1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910496138203321

Autore

Smith Catherine Parsons <1933-2009.>

Titolo

William Grant Still : a study in contradictions / / Catherine Parsons Smith ; with contributed essays by Gayle Murchison and Willard B. Gatewood, chronology by Carolyn L. Quin and contemporary sources from the 1930's, Verna Arvey ... [et al.] [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, Calif. ; ; London, : University of California Press, 2000

ISBN

0-520-92157-7

0-585-31568-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xvi, 368 p. ) : ill. ;

Collana

Music of the African diaspora ; ; v. 2

Altri autori (Persone)

ForsytheHarold Bruce

Disciplina

780/.92

Soggetti

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Composers & Musicians

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references, discography and index.

Nota di contenuto

A brief chronology / Carolyn L. Quin -- Contributed essays. The formative years of William Grant Still: Little Rock, Arkansas, 1895-1911 / Willard B. Gatewood ; "Dean of Afro-American composers" or "Harlem Renaissance man": the new Negro and the musical poetics of William Grant Still / Gayle Murchison -- Toward a biography. Finding his voice: William Grant Still in Los Angeles ; An unknown "new Negro" ; The Afro-American symphony and its scherzo ; "they, Verna and Billy" ; "Harlem Renaissance man" revisited: the politics of race and class in Still's late career -- Sources. Personal notes / William Grant Still ; William Grant Still and Irving Schwerké : documents from a long-distance friendship / edited by Wayne D. Shirley ; William Grant Still : a study in contradictions / Harold Bruce Forsythe ; Plan for a biography of Still / Harold Bruce Forsythe ; William Grant Still / Verna Arvey -- Major sources on Still -- Note on recordings.

Sommario/riassunto

During the 1930's and 1940's William Grant Still (1895-1978) was known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers." He worked as an arranger for early radio, on Broadway, and in Hollywood major symphony orchestras performed his concert works and an opera, written in collaboration with Langston Hughes, was produced by the New York City Opera. Despite these successes the composer's name gradually faded into obscurity. This book brings William Grant Still out



of the archives and examines his place in America's musical heritage. It also provides a revealing window into our recent cultural past. Until now Still's profound musical creativity and cultural awareness have been obscured by the controversies that dogged much of his personal and professional life. New topics explored by Catherine Parsons Smith and her contributors include the genesis of the Afro American Symphony, Still's best-known work his troubled years in film and opera and his outspoken anticommunism [Publisher description].