INDEX
A
Acron, Joseph, 159
Adler, Larry, 196
Aeolian Hall, New York, 139 , 288 , 314
Africa (Still), 5 , 69 , 118 , 147 n13, 205 n8;
Arvey arrangements, 74 , 77 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 316 -17;
dedicated to Barrère, 317 ;
Festival of American Music performance (Germany), 221 , 227 , 228 , 240 -44, 317 ;
Forsythe role, 94 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 289 , 291 , 294 -95, "Land of Romance," 77 , 78 ;
Paris performance, 221 , 228 , 246 -51;
in "Personal Notes," 127 -29;
premiere (Rochester, 1930), 118 , 136 , 227 , 275 , 317 ;
racial style, 71 ;
"Rashana" sketchbook and, 121 -22;
reviews, 69 , 228 , 317 ;
revisions, 254 , 317 ;
revival (1998), 147 n13;
Schwerké and, 221 , 228 , 236 , 240 -44, 246 -51, 253 , 254 , 267 -68, 271 n35;
"Still 1924" theme book and, 120 ;
in trilogy, 73 , 316 -25;
two-piano version, 74 ;
on Whiteman program, 221 , 227 , 317
African Americans, 63 n28;
arts promoting greater knowledge among, 48 ;
concert music voice of, 4 , 7 , 10 , 145 , 182 , 199 -200, 202 ;
cultural criticism by, 117 ;
European-influenced concert tradition of, 3 , 99 -100;
Forsythe on Still among, 8 -9;
Forsythe "Study" on Still among, 280 ;
and Hollywood Bowl concerts, 91 n39;
Little Rock community, 22 , 25 -33;
Los Angeles communities, 77 , 82 , 90 n34, 98 , 99 ;
middle class, 3 , 34 , 54 -55, 203 , 211 n58;
"mingling of several bloods," 35 ;
"one drop rule," 35 , 305 ;
Pan-American Association of Composers and, 293 ;
self-conscious culture of, 40 , 203 ;
in Stormy Weather,81 .
See also black music; black press; culture; elite, African American; New Negro movement; race; racial doubleness; "racial idiom," Still's
"An Afro-American Composer's Point of View" (Still), 51 , 53
Afro-American Symphony (Still), 10 , 69 , 73 -75, 86 , 114 -51, 275 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" and, 304 , 317 -22;
blues theme, 52 , 64 -65n68, 114 , 115 , 117 , 121 -28, 124ex ., 132 -33, 203 , 231 , 239 , 331 ;
completed (1931), 120 ;
dedicated to Schwerké, 235 , 244 , 254 , 255 , 260 , 261 -62, 268 -69, 270 n21, 317 ;
draft foreword, 123fig.;
Dunbar poetry, 122 -26, 319 ;
Forsythe and, 94 , 129 , 144 , 146 n3;
and Gershwin, 114 -15, 119 , 120 , 136 -44, 143ex., 149 n34;
at New York Philharmonic, 185 , 252 , 254 , 318 ;
one-page outline, 116fig.,121 ;
in "Personal Notes," 231 -33;
Philadelphia Orchestra tour, 144 , 318 ;
principal theme,
Afro-American Symphony (cont .)
first movement, 319ex.;
principal theme, fourth movement, 321ex.;
principal theme, second movement, 320ex.;
principal theme, third movement, 321ex.;
"racial idiom," 52 -54, 58 , 71 , 114 , 145 , 184 -85, 318 -19, 322 -23;
and racial uplift, 188 -89, 203 ;
"Rashana" sketchbook and, 116fig., 121 -22, 123fig.,124ex., 127 , 133fig.,134 -35fig., 137fig.,141 ;
reviews, 129 , 185 -86, 231 -33, 318 ;
Rochester premiere (1931), 184 -85, 186 , 205 n8, 231 -32;
Scherzo, 77 , 78 , 114 -51, 130table,131ex., 133fig.,134 -35fig.,137ex., 137fig.,231 , 232 -33, 254 , 319 , 321 ;
Schwerké manuscripts, 236 ;
Schwerké placement opportunities, 253 ;
secondary theme, second movement, 320ex.;
"Still 1924 " theme book and, 120 , 141 ;
in Still letters to Schwerké, 239 , 244 , 245 -46, 254 , 256 , 270 n24;
subordinate theme, first movement, 320ex.;
subordinate theme, fourth movement, 322ex.;
transformation of main theme, 321ex.;
in trilogy, 73 , 316 -25;
writing of, 119 -20, 317 -22
Alderman, Pauline, 78 -79
Allison Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, 2 , 30
Americana, 220 , 310
American Composers on American Music (Cowell), 53 ;
"An Afro-American Composer's Point of View" (Still), 51 , 53
American Dancer,155
American Mercury,168 -69
Americanness:
American musical nationalism, 1 , 40 , 48 , 117 -18;
beginnings of American music, 270 n18;
in "double-consciousness," 45 ;
patriotic themes during World War II, 60 ;
of spirituals, 47 ;
Still's expression of, 10 , 61 , 182 , 305 -6
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), 79 , 337
American Suite (Still), 117 -18
Amerigrove, 235 , 236 , 268
Anderson, John Murray, 290
Anderson, Marian, 42 , 186 , 194
Andrews, George W., 309
And They Lynched Him on a Tree (Still), 60 , 167 , 194 , 197 -98, 275
"An Ante-Bellum Sermon" (Dunbar), 126 -27
anti-Semitism, and communism, 200
"Are Negro Composers Handicapped?" (Still), 58
"aristocrats of color," 2 . See also elite, African American
Arkansas. See Little Rock
Arkansas, University of, 269 , 341
Arkansas Gazette,31 , 195
arrangers, evidence about contributions of, 88 n10
arranging, Still's, 42 -43, 69 -75, 87 n2, 219 -21, 310 ;
Americana, 220 , 310 ;
"Deep River Hour," 69 , 71 , 87 n2, 119 , 148 nn15, 16 , 150 n39, 220 , 249 , 310 , 333 ;
Dixie to Broadway,43 , 220 , 185 ;
Earl Carroll's Vanities,43 , 69 , 70 , 220 , 285 , 310 ;
Forsythe on, 280 -81, 285 ;
for Handy, 55 , 69 , 70 , 149 n311, 309 ;
Rain or Shine,43 , 69 , 139 , 141 , 144 , 220 , 310 ;
Runnin' Wild,69 , 219 -20, 285 , 310 ;
for Shuffle Along,4 , 43 , 285 ;
spirituals, 112 n36, 266 , 330 -31;
for Whiteman, 69 , 72 -75, 88 -89n16, 118 -19, 147 -48n15, 220 , 221 , 285 , 310 .
See also commercial work; morchestration
art music, 39 -65;
African American, 47 , 48 , 57 , 58 -59;
American, 48 ;
Harlem Renaissance and, 42 , 60 , 61 ;
and race progress, 57 , 58 ;
"racial idiom" and, 56 , 57 , 58 ;
racial prejudice related to, 58 ;
spirituals' promise for, 47 , 50 , 56 ;
Still not drawn to art song genre, 51 -52;
Still's early performances (1920s), 43 , 49 , 86 , 174 .
See also ballets, Still's; classical music; concert music; opera; symphonic music
arts:
Du Bois on, 46 ;
Locke on, 47 -48.
See also musical genres; redemptive culture; theater
Arvey, Jacob, 155 , 177 n11, 200
Arvey, Verna (1911-1987; wife), 8 , 9 , 72 -73, 152 -81, 204 , 268 ;
and Afro-American Symphony,122 ;
"Beware of Bandits, Señorita," 158 ;
birth and childhood, 154 ;
and Blue Steel,83 , 331 -32;
Choreographic Music: Music for the Dance,156 ;
and communism, 154 , 165 -69, 173 , 196 , 198 , 200 , 205 n11, 209 -10n44, 211 n49;
concert tour (1934-1935), 158 -59;
and Copland, 205 -6n10;
and Cowell, 152 , 157 , 158 -59, 160 , 196 ;
as dance accompanist, 155 -56, 163 ;
difficulties of interracial marriage, 164 ;
and Dvorak[*] , 150 n37, 164 ;
as executor of Still's estate, 9 , 13 n16;
and Forsythe, 9 , 95 -108, 113 nn46, 49 , 152 , 157 , 161 -65, 178 -79n29, 275 ;
on "I Got Rhythm" controversy, 139 , 141 , 165 -66;
in-
fluence on Still's career, 169 -74;
In One Lifetime,153 , 162 , 172 , 176 n4, 297 n22;
journalism of, 53 -54, 154 , 155 , 258 -59;
Kaintuck' dedication/Solo, 77 , 89 n28, 265 , 266 , 328 ;
Lenox Avenue scenario, 82 , 103 , 266 , 332 ;
Manual Arts High School, 9 , 95 , 152 , 154 , 156 , 157 ;
Mexico City concert, 158 , 178 n26;
New Music Symposium, 159 -60, 163 , 165 , 178 n27;
photos, 153fig.,171fig.;
quiet domestic life with Still, 83 , 85 -86;
and race issues, 164 , 169 -71, 173 -74, 202 , 336 -37;
romantic triangle (Still-Arvey-Forsythe), 9 , 95 , 99 , 107 -9, 113 n48, 163 ;
and Schwerké piece on Still, 258 -61;
scrapbooks, 155 , 164 ;
"Scribblings," 11 n4, 108 , 113 n49, 144 , 157 , 162 , 163 ;
and spiritualism, 154 , 297 n22;
Still-Arvey collections, 74 , 268 , 269 , 276 ;
Still meeting, 72 , 95 , 99 ;
Still's arrangements for, 74 -75, 77 , 89 n28, 265 -66;
as Still's librettist, 83 -85, 152 -53, 154 , 163 -64, 166 -68, 174 -75;
on Still's work dedications, 235 , 260 , 262 ;
Three Visions played by, 266 ;
transformation after marriage, 163 , 164 -65;
Troubled Island changes by, 43 , 192 ;
"William Grant Still," 9 , 266 -67, 276 , 304 -39;
"Writings by William Grant Still and Verna Arvey," 172 ;
YWCA concert, 77
Atkinson, J. Brooks, 70
"Atlantis" (Bruce-Still), 13 n14, 44 , 92 n57
audiences:
African American, 3 , 4 , 118 ;
for black music, 46 ;
"checker," 5 -6;
fusion recognition by, 127 -28, 144 -45;
growth in Still's, 183 ;
at Harlem, 5 -6, 13 n9;
for Still's articles and speeches, 54 ;
white, 3 -5, 13 n9, 54 , 77 , 118 , 124 , 145 .
