Arvey. Dedication: John Barbirolli. Instrumentation: 3232, Eh (p); 3321; timp; perc; cel; harp; strings Première: 1974/XI/15; Jackson MS, Jackson State University; Opera South; Donald Door, director; Leonard dePaur, conductor. Library of Congress (184p. piano-vocal score). Duration: 120:00. == Telecast PBS 1981.

VC: Cambria WGM BL-3003/ H1-3004 (2000). Includes Highway 1 USA.

VC: Cambria WGSM4-3002-4 (2000). Includes A bayou legend; Highway 1, U.S.A.; Minette Fontaine; Troubled island.

----- Because faint whisperings of practices, for 2 tenors, baritone, bass & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 3.

----- Calm as the waters of the bayou, for soprano, tenor, SATB & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 3.

----- Children of the world, for tenor & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 2.

----- In ages past, for soprano & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 1.

----- More lovely than my imagining, for tenor & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 2.

----- Now they will be coming to the tree, for mezzo-soprano & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 1.

A deserted plantation, for chamber orchestra (1933). New York: Robbins, 1934. 4p. 1. Spiritual; I want Jesus to walk with me; 2. Young Missy; 3. Dance. Première: 1933/XII/15; New York; Metropolitan Opera House; Paul Whiteman, conductor. Duration: 15:00

----- for piano. New York: Robbins Music, 1936. Library: Spingarn.

CD: Denver Oldham, piano. Altarus AIR-CD-9013 (1996).

A look at jazz; songs, a medley, for instrumental ensemble (1922?).

A psalm for the living, for SATB & orchestra (1954). New York: Bourne. Text: Verna Arvey. Dedication: Dr. Bessie Arvey. Duration: 10:00.

----- piano-vocal score. New York: Bourne, 1965 (#825). 20p. Library: Library of Congress (LC 66-40550/M).

AC: National Association of Negro Musicians [young adults]. Cambria CA-1003 (1994).

A song at dusk, for orchestra (1936). Dedication: Judith Anne Still[-Headlee] and Larry Headlee. Duration: 9:00. Original title: Beyond tomorrow.

A song for the lonely, for medium voice & piano (1953). Los Angeles: WGS Music. Text: Verna Arvey. Duration: 3:48.

----- for medium voice & piano, in Song collection, ed. by Celeste Headlee. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2000.

AC: Claudine Carlson, mezzo-soprano; Georgia Akst, piano. Orion ORS-633.

CD: CBS Symphony, the Standard Hour; Bay Cities BCD 1033 (1991).

CD: Claudine Carlson, soprano; Georgia Akst, piano. Cambria CD-1121 (1999, Lenox Avenue). Liner notes: Tony Thomas.

CD: Robert Honeysucker, baritone; Vivian Taylor, piano. New World Records NW 80399-2 (1990).

LP: Claudine Carlson, mezzo-soprano; Georgia Akst, piano. Orion ORS-7278 (1972).

LP: Claudine Carlson, mezzo-soprano; Georgia Akst, piano. Orion ORS-7152 (1972).

----- for flute & piano.

CD: Alexa Still, flute; ==, piano. Koch 3-7192-2H1 (1994).

----- for medium voice & string quartet with piano.

CD: Videmus [Robert Honeysucker, baritone; Lynn Chang, Lydia Forbes, violins; George Taylor, viola; Mark Churchill, cello, Vivian Taylor, piano]. New World Records 80399-2 (1990; Works by William Grant Still).

-----for soprano & chamber orchestra.

----- for violin & piano.

CD: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Cambria CD-1121 (1999; The violin artistry of Louis Kaufman).

A Southern interlude, opera in 2 acts, for 4 soloists, SATB & orchestra, in one scene (1942). Text: Verna Arvey. Duration: 60:00. Withdrawn and absorbed by other works, particularly Highway 1 U.S.A. Library: Library of Congress (43-7632, piano-vocal score, 107p.).

