William Grant Still

Author : Michael J. Dabrishus
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313036446
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book William Grant Still written by Michael J. Dabrishus and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1996-08-20 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting the life and professional career of The Dean of Afro-American Composers, this is the first comprehensive book on the writings by and about Still, the compositions with manuscript sources, the performances of Still's works, and the reviews of those performances. It includes a touching personal reminiscence by his daughter Judith Anne. The full resources of the extensive collection known as The William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, give this book the distinction of being the first one about Still that utilizes diaries, letters, scrapbooks, and family papers to provide information on his works and performances. Still performed, composed, and arranged in the commercial music field before he began to write orchestral works and opera. He is called the Dean of Afro-American Composers because of his pioneering efforts on behalf of American music and his achievements as an African American. Still was the first African American to write a symphony that was performed by a major symphony orchestra in the United States, the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to conduct a major symphony in the Deep South, the first to direct a white radio orchestra, the first to have an opera produced by a major company, and the first to have an opera televised over a national network. His career tells an important story about the development of an American style of music.

Author : Catherine Parsons Smith
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
ISBN 13 : 0252033221
Total Pages : 138 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book William Grant Still written by Catherine Parsons Smith and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compact introduction to the life and work of eminent African American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978), Catherine Parsons Smith tracks the composer's interrelated careers in popular and concert music. Still merged both musical traditions in his work, studying composition with George W. Chadwick at the New England Conservatory, collaborating with Langston Hughes on "Troubled Island," and working as a commercial arranger and composer on Broadway and radio during the Harlem Renaissance. Still also played in the pit band for "Shuffle Along," served as recording director for the first black-owned record label, Black Swan, and arranged music for artists such as Sophie Tucker, Paul Whiteman, and Artie Shaw. Best known for his "Afro-American Symphony" and other works that drew heavily on black American musical heritage, Still struggled against financial hardship and declining attention to his work, which he attributed to political and racist conspiracies. This "dean of Afro-American composers" created his own, unique version of musical modernism, influencing commercial music, symphonic music, and opera in the process."

Author : Beverly Soll
Publisher : University of Arkansas Press
ISBN 13 : 9781557287892
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book I Dream a World written by Beverly Soll and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Grant Still (1895-1978) dreamed of a world in which his eight operas--for him the ultimate form of musical expression--would be heard in the major opera houses in the United States, devoting most of his career toward the pursuit of this goal. The first part of I Dream a World creates a context for Still's operas and explores commonalities among them, including structural elements and musical characteristics. The second part traces the research, composition, and perform-ances of the operas as a way of documenting the history of the composer and his contributions to American opera. Although I Dream a World is not intentionally biographical, it is very pers-onal. It is more than the story of William Grant Still's love of operatic music, of the libretti that reflect his own life and philosophy, and of the world he dreamed through his work. It opens a window on Still the man as well as on Still the composer that offers important insights into the social milieu of this pioneering figure.

Author : William Grant Still
Publisher : The Master-Player Library
ISBN 13 : 9781877873270
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book My Life, My Words written by William Grant Still and published by The Master-Player Library. This book was released on 2011 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The autobiography of American Master composer, William Grant Still (1895-1978), with additional material by Judith Anne Still (the composer's daughter).

Author : Judith Anne Still
Publisher : Master Player Library
ISBN 13 : 9781877873010
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book William Grant Still and the Fusion of Cultures in American Music written by Judith Anne Still and published by Master Player Library. This book was released on 1995 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Naomi Andre
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
ISBN 13 : 0252093895
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Blackness in Opera written by Naomi Andre and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blackness in Opera critically examines the intersections of race and music in the multifaceted genre of opera. A diverse cross-section of scholars places well-known operas (Porgy and Bess, Aida, Treemonisha) alongside lesser-known works such as Frederick Delius's Koanga, William Grant Still's Blue Steel, and Clarence Cameron White's Ouanga! to reveal a new historical context for re-imagining race and blackness in opera. The volume brings a wide-ranging, theoretically informed, interdisciplinary approach to questions about how blackness has been represented in these operas, issues surrounding characterization of blacks, interpretation of racialized roles by blacks and whites, controversies over race in the theatre and the use of blackface, and extensions of blackness along the spectrum from grand opera to musical theatre and film. In addition to essays by scholars, the book also features reflections by renowned American tenor George Shirley. Contributors are Naomi André, Melinda Boyd, Gwynne Kuhner Brown, Karen M. Bryan, Melissa J. de Graaf, Christopher R. Gauthier, Jennifer McFarlane-Harris, Gayle Murchison, Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., Eric Saylor, Sarah Schmalenberger, Ann Sears, George Shirley, and Jonathan O. Wipplinger.

Author : Randye Jones
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 153810735X
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book So You Want to Sing Spirituals written by Randye Jones and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-10-14 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With their rich and complicated history, spirituals hold a special place in the American musical tradition. This soul-stirring musical form is irresistible to singers seeking to diversify their performance repertoire, but it is also riddled with controversy, especially for singers of non-African descent. Singer and historian Randye Jones welcomes singers of all backgrounds into the style while she explores its folk song roots and transformation into choral and solo vocal concert repertoire. Profiling key composers and pioneers of the genre, Jones also discusses the use of dialect and other controversial performance considerations. Contributed chapters address elements of collaborative piano, studio teaching, choral arrangement, voice science, and vocal health as they apply to the performance of spirituals. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Spirituals features online supplemental material on the NATS website.

Author : Brendan Slocumb
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 059331543X
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Violin Conspiracy written by Brendan Slocumb and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! • Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world. “I loved The Violin Conspiracy for exactly the same reasons I loved The Queen’s Gambit: a surprising, beautifully rendered underdog hero I cared about deeply and a fascinating, cutthroat world I knew nothing about—in this case, classical music.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

Author : Rae Linda Brown
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
ISBN 13 : 0252052110
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Heart of a Woman written by Rae Linda Brown and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2020-06-22 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book Prize Winner of the International Alliance for Women in Music of the 2022 Pauline Alderman Awards for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in Music The Heart of a Woman offers the first-ever biography of Florence B. Price, a composer whose career spanned both the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, and the first African American woman to gain national recognition for her works. Price's twenty-five years in Chicago formed the core of a working life that saw her create three hundred works in diverse genres, including symphonies and orchestral suites, art songs, vocal and choral music, and arrangements of spirituals. Through interviews and a wealth of material from public and private archives, Rae Linda Brown illuminates Price's major works while exploring the considerable depth of her achievement. Brown also traces the life of the extremely private individual from her childhood in Little Rock through her time at the New England Conservatory, her extensive teaching, and her struggles with racism, poverty, and professional jealousies. In addition, Brown provides musicians and scholars with dozens of musical examples.

Author : Judith Anne Still
Publisher : Master Player Library
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book William Grant Still written by Judith Anne Still and published by Master Player Library. This book was released on 2003 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A series of published and unpublished essays about the 'Dean of Afro-American composers, ' his racial attitudes and his artistic, spiritual and cultural beliefs, written by the composer's daughter.