See also reviews
avant-garde: Still in, 117 . See also neo-classicism
awards:
Eastman Foundation, 293 ;
Harmon Foundation (1928), 314 ;
Rosenwald Fellowship, 199 .
See also Guggenheim Fellowship
B
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 281 , 297 n16
Baker, Houston A., Jr., 11 n2
Balaban, Emanuel, 185
ballets, Still's, 3 , 325 -26;
Lenox Avenue as, 82 , 92 n56, 103 , 266 , 333 ;
The Sorcerer,82 , 102 , 103 , 312 .
See also Central Avenue; La Guiablesse; Sahdji
Barnhart, Harry, 118
Barrère, Georges, 221 ;
Africa performance, 294 , 317 ;
dedications to, 235 , 317 ;
From the Black Belt performance, 226 , 265 , 290 , 316 ;
Log Cabin Ballads performance, 227 , 290 , 313
Baton, 58
Batson, Flora, 98
A Bayou Legend (Still), 83 , 85
Becker, Thilo, 156
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 281
Bell, William Service, 219 , 233 n8, 312
Bellamy, Francis R., 13 n9
Bernstein, Leonard, 195 , 196 , 209 n38
Beyond Tomorrow (Still), 327
"Bibliography of Negro Music," The New Negro (Locke), 43
Biracree, Thelma, 103 , 229 , 341
C. C. Birchard Co., 314
Black Arts movement, 173 , 202 -3, 206 n15
Black Bottom (Still), 289 , 312
The Black Man Dances: Four Negro Dances for Piano and Orchestra (Still), 74 -75, 89 n28, 252 , 327 -28;
Forsythe (text), 175
black music, 32 , 35 -36, 41 , 50 ;
Harlem Renaissance and, 12 n7, 41 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 55 , 60 -61;
origins, 56 , 243 ;
and racial idiom," 50 , 51 -59;
Still articles and speeches on, 54 ;
Still becoming part of, 70 ;
Still commitment to, 50 , 61 , 203 ;
"ultramodern idiom" and, 49 -50, 71 ;
whites' "borrowings" from, 136 -43, 149 nn33, 34 , 150 n39, 164 -65, 203 -4, 211 -12n60, 288 -89.
See also black musicals; blues; folk music; jazz; spirituals
black musicals, 4 , 12 n7, 41 , 43 . See also black theater; Shuffle Along
Black Power movement, 202
black press:
Forsythe "Study" on, 278 -79;
Los Angeles newspapers, 109 -10n5;
and race progress, 26 ;
on Still's divorce (1938), 164 ;
on Still's work, 7
blacks. See African Americans
Black Swan record label, 43 , 71 , 219 , 310
black theater, 7 , 41 , 43 , 62 n14, 70 . See also black musicals
Blake, Eubie:
and Shuffle Along,70 , 87 n6, 138 -39, 310 ;
and whites' "borrowings" from black musicians, 138 , 141 , 149 nn33, 34
Blass, Gus, 26
Blitzstein, Marc, 80 , 206 n13, 211 n49;
and communism, 185 , 186 , 187 , 195 -96;
Regina, 210 n45
blues, 41 , 54 -55;
in Afro-American Symphony,52 , 64 -65n68, 114 , 115 , 117 , 121 -28, 124ex., 132 -33, 203 , 231 , 239 , 331 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on Still's view of, 331 ;
Caucasians not influencing, 63 n27, 65 n68, 121 , 128 ;
city sophisticated," 55 ;
"classic," 4 , 69 , 70 , 122 , 124 ex.,132 -33, 203 ;
Darker America and, 49 , 115 ;
in From the Land of Dreams,5 , 6ex.,63 n41;
in Levee Land,12 n8, 115 , 184 , 203 ;
masculinism of writers on, 172 ;
in "racial idiom," 51 , 52 , 54 -55;
rural folk/"traditional," 55 ;
Still's creativity with, 10 , 48 , 203 ;
twelve-bar, 55 ;
urban centers, 51 .
See also Handy, W. C.; jazz
Blue Steel (Still), 81 , 83 , 103 , 270 n22;
Arvey's "William Grant Still " on, 331 -32;
Forsythe libretto, 8 , 43 , 73 , 83 , 84 fig.,94 , 167 , 331 ;
Moss story. 43 , 83 , 103 , 183 , 331 ;
racial style, 71 ;
"Still 1924" theme book and, 120 ;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 252 , 265 ;
unknown to operatic audiences, 83 , 85 ;
withdrawn, 83 , 164
Bolm, Adolph, 289
Bontemps, Arna, 40 -41, 43 , 97 -98, 167
"borrowings" from black musicians, whites', 203 -4, 211 -12n60;
Blake and, 138 -39, 141 , 149 nn33,34;
Forsythe on, 288 ;
and Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," 136 -43, 164 -65;
Still on, 139 -41, 150 n39.
See also imitations
Bowling, Lance, 176 n4
"Breath of a Rose" (Hughes-Still), 51 , 226 , 266 , 290 , 316
Broadway productions, 5 -6, 69 , 75 ;
Earl Carroll's Vanities,43 , 69 , 70 , 220 , 234 n14, 285 , 310 ;
Rain or Shine,43 , 69 , 139 , 141 , 144 , 220 , 310 ;
Runnin' Wild,69 , 219 -20, 285 , 310
Brown, Rae Linda, 37 n26, 115 -17
Brown, Sterling, 41 , 50 , 54
"Brown Baby" (Still), 71 , 311
Browne, Sir Thomas, 276
Bruce (Nugent), Richard, 13 n14;
"Atlantis," 13 n14, 44 , 92 n57;
Forsythe "Study" on, 290 ;
Locke and, 13 n14, 41 , 44 , 62 n17, 73 , 92 n57, 290 ;
"Sahdji" of, 13 n14, 44 , 73 , 99 , 290 ;
Sahdji performance missed by, 231
Bundy, Grace. See Still, Grace Bundy (wife)
Burleigh, Harry Thacker (1886-1949), 3 , 150 n37, 194 , 279 , 286 , 296 n11
Bush, John E., 24 , 15 , 26 , 29 -30
C
Cadman, Charles Wakefield, 196 , 205 n3
Cage, John, 157
California Eagle,98 , 109 -10n5 "California Melodies" (radio program), 156 -57
call-and-response:
Afro-American Symphony,117 ;
Darker America,49 , 276
Cane (Toomer), 105 , 297 n10, 299 n50
Capital Savings Bank, Arkansas, 25
Capitol Hill High School, Little Rock, 27 , 32 -33
Capra, Frank, 79
Carnegie Hall, 138 , 227 , 254
Carpenter, John Alden, 205 n3
Carroll, Earl, Earl Carroll's Vanities,43 , 69 , 70 , 220 , 234 n14, 285 , 310
Carter, Artie Mason, 159 -60
Central Avenue (Still), 81 -82, 92 n56, 103 ;
Columbia Pictures contract for, 112 n37;
destroyed/not destroyed/withdrawn, 103 , 164 , 260 , 272 n53;
Forsythe and, 82 , 103 , 108 , 112 n36, 164 ;
in Still letter to Schwerké, 252 .
Chadwick, George Whitefield (1854-1931), 221 , 233 n9, 297 n24;
Still's teacher, 71 , 88 n13, 219 , 284 , 297 n24, 306 , 310
Challenge 1940 (Harris), 197 -98
Challis, William H. (b. 1904), 285 , 297 n28
Chapin, Katharine Garrison, 60 , 167 , 194
Chávez, Carlos, 158 , 178 n26, 285 , 293
Chicago:
Afro-American Symphony performances, 254 -55;
North Shore Festival Association/Orchestra, 224 , 289 , 313
Chicago Allied Arts, Inc., 289
Chicago American,325
Chicago Grand Opera Company, and La Guiablesse,289 , 325
Chicago Symphony Orchestra:
American Suite in archives, 117 ;
and From the Journal of a Wanderer,265 , 289
chicken farming, Still's brief interest in, 11 n4, 33 -34, 307
children, Still's, 75 , 78 -79, 218 , 285 , 327 . See also Still, Judith Anne (daughter)
Choreographic Music: Music for the Dance (Arvey), 156
chronology:
Harlem Renaissance, 41 -42, 48 , 61 ;
Still's life, 8 , 15 -18, 42 ;
Still's stylistic periods, 8 , 48
churches:
Little Rock, 2 , 27 , 30 ;
Los Angeles, 98 ;
Still searching for spirituals, 330
Cincinnati Symphony, 252
class:
African American middle, 3 , 34 , 54 -55, 203 , 211 n58;
and Arvey on "I Got Rhythm" controversy, 165 -66;
capitalist, 194 ;
concert vs. popular music, 4 -5;
racial uplift and, 211 n59;
reviews and, 4 -6;
Still crossing barriers of, 4 , 76 , 182 , 186 , 187 , 104 ;
Still's consciousness of, 33 ;
Still's family, 2 -3, 8 , 2 -4, 31 -33, 34 .