Adios, Mariquita linda.

CD: [Artie Shaw and His Orchestra?]. Pavillon Records CD-9779 (1986?; Cream)

After you’ve gone, by Turner Layton, Jr., arr. by William Grant Still.

CD: Wade Woodward, baritone; Centennial Celebration Orchestra; Ronnie Wooten, conductor (1998). Cambria A110 (The big broadcast). Liner notes: Lance Bowling.

LP: Unidentified performers; Publisher’s Central Bureau (1977).

Africa; suite, for orchestra (1930). 1. Land of peace; 2. Land of romance; 3. Land of superstition. Instrumentation: 3233 (p) Eh bcl, 4331, timp, 3 perc, cel, harp, piano, strings. Première: 1930; New York; Little Symphony; Georges Barrère, conductor. Dedication: Georges Barrère. Duration: 23:00-30:00. Withdrawn. Library: Columbia (9p. lead sheet); Library of Congress (74-226251; holograph, 101p., gift of Irving. Schwerké, March 1966; 3p. penciled note on stationery having monogram "RL" mentioning the composer's invention of finger-nail pizzicato, use of tom-toms and of Harmon and fibre mutes for trumpets and trombones; also manuscript of 9p. dated 1934 and lead sheet of 5p. dated 1937); Robbins Music Corporation, manuscript copyright, 1934.

----- 1931 reorchestration. Première: 1930; Rochester; American Composers Concert, Eastman School of Music.

----- for piano (1928). Flagstaff: William Grant Still Music. with commentaries by Grant Venerable and Kay Pace.

CD: Denver Oldham, piano. Koch International Classics 3-7084-2H1 (1991).

CD: Marco Fumo, piano. Dynamic 351 (2000; Rhapsody in black and white)..

CD: Mark Boozer, piano (2001/III). Interntional Consortium for the Music of Africa and its Diaspora. FESAAM 2001.

African dancer, for violin & orchestra. The violin part was edited by Louis Kaufman.

----- for violin & string orchestra.

Ah got a home in-a dat rock, for high voice & piano. New York: Handy Brothers, 1948. Library: Library of Congress.

All that I am, for SATB & organ (1965). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. Text: Verna Arvey. Duration: 2:00.

----- for medium voice & piano, in Song collection, ed. by Celeste Headlee. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2000.

----- for SATB & orchestra, arr. by Ray Anthony Delia Lomita CA: Cambria Publications. Première: 1984/X/22; cast of Minette Fontaine.

----- for SATB & organ.

----- for soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, SATB & orchestra.

America; a vision, by Mabel Bean, orchestrated by William Grant Still (1953). Flagstaff: WGS Music.

And they lynched him on a tree, for narrator, contralto, SATB (Black chorus), SATB (White chorus) & orchestra (1940). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music: J. Fischer, 1941. 52p. Text: Katherine Garrison Chapin (Mrs. Biddle). 1. We’ve swung him higher; 2. Look dere; 3. Oh, sorrow; 4. He was her baby; 5. They took away his freedom; 6. They left him hanging. Première: 1940/VI/24; New York; Lewisohn Stadium; Schola Cantorum; Louise Burge, contralto; New York Philharmonic; Artur Rodzinski, conductor. Duration: 19:00. Instrumentation: 2222 (p Eh), 3331, perc, harp, strings. Dedication: Henry Allen Moe.

78rpm: Unidentified ensemble; Leopold Stokowski, conductor (broadcast). Leopold Stokowski Society CA 11 LSSA (available from William Grant Still Music).

AC: Eva Jessye Choir; Collegiate Choir; Leopold Stokowski, conductor. CMCA 11 LSSA.

CD: Marvin Hayes, narrator; Louise Burge, contralto; Lawrence Winters, narrator; Eva Jessye Choir; Collegiate Choir; NBC Symphony Orchetra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor & announcer (1942). Cambria CD-A11IA (2000, A centennial retrospective).

