I remember playing principal clarinet in William Grant Still’s Symphony №1 in high school and particularly appreciating the clarinet features that were so well written for the instrument. As a young aspiring musician, I was constantly hoping for symphonic works that did my instrument justice, and this was one that did. Overall, the piece was both intensely emotional and a thrill to perform.
As someone pursuing a doctorate in music performance, I do not recall attending any other performances of Still’s works since that youth orchestra concert. Whenever Still was brought up in music history courses, the piece mentioned was his Symphony №1, the Afro-American Symphony. As someone pursuing a doctorate in music, I was shocked to discover three more symphonies written by this composer that I had never heard performed. Why was I discovering these only now?
Part of the problem is the exclusivity of the Western canon taught in music history courses, and another part is the hyper focus from this period on George Gershwin which does not leave room for other composers of that time, such as William Grant Still. I also wish that I had questioned the canon sooner and not assumed that Still had not written more works apart from this one symphony. I wish I could tell high school me to take my enthusiasm for the Afro-American Symphony and its beautiful clarinet solos and explore more of Still’s musical works.
Still’s other three symphonies are thematic, like his Afro-American Symphony: the second is titled “Song of a New Race,” the third is the “Sunday Symphony,” and the fourth is simply titled “Autochthonous.” In a 2013 interview with the “Fanfare Archive,” Still’s daughter Judith Anne Still Headlee stated that some of her father’s finest compositions were two of his symphonies (she did not specify which ones).
I found another article written by Still Headlee that reproduced portions of an interview with William Grant Still from 1968. This interview was lost for 10 years after its recording, and Still Headlee’s article published in 1984 sought to bring the interview back to the public’s attention. I learned many things about William Grant Still’s life from this interview, including that he earned honorary doctorates from Oberlin and Bates College, received the Cleveland Symphony Prize and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Prize, and was commissioned to write the theme for the first New York World’s Fair.
According to the 2013 interview with Still Headlee, her father was a devout man, and his religion deeply influenced and inspired his compositions. This could not be any clearer than in his Symphony №3 which takes the listener through the different periods of a typical Sunday. The first theme by the strings in the first movement, titled “The Awakening,” is joyful and sets the tone for an optimistic start to the day. You can hear this theme at 0:14 in this recording:
As a wind player, the opening of Still’s Symphony №2 is a breath of fresh air. It feels indulgent to be delighted by the sonorous woodwind section for such a large opening portion of a symphonic work and to hear the first full statements of the theme solely from the woodwinds. Still’s incredible ability to orchestrate for the woodwind section is evident for the entire first minute of this movement:
Still talks about his orchestration ability in his 1968 interview:
As soon as you begin to play or listen to Still’s music, you can sense his in-depth and hands on knowledge of orchestration. I plan on getting to know these symphonies and their themes as well as I know Brahms and Beethoven, two other producers of incredible clarinet part writing. I hope you enjoy them as I much as I have!