See also elite, African American
classical music:
Black Arts movement and, 203 ;
Forsythe education, 99 -101;
Little Rock African American, 98 -99.
See also art music; ballets, Still's; concert music; opera; symphonic music
Clef Club, 42 , 62 n9, 70 , 71 , 233 n6
Co-Art Turntable, 156
Coffin, F. B., 25
Coffin's Poems,25
Cohn, M. M., 16
Cole, Sadie, 76
Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel (1875-1912), 3 , 309
colleges:
Little Rock, 27 ;
Oberlin, 217 , 218 , 219 , 284 , 306 , 310 ;
Still lectures, 79 .
See also Wilberforce University
Colored American Magazine,16
Columbia Pictures, 79 -80, 112 n37, 203 -4
commercial work, 4 , 10 , 43 , 70 -71, 86 ;
Communist Party and, 206 n15;
modernism and, 76 ;
popular music as, 57 ;
"serious" work separated from, 3 , 76 , 199 -200, 206 n11;
Still's craftsmanship in, 165 -66, 203 ;
theater, 5 .
See also arranging, Still's; concert music; income, Still's; jobs, Still's; radio
communism, 183 -87, 200 -201, 204 -7;
and anti-Semitism, 200 ;
Arvey and, 154 , 165 -69, 173 , 196 , 198 , 200 , 205 n11, 209 -10n44, 211 n49;
Hollywood and, 197 , 200 , 210 n47;
and homophobia, 200 ;
"plot theory," 183 , 187 , 192 -201, 107 n22;
Popular Front, 186 -87, 206 n15, 211 n49;
and race, 186 -87, 194 , 195 , 196 , 197 , 200 -202, 206 -7nn15,17;
Still and, 10 , 65 n80, 154 , 165 , 166 , 168 -69, 173 , 183 -87, 192 -202, 204 , 209 -10n44
"Communism in Music" (Still), 195 -96
composers:
double bind of blacks desiring to be, 46 ;
Forsythe on Still's opinions of, 181 -81, 297 n116.
See also composing career, Still's; orchestration
Composers' Collective, 185 , 186 , 197 , 206 n15, 211 n49
composing career, Still's, 4 ;
Afro-American Symphony launching, 10 ;
Arvey influence on, 169 -74;
at Columbia Pictures, 79 -80;
"Dean of Afro-American Composers," 21 , 39 , 61 , 70 ;
first published composition, 311 ;
formal sophistication and emotional expressiveness, 208 -9n36;
Locke encouraging, 44 ;
Los Angeles entry, 74 ;
and means of support, 3 ;
Oberlin education for, 218 ;
pen name "Willy M. Grant," 71 ;
race not a problem to, 58 ;
on radio, 78 , 82 , 92 n56, 224 , 310 -12;
Schwerké's significance to, 267 -69.
See also arranging, Still's; commercial work; Still, William Grant—music
concert music:
African American voice in, 4 , 7 , 10 , 145 , 182 , 199 -200, 202 ;
"characteristic" American, 71 ;
race barriers, 4 , 145 , 182 , 199 -200, 202 ;
Still's emergence into, 69 -70, 71 -76, 311 -14;
Still's position in world of, 4 , 11 , 69 .
See also art music; ballets, Still's; European-influenced concert tradition; opera; Still, William Grant--music; symphonic music
conducting, Still as first African American to conduct whites, 77 , 311 , 337
conspiracy theory, communist plot, 183 , 187 , 192 -201, 207 n22
Cook, Will Marion, 3 , 98
Copland, Aaron, 76 , 80 , 205 -6n11;
and communism, 195 , 196 , 205 nn3,11, 210 n44;
Piano Variations, 115 ;
reviews of Still, 185 -86, 187 , 205 n10;
El Salon Mexico,206 n13
Costaso (Still), 83 , 85 , 166 -67, 168
Cowell, Henry, 80 ;
American Composers on American Music,51 , 53 ;
Arvey and, 152 , 157 , 158 -59, 160 , 196 ;
and communism, 196 ;
Ives and, 272 n56;
New Music Edition publishers, 78 , 163 ;
Pan-American Association of Composers, 293
Crawford, Ruth, 115 , 151 n42
Creston, Paul, 196
critics. See Downes, Olin; reviews; Rosenfeld, Paul; Schwerké, Irving
Croughton, Amy H., 228 , 229 , 231 -32
Cullen, Countee (1903-1946), 40 , 41 , 75 , 82 , 205 n3;
Forsythe on, 279 ;
"Rashana" collaboration, 43 , 44 , 89 n29, 93 n61, 167 , 294 , 296 n9, 299 n50
culture:
black cultural criticism, 117 ;
self-conscious African American, 40 , 203 ;
Still as "another American voice" in, 4 , 10 , 182 ;
Still challenge to stereotypes, 203 , 204 ;
Still exploiting difference in, 182 -83.
See also Americanness; arts; class; Harlem Renaissance; musical genres; politics; popular music; race; redemptive culture; religious convictions, Still's
D
dance:
Arvey accompanying, 155 -56, 163 .
See also ballets, Still's
"Dance of Love" (Still), 312
"Dance of the Carnal Flowers" (Still), 312
Dance Theater Group, Los Angeles, 158 , 162 -63, 178 n27, 333
Darker America (Still), 73 , 118 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" and, 304 , 313 , 314 -15;
award, 293 ;
Forsythe and, 8 -9, 72 , 73 , 118 , 241 , 263 , 275 -98 passim;
"Ode to the American Negro:
For the Oppressed," 120 -21;
in "Personal Notes," 225 -26, 276 ;
racial doubleness in, 127 ;
representing African American culture and history, 52 -53, 276 ;
reviews, 225 -26, 276 , 291 , 314 ;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 236 , 240 , 263 -64, 276 ;
"Theme of the American Negro," 49 , 52 -53;
"ultramodern" and "racial" idioms, 49 , 115
Davis, Jeff, 23
Davise, Hugo, 159
"Dean of Afro-American Composers," 21 , 39 , 61 , 70
Death (Still), 311
"Death of a Rose" (Still), 270 n11
dedications by Still, 235 , 265 , 272 n56;
to Arvey (Kaintuck'),265 , 328 ;
Arvey on, 235 , 260 , 262 ;
to Barrère (Africa ), 317 ;
to Hanson (Sahdji ), 229 , 235 , 326 ;
to Isabel Morse Jones (Symphony in G Minor ), 322 ;
to Quinto Maganini (Dismal Swamp ), 327 ;
to Schwerké (Afro-American Symphony ), 25 , 235 , 244 , 254 , 255 , 260 , 261 -62, 268 -69, 270 n21, 317
"Deep River Hour," Robison's, 69 , 71 , 87 n2, 119 , 148 nn15, 16 , 150 n39, 220 , 249 , 310 , 333
de Falla, Manuel, 256
De Lerma, Dominique-René, 139 , 149 -50n35
DeLong, Thomas A., 88 -89n16
democracy:
arts and, 47 -48, 57 , 58 ;
race progress and, 57 , 58 , 61 ;
World War II and, 60
Depression, Great (1930s), 184
A Deserted Plantation (Still), 89 n28, 266 , 171 n39, 326 -27, 334
Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, 43 , 189 , 332
Dett, Nathaniel, 3 , 279
Devries, Herman, 325
Devries, Rene, 254
Dialect Songs (Still), 290
Diamond, David, 196
discrimination:
in Los Angeles housing, 90 n34;
Metropolitan Opera, 194 ;
misogyny, 172 -73;
racial segregation, 8 , 22 -26, 33 , 35 , 58 , 194 , 195 ;
Still on, 58 , 75 ;
World War II soldiers, 60 .