CD: Hilda Harris, mezzo-soprano; William Warfield, narrator; Leigh Morris Chorale; The Ensemble Singers, Chorus of the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota; Philip Brunelle, conductor. Collins Classics 14542 (1996, Witness, vol. 2). Liner notes: Dominique-René de Lerma.

CD: Hilda Harris, mezzo-soprano; William Warfield, narrator; Leigh Morris Chorale; VocalEssence Ensemble Singers; Philip Brunelle, conductor. Clarion CL 8905 CD (2004, Witness, Skyward my people rose, Music of William Grant Still). Liner notes: Dominique-René de Lerma.

----- piano-vocal score. Glen Rock: J. Fischer & Bro., 1941. 46p. (#J.F.&B. 0409-46). Library: Library of Congress (45-25446).

----- 3. Oh, sorrow.

AC: National Association of Negro Musicians [young adults]. Cambria CA-1003 (1994).

5 Animal sketches, for piano (1951). Morristown: Silver Burdett, 1952 (Music for early childhood; New music horizon series). 1. Camel; 2. Bear; 3. Horse; 4. Lamb; 5. Elephant. Manuscript contents: 1. Swan (or Graceful swan); 2. Camel (or Bear, or Clumsy bear); 3. Chipmunk (or Busy chipmunk); 4. Horse (or Galloping horse); 5. Lamb (or Gamboling lamb); 6. Mischievous monkey; 7. Elephant (or Pacing pachyderm).

Archaic ritual, for orchestra (1946).  Los Angeles: Delkas, 1946; WGS Music.   1. Chant; 2. Dance before the altar; 3. Possession.  Duration: 20:00.  Instrumentation: 2111 (p cbsn) Eh bcl, 4331, timp, perc. bells, cel, harp, strings.  Première: 1949/VIII/25; Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Philharmonic: Izler Solomon, conductor.

Aria, for accordion (1960). New York: Sam Fox, 1960. 7p. Commission: American Accordionists Association, 1959. Première: 1960/V/15; New York; Town Hall; Myron Floren, accordion. Duration: 5:00.

AT: Robert Young McMahon, accordion.

Arkansas, for medium voice & piano (ca. 1945?). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. Text: Verna Arvey. Duration: 3:00.

----- . Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2000 (Song collection, ed. by Celeste Headlee).

Bambelele e espin garda, for violin & piano. Duration: 2:21.

CD: Zina Schiff, violin; Cameron Grant, piano. 4 Tay CD 4005 (1997).

Bayou home, for medium voice & piano (1944). New York: Robbins Music, 1944. 4p. (#SH 2786-4). Text: Verna Arvey. Based on I'm pickin' my last row of cotton. Duration: 3:00.

CD: Robert Honeysucker, baritone; Vivian Taylor, piano. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2000 (Song collection, ed. by Celeste Headlee).

----- for flute & piano.

CD: Alexa Still, flute; ==, piano. Koch 3-7192-2H1 (1994).

CD: Carlyn Lloyd-Ford, flute; unidentified pianist. Ti-L-Comusic TLC-990002 (1995).

CD: Donna Wissinger, flute; Jon Klibonoff, piano. Eroica JDT 3031 (2000, Amazing grace, an American tapestry).

CD: Keith Pettway, flute; Louis Hobbs, piano. Delta Classic Records DC 0191 (2000, Mississippi classic).

Beale Street blues, by W. C. Handy, arr. by William Grant Still

Bells, for piano (1940). New York: MCA Music; Delkas, 1944.
1. Phantom chapel [dedication: Dolores Calvin]; 2. Fairy knoll [dedication: Philippa Schuyler]. Duration: 6:00.

CD: Denver Oldham, piano. Koch International Classics 3-7084-2H1 (1991).

LP: Albert Dominguez, piano. WSGM 1002 (1987).

