Still, William Grant

Still, William Grant, 1895–1978, American composer, b. Woodville, Miss. Still was of Native American, African-American, and European ancestry. He studied music at Oberlin, with Chadwick at the New England Conservatory, and with Edgar Varèse. Much of his music reflects his African heritage. Among his works are four ballets, five symphonies, and seven operas. His opera Troubled Island (1941) is set to a libretto by Langston Hughes.

Bibliography

See his essays (ed. by R. Haas, 1972).

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Still, William Grant

(born May 11, 1895, Woodville, Miss., U.S.—died Dec. 3, 1978, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. composer. He initially intended to be a doctor but instead studied music at Oberlin College, learning clarinet, oboe, and violin. He studied composition with George Chadwick (1854–1931) and Edgard Varèse. In the 1920s he worked as an arranger for the dance-band leader Paul Whiteman and for the blues composer W.C. Handy. Still's early style was avant-garde (From the Black Belt, 1926), but from c. 1930 he sought to develop a distinctive African American art music in five symphonies (including his Afro-American Symphony, 1931), ballets, operas, and choral and solo vocal works.

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Still, William Grant (1895–1978) composer; born in Woodville, Miss. Called "the dean of Afro-American composers," he worked with W. C. Handy and graduated from Oberlin College. His music, while classical in technique, grew out of black life; his works include the Afro-American Symphony (1931).