See also racism
Dismal Swamp (Still), 91 n44;
Arvey's text, 175 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 327 ;
Copland review, 205 n10;
dedicated to Quinto Maganini, 327 ;
Forsythe text, 163 , 174 -75;
New Music Edition publishing, 78 , 163 ;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 256 , 262 , 266
Diton, Carl, 279 , 280 , 296 n14
Dixie to Broadway (1924), Still arrangements, 43 , 220 , 285
Dixon, Dean, 196
Dorr, Donald, 13 n14, 82 , 92 n57, 154
"double-consciousness." See racial doubleness
Douglass, Frederick (1817-1895), 31 , 279 , 295 n9
Downes, Olin (1886-1955), 298 n31;
and communism, 195 , 205 n3, 210 n44;
on Darker America,225 , 291 -92;
Eastman Foundation award jury, 293 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 286 , 291 -92;
on From the Land of Dreams,5 , 184 , 312 ;
on Levee Land,223 -24;
in "Personal Notes," 221 , 223 -24, 225 ;
racial stereotyping, 187 , 200 ;
and Sahdji, 5 , 230 , 326 ;
on Symphony in G Minor,323 ;
on Troubled Island,184 , 189 -92, 193
Dreamer's Tales (Peterkin), 289
Drums of Haiti (Hughes), 43
Du Bois, W. E. B., 7 , 9 , 41 , 60 ;
and black music, 46 , 50 , 55 , 60 , 274 ;
"double consciousness," 1 -2, 45 , 127 ;
Little Rock visit, 11 n4;
and race progress, 45 -46, 61 ;
The Souls of Black Folk,1 -2, 45 ;
on "Talented Tenth," 2 , 45 , 46 -47
Dukas, Paul, 256
Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906):
Afro-American Symphony poetry, 122 -27, 319 ;
"An Ante-Bellum Sermon," 126 -27;
Death poem, 311 ;
"The Deserted Plantation," 327 ;
"Ode to Ethiopia," 125 -26;
"Twell de Night Is Pas'," 125 ;
"W'en I Gits Home," 125 ;
"Winter's Approach," 51 , 226 , 266 , 288 , 316
Dunbar, Rudolph, 268
"Durham:
Capital of the Black Middle Class" (Frazier), 41
Dvorak[*] , A., 47 , 118 , 164 , 296 n11;
New World Symphony,129 , 149 n27, 150 n37
E
Eachus, Ann J., 156 , 179 n29
Earl Carroll's Vanities,43 , 69 , 70 , 220 , 234 n14, 285 , 310
Eastman School of Music, 82 , 103 , 229 ;
and Darker America,293 , 314 ;
From the Black Belt performance, 316 ;
From the Journal of a Wanderer in library, 289 ;
La Guiablesse performance, 103 , 265 , 325 ;
Sahdji performance, 103 , 229 ;
Still lectures (1932), 79 , 209 n36, 221
Ebon Chronicle (Still), 326
education, 307 -8;
black upper class, 30 ;
Forsythe classical music, 99 -101;
Little Rock, 27 -28, 217 ;
Los Angeles, 9 ;
and race progress, 2 , 45 -46.
See also colleges
Edwards, Benjamin Griffith, 208 n25, 342
Edwards, Robert V., 265
Eisler, Harms, 80 , 196
elite, African American, 28 -35;
"blue veins," 30 ;
Little Rock, 2 , 8 , 29 -33;
"old families," 29 ;
and skin color, 30 , 35 ;
Still's family status, 2 -3, 8 , 24 , 31 -33, 34 ;
"Talented Tenth," 2 , 29 -30, 45 , 46 -47, 57 , 58 ;
thoroughbreds, 34 -35.
See also literary figures, Harlem Renaissance
Ellington, Duke, 41
Ellison, Ralph, 201 , 206 -7n17
emotional expressiveness:
of black music, 55 , 56 ;
of Still's music, 208 -9n36
Etude, 155
Europe:
Schwerké arranging for Still's performances in, 10 , 221 , 227 , 228 , 240 -44, 246 -51, 317 ;
Still ancestors, 306 .
See also European-influenced concert tradition; France; Germany
Europe, James Reese, 70 , 87 n6
European-influenced concert tradition:
African American, 3 , 99 -100;
in Afro-American Symphony,127 -28, 132 , 146 n5, 149 nn26,27;
Forsythe and, 274 ;
Still studies in, 71 .
See also concert music; fusion
"expatriation," Still's, from New York to Los Angeles, 10 , 76 , 85
F
Fambro, Anne (grandmother), 31 -32, 35 , 216 -17, 307
family. See Still, William Grant—family
Fantasy on the St. Louis Blues (Still), 286 , 310
father, Still's, 2 , 21 , 215 -16, 218 , 306
Festival of American Music, Bad Homburg, Germany, 221 , 227 , 228 , 140 -44, 317
"Fifty Years of Progress in Music" (Still), 194 -95
film music, 79 -82, 93 n60, 334 . See also movies
First Congregational Church, Little Rock, 30
Fischer (J.) and Bro. (George Fischer) publishers, 9 , 14 n17, 147 n13;
Afro-American Symphony (Still), 145 -46n2, 147 n13, 254 ;
limits of influence, 273 n63;
Three Visions (Still), 328 -29;
"William Grant Still" (Arvey), 9 , 266 -67, 304
Flash,97 , 110 n5
Fleming, M. H., 194
Floyd, Samuel A., Jr., 41 , 117
folk music:
American and New World, 59 ;
black, 32 , 47 , 50 -51, 56 -57, 75 -76;
communists and, 186 ;
transformed into art music, 52 , 203.
See also black music; spirituals
Forsyth, Cecil (1870-1941), 282 , 297 n19
Forsythe, Harold Bruce (1906-1976), 8 -9, 85 , 86 , 94 -113, 341 -42;
and Afro-American Symphony,94 , 129 , 144 , 146 n3;
alcoholism, 108 , 109 , 163 ;
and Arvey, 9 , 95 -108, 113 nn46,49, 152 , 157 , 161 -65, 178 -79n29, 275 ;
"The Black Man Dances" text, 75 , 175 ;
Blue Steel libretto, 8 , 43 , 73 , 83 , 84fig ., 94 , 167 , 331 ;
and Central Avenue,82 , 103 , 108 , 112 n36, 164 ;
and Darker America,8 -9, 72 , 73 , 118 , 241 , 263 , 275 -98 passim;
deafness, 108 -9, 163 ;
death certificate, 109 n3;
Dismal Swamp text, 163 , 174 -75;
"Frailest Leaves " ("Masks"), 100 -102, 111 n27;
and Hollywood Bowl concert, 78 ;
Los Angeles, 8 , 9 , 72 , 77 , 86 , 95 , 102 ,
Forsythe, Harold Bruce (continued )
109 n3;
marriage and children, 109 ;
and modernism, 100 , 152 , 201 -2, 293 ;
photo, 96 fig .;
as pianist, 99 -100;
"Plan for a Biography of Still," 94 , 300 -303;
romantic triangle (Still-Arvey-Forsythe), 9 , 95 , 99 , 107 -9, 113 n48, 163 ;
"The Significance of Still's Sahdji, " 103 ;
and The Sorcerer,82 -83, 94 -95, 102 , 103 , 108 , 112 n36;
on Still, 8 -9, 10 , 73 , 86 , 94 , 103 , 161 , 171 , 202 , 204 n1, 274 -303;
Still arrangements marked for, 74 , 75 ;
Still estranged from, 72 -73, 95 , 99 , 108 -9, 152 , 163 , 2 -75;
Still's "Personal Notes" to, 215 -34;
Still's tenant, 77 ;
Thurman and, 5 , 13 n10, 97 , 101 , 102 , 296 n9;
and Van Vechten, 104 -8, 109 , 113 n46, 163 , 287 , 298 n35.
See also "A Study in Contradictions"
Forsythe, Harold Sumner, 99 , 108 -9
Forsythe, Irene, 108
Forsythe Papers, The Huntington Library, 276
Four Negro Dances (Still), 74 -75, 89 n28, 175 , 252 , 327 -28
Fox Studios, 81 , 85 , 197
"Frailest Leaves," also known as "Masks" (Forsythe), 100 -102, 111 n27, 341
France: Still and, 75 . See also Paris
Frazier, E. Franklin, 41
Freeman, Harry Lawrence (1869-1954), 279 , 296 n13
Freund, Marya, 226 , 234 n19, 316
From the Black Belt (Still), 118 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 315 -16;
Forsythe "Study" on, 285 , 290 ;
in "Personal Notes," 226 ;
reviews, 226 ;
"Still 1924" theme book and, 121 ;
in Still-Schwerké correspondence, 265
From the Heart of a Believer (Still), 227 , 272 n60
From the Journal of a Wanderer (Still), 118 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 313 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 289 , 293 ;
reviews, 224 , 289 , 293 ;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 265
From the Land of Dreams (Still), 63 n41, 118 , 291 ;
blues, 5 , 6ex ., 63 n41;
Forsythe "Study" and, 274 -75, 280 , 285 -86, 287 -88;
modernism in, 5 , 184 , 312 -13;
in "Personal Notes," 222 -23;
recognizable fusion, 127 -28;
reviews, 5 , 184 , 203 , 222 -23, 287 , 288 , 312 ;
suppressed, 12 n8, 63 n41;
untexted voices, 50 ;
Varèse dedication, 265
Furtwängler, Wilhelm, 246 , 247 , 248 , 270 n24
fusion, 2 , 4 , 35 , 146 n2;
Afro-American Symphony and, 10 , 114 , 127 -28, 144 -45.
See also "racial idiom," Still's
G
Gaines, Kevin K., 211 n59
Gatewood, Willard, xii , 2 , 8 , 11 n4, 21 -38
Gehring, Carl E., 230
gender: misogyny, 172 -73. See also women
geography:
Harlem Renaissance/New Negro movement, 42 , 72 ;
northward migration, 42 , 46 -47;
Still's choices of, 75 .
See also Europe; Little Rock; Los Angeles; New York
Germany:
Africa performance, 221 , 227 , 228 , 240 -42, 317 ;
Afro-American Symphony performances, 222 -23, 318
Gershwin, George, 156 , 206 n11, 285 , 287 ;
and Afro-American Symphony,114 -15, 119 , 120 , 136 -44, 143ex ., 149 n34;
Porgy and Bess,252 , 298 n39;
Rhapsody in Blue,147 n9, 285 , 297 n28, 298 n29.