LP: Richard Fields, piano. Orion ORS-82442 (1982).

----- for chamber orchestra.

----- for orchestra (1944). Los Angeles: Delkas, 1944. 21p. Instrumentation: 2222 (p cbsn) Eh bcl, 4331, timp, 3 perc, harp, piano, strings. Première: 1946/XI/29; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Vladimir Golschmann, conductor. Library: Library of Congress (44-47114).

----- 1. Phantom chapel. Duration: 6:40.

CD: Manhattan Chamber Orchestra; Richard Auldon Clark, conductor. Newport Classic NPD 85596 (1995; The American scene).

Beyond tomorrow; poem, for orchestra (1936). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. 30p. Duration: 9:00. Library: Library of Congress.

Black bottom, for chamber orchestra (1922). Manuscript (copyright, 1937, held by Robbins Music Corporation). Duration: 10:00. Withdrawn. Library: Columbia (1p. lead sheet)

Blue steel, opera in 3 acts, in 3 scenes, for soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone & chorus (1934). Text: based by J. Bruce Forsythe on a story Carlton Moss. Instrumentation: 3243, Eh; 4331; timp; per, cel; harp; strings. Duration: 120:00. Withdrawn following performance of excerpts; music absorbed by later works. Library: Library of Congress (piano-vocal score, 59p.)

----- piano-vocal score.

----- Entrance of the priests and dance of the priestess. Première: 1935/IV/03; Rochester; Eastman School of Music Little Symphony; Karl van Hoesen, conductor.

----- Give me nobody without your soul, for soprano & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. . Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 1.

----- See the trees, for baritone & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. . Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 2.

----- The drums weave the spell of death, for soprano, contralto, baritone, SATB, percussion & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 3.

Blues, arr. for jazz band by William Grant Still.

78rpm: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1940). His Master’s Voice B-9259.

78rpm: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1940). Victor 27411.

Boston, by Ervin Schulhoff, arr. by William Grant Still.

CD: Centennial Celebration Orchestra; Ronnie Wooten, conductor (1998). Cambria A110 (The big broadcast). Liner notes: Lance Bowling.

Breath of a rose, for voice & piano (1926). New York: G. Schirmer, 1928. Text: Langston Hughes. Première: 1927/IV/26; New York, School for Social Research; Jessie Zachary, soprano. Duration: 5:00.

----- New York: G. Schirmer, 1942 (A new anthology of Americanm songs).

----- New York: G. Schirmer (Romantic American art songs).

CD: Louise Toppin, soprano; Vivian Taylor, piano. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

CD: William Brown, tenor; Ann Sears, piano. Albany (Fiyer!)

----- for saxophone & piano, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Sam Strickland, saxophone; Vivian Taylor, piano. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

Brown baby, for medium voice & piano, by Willie M. Grant [pseud.] (1923). New York: Edward B. Marks, 1923 (#9111). 5p. Text: Paul Henry [pseud.]. Library: Spingarn.

----- Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2000 (Song collection, ed. by Celeste Headlee).

2 Cameos, for flute or violin & piano. Flagstaff: William Grant Still Music. 1. Picnic with Sheilah; 2. Procession of the ants. Reconstructed by Judith Anne Still.

Can'tcha line 'em, for chamber orchestra (1940). Los Angeles: WGS Music. Duration: 5:00. Commission: CBS. Première: 1940/II/17; American School of the Air, CBS radio.