See also Girl Crazy
Gershwin, Ira, 196
Gibbs, Mifflin W., 24 , 25 , 29
Mifflin W. Gibbs High School, Little Rock, 27 -28
Gillam, Isaac, Jr., 22
Girl Crazy (Gershwin), 119 , 136 ;
"I Got Rhythm," 114 -15, 120 , 136 -44, 143 ex ., 150 n42, 165 -66
Goldmark, Rubin, 101 -2
"Good Night" (Still), 312
Goodwin, Ruby B., 112 n36, 330
Goossens, Eugene, 223 , 225 , 265 , 293 , 328
Gould, Morton, 196
Gould, Norma, Dance Theater Group, 158 , 162 -63, 178 n27, 333
Graham, Martha, 155
Grand Mosaic Templars of America, 25
Gray, John A., 77 , 98 -99
Great Day (Still), 112 n36, 266
Grofé, Ferde (1892-1972), 70 , 89 n17, 280 , 285 , 296 n15
Guggenheim Fellowship:
Cullen, 43 ;
Guggenheim Foundation, 235 , 265 ;
Still, 74 , 75 , 79 , 82 , 102 , 199 , 252 , 270 n22, 326 -27, 330 , 337
La Guiablesse (Still), 77 , 275 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 325 ;
Biracree and, 103 ;
"Dance of the Carnal Flowers" in, 312 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 289 -90;
reviews, 315 ;
sketch for,
121;
in Still letters to Schwerké, 249 , 251 , 265
H
Halász, Lázló, 188 , 193 , 196 , 199 , 207 n21, 210 n45
Hall Johnson Singers, 77
Hamitic Review,95 -97, 103
Hamm, Charles, 150 n36
Hammerstein, Oscar, II, 196
handwriting, Still's, 269 n6
Handy, W. C. (1873-1958), 4 , 69 , 70 , 87 n5;
Gershwin and, 140 ;
publishing (Pace & Handy), 42 , 70 , 87 n2, 311 , 330 ;
Still working with (1916, 1919-1921), 42 , 52 , 55 , 69 , 70 , 75 , 117 , 149 n31, 219 , 309 -10
Hanson, Howard, 193 , 234 n18, 249 ;
Africa conducted by, 227 ;
and Afro-American Symphony,232 , 318 ;
and Central Avenue,82 , 103 ;
Darker America conducted by, 293 ;
dedications of Still work to, 229 , 235 , 326 ;
Dismal Swamp conducted by, 327 ;
Eastman Foundation award jury, 293 ;
From the Journal of a Wanderer conducted by, 224 , 289 ;
La Guiablesse conducted by, 265 ;
and Kaintuck',265 , 328 ;
Musicians' Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, 205 n3;
in "Personal Notes," 221 , 224 , 227 , 229 , 232 ;
and Sahdji,229 , 232 , 326 ;
and The Sorcerer,102 ;
on Still's orchestration, 335
Harlem:
communism, 206 ;
new urban African American culture, 41 ;
Ninth Annual Music Week, 54 ;
Still in, 3 , 10 , 42 , 43 , 76 ;
theaters, 41 ;
YMCA, 54 , 86 , 183
Harlem (Rapp and Thurman), 5 -7, 13 n9
Harlem Orchestra, 43
Harlem Renaissance, 1 , 3 , 8 , 40 -49;
and art music, 42 , 60 , 61 ;
Arvey and, 152 ;
and black music, 12 n7, 41 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 55 , 60 -61;
chronology, 41 -42, 48 , 61 ;
Forsythe and, 97 , 99 , 279 -80;
Still and, 42 -49, 52 , 54 , 59 , 60 -61, 85 , 117 , 182 ;
"Talented Tenth," 2 , 29 -30, 45 , 46 -47, 57 , 58 ;
Van Vechten and, 163 , 298 n35.
See also literary figures, Harlem Renaissance; New Negro movement
Harmon Award (1928), 314
Harris, Michael W., 12 , 12 n6
Harris, Roy, 195 , 196 , 197 -98, 210 -11nn44, 49
Harrison, Juan, 224
Hay, Harry, 100 , 111 n20, 157
Hayes, Roland (1887-1977), 42 -76, 194 , 279 , 286 , 296 n10
Heine, Heinrich, 280
Herald Tribune,226
Herskovitz, Melville, 41
Heyman, Katherine Ruth Willoughby (1877-1944), 277 , 295 n8
Heyward, Du Bose, 288
Highway 1, U.S.A. (Still), 85
"Historiography, Objectivity, and the Case of the Abusive Widow" (Smith), 172
history: African American, 52 -53;
art music, 39 -65;
of spirituals, 56
A History of Musical Americanism (Zuck), 184 , 186
Holger, Oskar, 227 , 242
Hollywood, 10 ;
Columbia Pictures, 79 -80, 112 n37, 203 -4;
and communism, 197 , 200 , 210 n47;
film music, 79 -82;
Fox Studios, 81 , 85 , 197 ;
"serious" work separated from, 76 .
See also Hollywood Bowl; movies
Hollywood Bowl, 77 -78, 91 n39, 159 , 254 , 317 , 337
Hollywood Citizen-News,195
homes, Little Rock African American, 30 -32
homophobia, and communism, 200
House Un-American Activities Committee, 195 , 210 n44
Howard, John Tasker, 221 , 304 -5, 314
Howard, Ruth, 155
Howard University, 85
Hughes, Langston (1902-17967), 411, 60 , 85 , 164 , 256 ;
and black music, 50 , 54 ;
"Breath of a Rose," 51 , 226 , 266 , 290 , 316 ;
and communism, 183 , 198 , 210 n44;
Drums of Haiti,43 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 279 ;
Levee Land and, 288 ;
Negro Peoples' Committee . . . to Aid Spanish Democracy, 205 n3;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 256 , 271 n45;
Troubled Island libretto,1 , 43 , 74 , 167 , 183 , 188 , 198 , 296 n9, 332
Hughes, Revella, 219
Humphrey, Doris, 155
Huneker, James, 287
Hurston, Zora Neale, 41 , 50
I
The Iconoclasts, 100
"I Got Rhythm" (Gershwin), 114 -15, 120 , 136 -44, 143ex ., 150 n42, 165 -66
image and style: Still's, 336 -37. See also Still, William Grant—photos
imitations: Still and, 335 , 336 -37. See also "borrowings" from black musicians, whites'
income, Still's, 199 , 217 -20, 309 ;
poverty, 173 -74;
for Schwerké-handled performances, 244 , 247 , 248 ;
Varèse scholarship, 219 , 310 .
See also commercial work; Guggenheim Fellowship
Indians, American, 117 -18, 306
In Memoriam:
The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy (Still), 60
In One Lifetime (Arvey), 153 , 162 , 172 , 176 n4, 297 n22, 342
instrumentation. See orchestration
International Composers' Guild:
Darker America,225 , 314 ;
From the Land of Dreams,222 , 265 , 285 , 312 ;
Levee Land,139 , 223 , 314
Invisible Man (Ellison), 206 -7n17
Ionisation (Varèse), 115
Isais, Gilberto, 159
Ish, George, 28
Ish, Jefferson, 28
Ish, Marietta, 30
Ives, Charles, 272 n56
J
Jackson, Howard, 79
Janssen, Werner, 317
jazz, 41 , 42 , 54 -56;
Afro-American Symphony and, 132 ;
Arvey on Copland and, 205 n11;
Forsythe "Study" and, 274 , 286 ;
From the Land of Dreams,286 -87;
Levee Land, 50 , 51 , 288 , 314 ;
Los Angeles development of, 98 -99;
modernist techniques with, 48 , 50 -51;
origin of word, 243 , 270 n19;
and "racial idiom," 50 , 54 -56;
Standard School Broadcasts, 78 ;
Still acquaintance with, 311 ;
Still on worldwide influence of, 194 ;
urban centers, 51 ;
Whiteman's synthesis with blues, 203 .
See also blues
"Jazz at Home" (Rogers), 41
Jews, anticommunism and, 200
Jim Crow laws, 8 , 23 , 24 , 33 , 35
jobs, Still's, 3 , 42 -43, 69 -75, 309 -11;
with Handy, 42 , 52 , 55 , 69 , 70 , 75 , 117 , 149 n31, 219 , 309 -10;
in Shuffle Along,4 , 42 -43, 71 , 144 , 219 , 285 ;
with Whiteman, 69 , 72 -75, 88 -89n16, 118 -19, 147 -48n15, 220 , 221 , 285 , 310 .
See also arranging, Still's; commercial work; income, Still's
Johnson, Bill, 98
Johnson, Deacon, 219
Johnson, Hall, 12 n6, 77 , 78 , 205 n3, 279
Johnson, Howard, 206 n12
Johnson, James Weldon, 40 , 41 , 54
Jones, Isabel Morse, 322
Jones, Sissieretta, 98
Juilliard School, New York, 9 , 95 , 101
K
Kaintuck' (Still), 77 , 91 n44;
Arvey dedication/solo, 77 , 89 n28, 265 , 266 , 328 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 328 , 329 , 336 ;
in Still letters to Schwerké, 252 , 265 -66
Kanin, Garson, 196
Katz, Hedi [Korngold], 159 , 179 n32
Kaufman, Annette (Mrs. Louis), 207 nn21, 22
Kaun, Bernard, 293
Keatts, Chester W., 25
Keppard, Freddie, 98
Kernodle, Tammy Lynn, 207 n22
Kessler, David, 231 , 232
King of Jazz (Whiteman band), 72 , 89 n17
Koussevitzky, Serge, 195
Kramer, Lawrence, 211 -12n60
L
La Guardia, Fiorello, 188
Lange, Hans, 254 , 318
"Laredo Suite" (Still), 81
Lawrence, Charles, 76 -77, 99 , 294
laws:
antilynching, 60 ;
Jim Crow, 8 , 23 , 24 , 33 , 35 ;
"one drop rule," 35 , 305 ;
"separate coach" (1891), 24
League of Composers, 91 n44, 199 , 205 n10, 206 n11
Lenox Avenue (Still), 82 , 164 , 266 , 272 n53;
Arvey scenario, 82 , 103 , 266 , 332 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 332 -34;
ballet version, 82 , 92 n56, 103 , 266 , 333 ;
"Blues," 334ex.;
"The Philosopher," 334ex.;
on radio, 82 , 92 n56, 103 , 266
Lert, Richard, 250 , 251 , 255
Levee Land (Still), 127 , 184 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 314 ;
blues in, 12 n8, 115 , 184 , 203 ;
Forsythe "Study" and, 280 , 284 , 288 ;
Gershwin at performance of, 139 ;
jazz in, 50 , 51 , 288 , 314 ;
Mills singing, 12 n8, 184 , 220 , 223 -24, 265 , 288 , 314 ;
in "Personal Notes," 223 -24;
reviews, 223 -241, 288 , 314 ;
in Still letters to Schwerké, 265 ;
"ultramodern idiom," 115 , 203
Lewis, David Levering, 42
Liebling, Leonard, 255 , 271 n42
literary figures, Harlem Renaissance, 40 -44, 295 -96n9;
Arna Bontemps, 40 -41, 43 , 97 -98, 167 ;
Forsythe "Study" on, 279 , 295 -96n9;
Claude McKay,
40 , 186 -87, 279 , 296 n9;
Eric Walrond, 279 , 296 n9.
See also Cullen, Countee; Du Bois, W. E. B.; Dunbar, Paul Laurence; Hughes, Langston; Locke, Alain; Moss, Carlton; Thurman, Wallace Henry
Little Rock:
African American community, 22 , 25 -33;
African American elite, 2 , 8 , 29 -33;
"mixed neighborhoods," 22 , 23 -24;
Ninth Street, 25 -26, 29 , 31 ;
Still's boyhood (1895-1911), 2 , 8 , 21 -38, 42 , 216 ;
Washington's visit, 2 , 12 n4, 26
Locke, Alain, 9 , 60 ;
and black music, 41 , 43 , 48 , 50 , 54 , 55 , 274 , 342 ;
and Bruce (Nugent), 13 n14, 41 , 44 , 62 n17, 73 , 92 n57, 290 ;
and Howard University offer, 85 ;
last name references, 13 n14, 62 n17, 92 n57;
"The Negro Spirituals," 41 ;
and race progress/redemptive culture, 47 -48, 52 , 60 , 61 ;
role with Still compositions, 43 -44, 60 ;
Sahdji performance missed by, 231 .
See also The New Negro
Log Cabin Ballads (Still), 118 , 227 , 290 , 313
Longress, Leola, 77
Los Angeles:
African American communities, 77 , 82 , 90 n34, 98 , 99 ;
African American musicians' tradition of coming to, 98 ;
Dance Theater Group, 158 , 162 -63, 178 n27, 333 ;
Forsythe, 8 , 9 , 72 , 77 , 86 , 95 , 102 , 109 n3;
Manual Arts High School, 9 , 95 , 99 , 152 , 154 , 156 , 157 ;
Still in, 69 -93, 152 -74;
Still's first residence, 76 -77;
Still's move to (1934), 9 , 43 , 69 , 102 , 152 , 156 , 182 ;
Still's permanent return to, 74 ;
Still's visit (1929-1930), 9 , 71 -735, 74 , 82 , 94 , 102 .
See also Arvey, Verna; Hollywood
Los Angeles Musicians' Association, 76 , 108
Los Angeles Saturday Night,77
Los Angeles Times,197
Lost Horizon,79 -80, 204
M
Maganini, Quinto, 221 , 327
"Mandy Lou" (Still), 298 n46, 312
Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles, 9 , 95 , 99 , 152 , 154 , 156 , 157
Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, 311
Marti, Samuel, 327
Martin, Linton, 323
"Masks" (Forsythe). See "Frailest Leaves"
Maudelle (Smith), 31
McCarthyism, 200 -202
McCullough, Nada, 98
McEvoy, J. P., 310
McKay, Claude (1889-1948), 40 , 186 -87, 279 , 296 n9
"Memphis Man" (Still), 311
"The Men Behind American Music" (Still), 139 -40
Mencken, H. L. (1880-1956), 287 , 298 n35
Metropolitan Opera, 85 , 187 , 194 , 207 n22, 266
Mexico City, 158 , 178 n26, 285
Mialeret-Michelet, Athénais, 172
Michelet, Jules, 172
middle class, African American, 3 , 34 , 54 -55, 203 , 211 n58
Migot, George, 256
migration, northward, 42 , 46 -47
Mills, Florence, 227 ;
singing Levee Land,12 n8, 184 , 220 , 223 -24, 265 , 288 , 314
Minette Fontaine (Still), 85
Mingus, Charles, 99
"minstrel mask," 3 , 4 , 11 n2;
Afro-American Symphony and, 126 , 129 , 132 -33, 136 , 144 .
See also trickster
misogyny, modernist, 172 -73, 181 n58
modernism, 1 , 4 , 10 , 61 , 64 n42;
Afro-American Symphony and, 10 , 115 , 117 , 122 -24, 127 -28, 185 ;
American musical trend, 39 -40;
Arvey and, 152 , 157 , 159 -61, 174 ;
and commercial music, 76 ;
communist, 186 , 194 , 195 , 200 ;
Forsythe and, 100 , 152 , 201 -2, 293 ;
in From the Land of Dreams,5 , 184 ;
"high," 76 ;
and Los Angeles perceptions of Still, 77 ;
misogyny, 172 -73;
Still marginalized/rejected in, 172 , 185 -87, 193 ;
Still's criticisms of, 194 , 209 n36;
Still's non-ultramodernist, 316 ;
Still's period of, 8 , 48 , 49 -51, 71 , 208 n36;
Still's shift away from, 48 , 50 , 64 n42, 71 -72, 85 , 127 -28, 184 , 194 , 201 -2, 312 -13;
Still's uniqueness in, 306 ;
and Still's "universal idiom," 73 , 75 -76;
white, 4 , 73 , 115 , 117 , 151 n43, 182 , 195 , 211 -12n60.
See also "ultra-modern idiom"
"Modernism in Music" (Still), 54
Modern Music,185 -86, 199 , 206 n11
Moe, Henry Allen, 235
Moe, Orin, 117 , 146 n5
Moore, Douglas, 196
Moore, Mary Carr, 77 , 159
Morris, Newbold, 188 , 196 , 198 -99
Moss, Carlton, 62 n14;
Blue Steel story, 43 , 83 , 103 , 183 , 331 ;
communist, 183 ;
The Negro Soldier film work, 93 n60;
on Still's personality, 86 ;
on Still's preoccupation with Music, 204 n1
Mota (Still), 83 , 85 , 93 n62
mother, Still's, Carrie Fambro Still Shep-person, 21 -35, 76 , 215 -17, 283 , 306 , 307 -8
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, 197
Moton, Robert Russa (1867-1940), 280 , 296 n14
Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, Still speech (1949), 169 , 170fig .
movies:
Arvey connections, 155 ;
Lost Horizon,79 -80, 204 ;
The Negro Soldier,93 n60;
Pennies from Heaven,79 ;
Still at Columbia Pictures, 79 -80, 203 -4;
Stormy Weather,81 , 85 , 197 , 210 n44;
Theodora Goes Wild,79 .
See also film music; Hollywood
Murchison, Gayle, xii , 2 , 8 , 12 n8, 39 -65, 112 n37, 274
Muse, Clarence, 101
musical activity. See arrangers; composers; conducting; musical genres; musical styles; Still, William Grant—music
Musical America,224
Musical Chronicle,287
Musical Courier:
and Afro-American Symphony,254 ;
Arvey items, 258 -59, 271 n42;
on Darker America,225 , 291 , 314 ;
on From the Land of Dreams,288 ;
on Levee Land,224 , 288 , 314 ;
Liebling (editor-in-chief), 255 , 271 n42;
Schwerké with (1932-1941), 235 , 255 , 260 , 267 ;
"Variations," 255 , 271 n42
Musical Digest,235
musical genres, 1 , 4 ;
Still crossing barriers of, 186 , 189.
See also art music; black music; concert music; film music; musicals; musical styles; popular music
musical nationalism, American, 1 , 40 , 48 , 117 -18
musicals, 43 , 69 . See also black musicals; Broadway productions
musical styles, 1 , 4 , 5 ;
chronology of Still's three periods, 8 , 48.
See also European-influenced concert tradition; fusion; modernism; "racial idiom," Still's; "ultramodern idiom"; "universal idiom"
"The Music Goes Round and Round," 80 , 203 -4
Musicians' Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, 205 n3
musicians' unions, segregated, 194
N
Naison, Mark, 206 n12
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 28 , 33 , 215 , 337
National Association of Negro Musicians, 54
nationalism, 117 ;
African American, 411-42, 48 ;
American musical, 1 , 40 , 48 , 117 -18.