Caribbean melodies, for medium voice & piano (1941). Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1941. Based on melodies collected by Zora Neale Hurston. 1. Hand a' bowl; voodoo chant, from Jamaica; 2. Baintown; serenade, from Bahamas; 3. Two banana; jumping dance, from Bahamas; 4. Woman sweeter than man?, from Bahamas; 5. Peas and rice; jumping dance, from Bahamas; 6. Bellamina, from Bahamas; 7. Mama, I saw a sailboat, from Bahamas; 8. Ah, la sa wu, from Bahamas; 9. Evalina, from Bahamas; 10. Doo ma; jumping dance, from Bahamas; 11. Héla grand père; rada chant, from Haiti; 12. Going to my old home; dance song, from Bahamas; 13. Mister Brown; ring play, from Bahamas; 14. Ten poun' ten; dance song, from Jamaica; 15. Do an' Nannie; jumping dance, from Bahamas; 16. Eh, bi nango, from Bahamas; 17. Carry him along, from Bahamas.

----- 1. Hand a’ bowl, for contralto, baritone, piano & steel band, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Ruth Hamilton, contralto; Robert Honeysucker, baritone; East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 2. Baintown, for tenor, SATB & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- 3. Two banana, for voice & steel band, arr.by Vivian Taylor

CD: Videmus; East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 4. Woman sweeter than man?, for tenor & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- 5. Peas and rice, for soprano, contralto, baritone, percussion & piano, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Videmus. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 6. Bellamina, for contralto & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- for voice & piano, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Videmus; Vivian Taylor, piano. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 7. Mama, I saw a sailboat, for soprano, SSAA, dancers, tom-tom & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62).

----- for soprano, steel band & piano, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Vivian Taylor, soprano & piano; East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 8. Ah, la sa wu, for piano & steel band, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 9. Evalina, for baritone & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- for baritone & piano, arr.by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Robert Honeysucker, baritone; Vivian Taylor, piano. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 10. Doo Ma, for soprano, contralto, baritone & steel band, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Vivian Taylor, soprano; Ruth Hamilton, contralto; Robert Honeysucker, baritone; East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 11. Héla, grand père, for soprano, baritone & piano.

CD: Vivian Taylor, soprano & piano; Robert Honeysucker, baritone; East Carolina Steel Orchestra; Mark Ford, conductor . Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 12. Going to my old home, for steel band, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999).

----- 14. Ten poun' ten, for tenor, percussion & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- 15. Do an’ Nannie, for men's chorus, percussion & piano. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- for contralto, steel band & piano, arr. by Vivian Taylor.

CD: Ruth Hamilton, contralto; Vivian Taylor, piano; East Carolina University Steel Band; Mark Ford, conductor. Cambria CD-1112 (1999, More Still). Liner notes: Vivian Taylor and Zora Neale Hurston.

----- 16. Eh, bi nango, for soprano or tenor & piano.

----- for SATB, piano & percussion. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- 17. Carry him along, for SATB. Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1947 (#78751-62). 56p. Contains nos. 2, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

----- for soprano or tenor, dancers, percussion & piano.

Carmela, for violin & piano (1949?). Duration: 2:08. Written for Louis Kaufman.

AC: Louis Kaufman violin; Anette Kaufman, piano. Orion ORS-633.

AC: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. WGS M-1001.

CD: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Cambria CD-1121 (1999; The violin artistry of Louis Kaufman).

CD: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Cambria CD-1121 (1999, Lenox Avenue). Liner notes: Tony Thomas.

CD: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Ethnovibe Productions (1999; Ebony rhythm).

CD: Zina Schiff, violin; Cameron Grant, piano (1994). 4-Tay CD 4005 (1997, Here’s one).

LP: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Orion ORS-7152 (1971).

LP: Louis Kaufman, violin; Annette Kaufman, piano. Orion ORS-7278 (1971).

----- for flute & guitar, arr. by T. Smith.

----- for viola & piano.

----- for violin & orchestra, orchestrated by Marshall Fine (1991).

Chantez-les bas.

CD: [Artie Shaw and His Orchestra?]. Pavillon Records CD-9779 (1986?; Cream)

Chloe, opera. Text: William Grant Still. Withdrawn.

Choreographic prelude, for flute, piano & string orchestra (1970). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. Première: 1970/I/15; Los Angeles County Museaum, Exposition Park; William Grant Still, conductor. Duration: 5:00.