See also Americanness
National Negro Business League, 25 , 26 -27, 296 n14
Native Americans, 117 -18, 306
The Negro in Etiquette:
A Novelty (Woods), 29
"Negro music," 35 -36. See also black music
Negro Peoples' Committee . . . to Aid Spanish Democracy, 205 n3
Negro Renaissance. See Harlem Renaissance
The Negro Soldier,93 n60
"The Negro Spirituals" (Locke), 41
neoclassicism:
Forsythe and, 100 ;
Still and, 117 , 208 -9n36
New England Conservatory of Music, 284 , 297 n24, 310
New Handy Map of Little Rock,30
New Masses, 186
New Music. See modernism
"'New Music' and the 'New Negro'" (Oja), 115
New Music Edition, 78 , 163
The New Negro (Locke), 8 , 40 -471, 44 -48;
Arvey and, 99 ;
"Bibliography of Negro Music," 43 ;
"Durham: Capital of the Black Middle Class" (Frazier), 41 ;
Forsythe and, 99 ;
on From the Land of Dreams,287 ;
"Jazz at Home" (Rogers), 41 ;
"The Negro Spirituals" (Locke), 41 ;
"The New Negro" (Locke), 46 -47;
"racial idiom" and, 53 ;
"Sahdji" (Bruce), 13 n14, 44 , 99 , 290 ;
Still work predating, 49
"New Negro" construct: Locke's, 45 , 46 -48, 51 . See also New Negro movement; "Talented Tenth"
New Negro movement, 40 ;
Arvey commitments to, 152 ;
Forsythe and, 8 -9, 99 , 274 , 278 -79;
Still articulation of, 59 , 115 -17, 245 ;
and Still's shift away from modernism, 72 .
See also Harlem Renaissance; "New Negro" construct
New School for Social Research, New York, 158 -59, 290
newspapers:
Los Angeles, 109 -10n5, 197 ;
New York, 156 , 225 ;
Still coverage by, 7 .
See also black press; New York Times; reviews
New World Symphony (Dvorak[*] ), 129 , 149 n27, 150 n37
New York:
Aeolian Hall, 139 , 288 , 314 ;
Arvey concerts, 158 -59;
Guggenheim enabling move away from, 82 ;
Handy, 310 ;
Juilliard School, 9 , 95 , 101 ;
Metropolitan Opera, 85 , 187 , 194 , 207 n22, 266 ;
New School for Social Research, 158 -59, 290 ;
Plantation nightclub, 220 , 233 n12, 310 ;
Still's "expatriation" from, 10 , 76 , 85 ;
Still's years in (1919-1934), 10 , 42 ;
World's Fair (1939), 74 , 334 .
See also Harlem
New York Age, 3
New York City Center for Music and Drama, 187 -88
New York City Opera:
Blitzstein's Regina,210 n45;
Morris of, 196 , 198 -99;
Troubled Island premiere (1949), 85 , 165 , 183 , 187 , 189 , 207 n21, 208 n25
New York City Symphony, 118
New York Daily News,156
New York Philharmonic, 185 , 252 , 254 , 318
New York Sinfonietta, 227 , 317
New York Telegram,225
New York Times:
on Afro-American Symphony,233 ;
on Darker America,225 -26, 291 -92;
Still description (1925), 70 ;
Taubman of, 168 , 193 .
See also Downes, Olin
New York World,223
"No Matter What You Do" (Still), 311
North Shore Festival Association/Orchestra, 224 , 289 , 313
Nugent. See Bruce (Nugent), Richard
O
Oberlin, 217 , 218 , 219 , 284 , 306 , 310
occult, 154 , 297 n22
"Ode to Ethiopia" (Dunbar), 125 -26
"Ode to the American Negro:
For the Oppressed" (Still), 120 -21
Oja, Carol J., 50 , 115 , 117 , 276
Olympia Orchestra, 98
"one drop rule," 35 , 305
opera:
and African American status, 145 ;
Victor Red Seal recordings of, 31 , 82 , 121 , 307
operas, Still's, 3 , 82 -85, 102 , 154 ;
"Atlantis," 13 n14, 44 , 92 n57;
A Bayou Legend,83 , 85 ;
Costaso, 83 , 85 , 166 -67, 168 ;
Highway 1, U.S.A.,85 ;
Minette Fontaine,85 ;
Mota,83 , 85 , 93 n62;
The Pillar, 85 ;
"The Sorcerer," 82 -83, 94 -95, 102 -3, 108 , 270 n22;
A Southern Interlude,83 , 85 .
See also Blue Steel; "Rashana"; Troubled Island
Opportunity, 60
orchestration:
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on Still's, 335 -36;
Forsyth's treatise on, 282 ;
jazz contribution to, 56 ;
"nude," 336 ;
Still on effective, 209 n36, 336 ;
"Still's consummate skill," 289 .
See also arranging, Still's; Still, William Grant—music
Original Creole Band, 98
Original Nashville Students, 98
Osgood, Henry Osborne, 288
Outlet, 13 n10, 97 , 296 n9
P
Pace & Handy publishers, 42 , 70 , 87 nn2,5, 311 , 330
Pace Recording Company (the Black Swan label), 43 , 71 , 219 , 310
Page, Ruth, 252 , 265 , 289 , 325
Paige, Raymond, 156
Pan-American Association of Composers, 293 , 337
Paris:
Africa performance, 221 , 228 , 246 -51, 317 ;
Hughes, 256 ;
Schwerké, 235 -67;
Varèse, 236 , 272 n47, 284 ;
"wicked," 272 n47
Pasdeloup Orchestra, Paris, 221 , 228 , 246 -51, 317
patriotic themes:
American musical nationalism, 1 , 40 , 48 , 61 , 117 -18;
during World War II, 60 .
See also Americanness
Patterson, Frank, 221
Pemberton, Charles E.:
and Arvey symposium, 159 , 160 ;
Forsythe composition training by, 99 , 100 , 108 ;
in Forsythe "Study," 276 , 295 n7
Pennies from Heaven,79
"Personal Notes" (Still), 9 , 70 , 215 -34, 276 , 300
Peterkin, Norman, 289
Philadelphia Inquirer,323
Philadelphia Orchestra:
Afro-American Symphony,144 , 318 ;
Symphony in G Minor,322
piano, Still's compositions for:
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 327 -19;
Forsythe "Study" on, 290 -91.
See also Three Visions
Piano Variations (Copland), 115
Pickens, William, 28
The Pillar (Still), 85
Piston, Walter, 196
plagiarism. See "borrowings" from black musicians, whites'; imitations
Plain Chant for America (Still), 194
"Plan for a Biography of Still" (Forsythe), 94 , 300 -303
Plantation nightclub, 220 , 233 n12, 310
polarizations, societal and genre, 76 , 114
police, Little Rock color line and, 23 -24
politics:
Arvey as Still's voice, 173 ;
and Harlem Renaissance, 41 ;
"lilywhitism," 24 ;
Little Rock, 22 -24;
Still and, 10 , 59 -60, 65 n80, 183 -84, 194 .
See also communism; laws; racism
"Politics in Music" (Still), 194
Popular Front, communist, 186 -87, 206 n15, 211 n49
popular music:
blacks confined to, 145 ;
mediating between polarities and "elite" and, 76 ;
and redemption of artistic culture, 47 ;
research on Still's, 87 n2;
Still combining with modernism, 48 ;
Still's early, 42 -43, 71 , 117 -18, 311 -14;
wealth and, 57 .
See also arranging, Still's; black music; folk music; jazz; songs, Still's
Porgy and Bess (Gershwin), 252 , 298 n39
Portraits (Still), 275 , 285 , 294
poverty, Arvey-Still, 173 -74
Price, Florence (Smith), 27 , 30 , 37 n26
primitivism, 4 , 129 , 326
prisons, segregated, 23
Prokofieff, Serge, 256
Pro Musica, 77 , 252 , 265
publishers:
C. C. Birchard Co., 314 ;
black-owned and operated, 42 ;
Handy (Pace & Handy), 42 , 70 , 87 nn2,5, 311 , 330 ;
Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, 311 ;
New Music Edition, 78 , 163 ;
Robbins Music Corporation, 147 n13, 271 n39, 272 n53, 326 -27;
Still's, 9 , 14 n17, 78 , 145 -46n2, 147 n13, 254 .
See also Fischer (J.) and Bro. (George Fischer) publishers; newspapers; Schirmer, Gustave (1890-1967)/G. Schirmer, Inc.
Puritan Epic (Still), 227 , 234 n20, 265 , 272 n59, 313
Q
Quin, Carolyn L., xii , 63 n41;
chronology of Still's life, 8 , 15 -18
"Quit Dat Fool'nish" (Still), 108 , 329
R
race:
Arvey resentment over issues of, 164 , 173 -74, 202 , 336 ;
and Arvey's influence on Still, 169 -71;
communism and, 186 -87, 194 , 195 , 196 , 197 , 200 -202, 206 -7nn15, 17 ;
and concert music, 145 , 182 , 199 -200, 202 ;
and expectations of Still, 171 ;
Forsythe's anger about issues of, 101 ;
issues encompassing all racial and ethnic groups, 59 ;
Little Rock and, 22 -26;
Los Angeles and, 76 ;
Moton and, 296 n14;
Native Americans, 117 -18, 306 ;
Pan-American Association of Composers and, 293 ;
reviews and, 4 -7, 118 , 183 -86, 187 -88, 189 , 193 , 200 , 291 , 314 ;
segregation by, 8 , 22 -26, 33 , 35 , 58 , 194 , 195 ;
separatism, 187 ;
Still comments on, 58 , 145 ;
Still crossing barriers of, 4 , 39 , 70 , 182 , 186 , 187 , 203 ;
Still's "peculiar isolation from," 8 -9, 171 , 301 ;
Toomer identifications, 296 n10;
violence over, 59 -60.