Christmas in the Western World; las pascuas, for SATB & string orchestra and/or piano (1967). New York: Southern Music, 1967. 36p. Text: Christmas carols, in English, with narration. Text: Verna Arvey. 1. A maiden was adoring God; 2. Ven, niño divino; 3. Aguinaldo; 4. Jesous ahatonhia; 5. Tell me shepherdess; 6. De Virgin Mary had a baby; 7. Los reyes magos; 8. La piñata; 9. Glad Christmas bells; 10. Sing, shout, tell the story!. Duration: 20:00. Library: Library of Congress (piano-vocal score, 68-47273/M), Lucks (11514).

----- unidentified excerpts.

AC: National Association of Negro Musicians [young adults]. Cambria CA-1003 (1994; William Grant Still; Voices and piano).

AC: William Grant Still PAS [Performing Arts Society?] of the National Association of Negro Musicians. WGMS M-1003 (1989; William Grant Still; Voices and piano).

CD?: William Grant Still PAS [Performing Arts Society?] of the National Association of Negro Musicians. WGMS (1989; William Grant Still; Voices and piano).

----- piano-vocal score. New York: Southern Music, 1967. 44p. (#1069)

----- 12. Sing! Shout! tell the story, for SATB, 2 violins & piano.

Clouds, for orchestra by Arthur Lange, arr. by William Grant Still.

Costaso, opera in 3 acts, for saoprno, mezzo-soprano; 4 tenors; 2 baritones; 3 basses; SATB, dancers & orchestra, in 4 scenes (1949). Mission Viejo CA: WGS Music. Text: Verna Arvey. Instrumentation: 2222, Eh (p); 3331’timp; perc; cel; harp; strings. Première: 1981/IV; Opera South. Duration: 120:00. Dedication: Donald Vorhees.

----- A wand’ring beggar came, for tenor & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 2.

----- Ave Maria.

----- for tenor, baritone & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 3.

CD: Scott Piper, tenor; Richard Banks, baritone; Byron Burford, piano. Videmus (1998, Fare ye well).

----- Dance, for piano.

CD: Denver Oldham, piano. Altarus AIR-CD-9013 (1996).

----- Golden days.

CD: Margaret Astrup, soprano; Manhattan Chamber Orchestra; Richard Auldon Clark, conductor. Newport Classic NPD 85596 (1995; The American scene).

----- for soprano & piano, in Arias, duets, and scenes from the operas, ed. by Beverly Soll. Flagstaff: Master-Player Library, 2003, vol. 1.

----- for soprano, harp & strings.

----- On the highway.

AT: Ben Holt, baritone; Cliff Jackson, piano (1984, Peabody Conservatory of Music).

----- piano-vocal score.

3 Dances, orchestra.

Dances in the canebreaks, by Florence Price, arr. by William Grant Still. 1. Nimble feet; 2. Tropical noon; 3. Silk hat and walking cane.

CD: Centennial Celebration Orchestra; John McLaughlin Williams, conductor (1998). Cambria A110 (The big broadcast). Liner note: Lance Bowling.

Danse barbare from Congo sketches, by Will Donaldson, orchestrated by William Grant Still (1928). New York: Carl Fischer.

Danzas de Panamà, for string quartet (1948). New York: Southern Music, 1953 (#197-31). 32p. 1. Tamborito; 2. Mejorana y sovacón; 3. Punto; 4. Cumbia y congo. After melodies collected by Elisabeth Waldo. Première: 1948/V/21; Los Angeles County Museum; Waldo Latin-American String Quartet. Duration: 15:00. Library: Library of Congress (also photocopy of manuscript, 57p., 48-39735), Lucks (11515).

----- New York: Southern Music, 1953. 26p. (236-24; miniature score).

AC: Louis Kaufman, George Berres, violins; Alexander Neiman, viola; Terry King, cel