See also African Americans; racial doubleness; racial stereotypes; racism; whites
race progress/racial uplift, 2 , 59 , 60 -61, 211 n59;
Afro-American Symphony and, 188 -89, 203 ;
and black art music, 57 , 58 ;
Du Bois and, 45 -46, 61 ;
Little Rock, 26 -27;
Locke and, 47 -48, 52 , 60 , 61 ;
Still family's commitment to, 8 , 32 -33;
Troubled Island and, 188 -89.
See also elite, African American; "New Negro" construct; redemptive culture
racial doubleness, 1 -2, 4 , 9 , 45 , 203 ;
Afro-American Symphony and, 115 , 127 ;
"racial idiom" and, 51 -53, 58 ;
World War II soldiers and, 60 .
See also "minstrel mask"
"racial idiom," Still's, 51 -59, 71 , 184 -85;
Afro-American Symphony,52 -54, 58 , 71 , 114 , 145 , 184 -85, 317 -119, 322 -23;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 314 -17;
chronology, 8 , 48 ;
Forsythe influence on, 72 ;
and jazz, 50 , 54 -56;
and Los Angeles move, 75 ;
Sahdji, 184 -85, 326 ;
Symphony in G Minor,322 -23;
"universal idiom" following, 59 , 61 , 73 , 75 ;
white audiences and, 145 .
See also black music; fusion
racial stereotypes:
African Americans reversing, 194 ;
Arvey and, 165 -66;
black music reinforcing, 54 -55;
and communism, 199 -200;
reviews and, 4 -7, 118 , 183 -89, 200 ;
and Still's creative uses of blues, 10 ;
and World's Fair commission, 74
racial uplift. See race progress/racial uplift
racism, 8 ;
anti-Semitism, 200 ;
arts vs., 48 ;
communism and, 195 , 200 -202;
Du Bois definition, 45 ;
Jim Crow laws, 8 , 23 , 24 , 33 , 35 ;
Little Rock, 8 , 23 ;
Los Angeles, 77 ;
Still and, 35 , 57 -61, 195 , 200 -202.
See also discrimination; racial stereotypes; segregation
Radamsky, Sergei, 230
radio:
Arvey solos, 156 -57;
Bell Telephone Hour, 146 n2, 234 n14;
"California Melodies," 156 -57;
Lenox Avenue on, 82 , 92 n56, 103 , 266 ;
Levee Land,224 ;
Standard School Broadcasts, 78 ;
Still arrangements, 69 , 72 , 79 , 146 n2;
Still as first African American conductor of whites on, 311 ;
Still compositions, 78 , 82 , 92 n56, 224 , 311 -12;
Still speaking about American music on, 305 ;
Voice of America with Troubled Island,189 , 193 -94, 207 n21;
Whiteman's "Old Gold Hour," 69 , 72 , 297 n28;
"Willard Robison and His Deep River Hour," 69 , 71 , 87 n2, 119 , 148 nn15,16, 150 n39, 220 , 249 , 311 -12, 333
Rainey, Ma, 51
Rain or Shine, Still arrangements, 43 , 69 , 139 , 141 , 144 , 220 , 310
Raksin, David, 210 n44
Rapp, William Jourdan, 5 -6
"Rashana" (Still), 148 n20;
Cullen and Bundy collaborations, 43 , 44 , 82 , 89 n29, 93 n61, 167 , 294 , 299 n50;
"Rashana" sketchbook and, 121 ;
"Still 1924" theme book and, 120
"Rashana" sketchbook, 116fig., 121 -22;
and Afro-American Symphony,116fig., 121 -22, 123fig.,124ex., 127 , 133fig.,134 -35fig., 137fig.,141
record company:
Co-Art Turntable, 156 ;
first black-owned and operated, 43 ;
Pace Recording Company (the Black Swan label), 43 , 71 , 219 , 310
recordings, Victor Red Seal, 31 , 82 , 217 , 307 -8
Red Channels,210 n44
redemptive culture, 60 -61;
Locke and, 47 -48, 52 , 60 , 61 ;
Still's "racial idiom" and, 51 -52, 57 -59.
See also race progress/racial uplift
Redman, Don, 70 , 89 n16
Regina (Blitzstein), 210 n45
Reilly, Edward R., 13 n16
Reis, Claire M., 91 n44, 199 , 205 -6n11
Relation of Ultra-Modern to Archaic Music (Heyman), 277 , 295 n8
religious convictions, Still's, 30 , 216 , 221 -22, 247 ;
Afro-American Symphony and, 10 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 337 ;
Forsythe on, 280 , 282 ;
spiritualism, 154 , 297 n22.
See also churches
Republican party, Little Rock African Americans in, 22 , 24
reviews, 4 -9;
Africa, 69 , 228 , 317 ;
Afro-American Symphony,129 , 185 -86, 231 -32, 318 ;
And They Lynched Him on a Tree,197 , 198 ;
Arvey performances, 156 , 158 , 159 ;
Darker America,225 -26, 276 , 291 , 314 ;
Earl Carroll's Vanities,70 ;
From the Black Belt,226 ;
From the Journal of a Wanderer,224 , 289 , 293 ;
From the Land of Dreams,5 , 184 , 203 , 222 -23, 287 , 288 , 312 ;
La Guiablesse,325 ;
Harlem,5 -7, 13 n9;
Hollywood Bowl production, 77 -78;
Levee Land,223 -24, 288 , 314 ;
and race, 4 -7, 118 , 183 -89, 193 , 200 , 291 , 314 ;
Sahdji,5 , 229 -30, 326 ;
shift to rejective, 187 ;
Symphony in G Minor,323 -25;
Troubled Island,184 , 189 -90, 193 .
See also audiences; Musical Courier
revisions:
Africa, 254 , 317 ;
Sahdji, 326 ;
Troubled Island,189 -92, 190 -91ex .
Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), 147 n9, 285 , 297 n28, 298 n29
Rhené-Baton, 228 , 246 , 248 , 249 -50
rhythm:
additive, 49 ;
jazz contribution to, 56 .
See also syncopation
Richardson, Willis, 41
Robbins Music Corporation, 147 n13, 271 n39, 272 n53, 326 -27
Roberts, Luckeyth (1887-1968), 70 , 87 n6, 220 , 233 n11
Robeson, Paul (1898-1987), 42 , 109 , 296 n10;
"Breath of a Rose" and, 316 ;
and communism, 194 , 197 -98, 205 n3;
in Forsythe "Study," 279
Robinson, Earl, 194 , 196 , 197 -98, 211 n49
Robison, Willard, 148 n16;
"Deep River Hour," 69 , 71 , 87 n2, 119 , 148 nn15, 16 , 150 n39, 220 , 249 , 310 , 333
Rob Wagner's Script,158
Rochester:
Africa performance (1930), 118 , 136 , 275 , 317 ;
Afro-American Symphony premiere (1931), 184 -85, 186 , 205 n8, 231 -32;
Darker America,314 ;
From the Journal of a Wanderer
Rochester (continued )
in, 289 , 313 ;
La Guiablesse performance, 265 , 325 ;
Sahdji premiere (1931), 69 , 118 , 205 n8, 232 .
See also Eastman School of Music
Rodzinski, Artur, 198
Rogers, Calista, 160
Rogers, J. A., 41
romantic triangle, Still-Arvey-Forsythe, 9 , 95 , 99 , 107 -9, 113 n48, 163
Rome, Africa performance, 317
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 188
Roosevelt, Theodore, 26 , 98 , 110 n13
Rosenfeld, Maurice, 289
Rosenfeld, Paul, 222 -23, 282 , 287 , 290 , 298 nn34,36, 312
Rosenwald Fellowship, Still's, 199
"Roshana." See "Rashana"
Royce, Edward, 293
Runnin' Wild, Still arrangements, 69 , 219 -20, 285 , 310
S
Sabin, Stewart R., 224 -25, 228 -32
Sabin, Stuart R., 293 , 325
Sahdji (Still), 69 , 73 , 74 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 325 -26;
Biracree and, 103 , 229 ;
Bruce's sketch, 13 n14, 44 , 73 , 99 , 290 ;
dedicated to Hanson, 229 , 326 ;
Forsythe and, 73 , 94 , 103 , 275 , 290 ;
in "Personal Notes," 229 -30, 232 ;
premiere (Rochester, 1931), 69 , 118 , 205 n8, 232 ;
"racial idiom," 71 , 184 -85, 326 ;
reviews, 5 , 229 -30, 326 ;
in Still letters to Schwerké, 265 , 270 n12
St. Denis, Ruth, 155
St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Little Rock, 30
Sargeant, Winthrop, 56
Saunders, Richard Drake, 159
Schirmer, Gustave (1890-1967)/G. Schirmer, Inc., 273 n63, 298 nn41,44;
"Breath of a Rose," 226 , 266 , 270 n11, 316 ;
and "Mandy Lou," 298 n46, 312 ;
Peterkin's Dreamer's Tales,289 ;
"Winter's Approach," 226 , 266 , 270 n11, 316
Schoenberg, Arnold, 159 , 160 , 286
school. See education
Schwerké, Irving (1893-1975), 235 -73;
and Africa,221 , 228 , 236 , 240 -44, 246 -51, 253 , 254 , 267 -68, 271 n35;
Afro-American Symphony dedicated to, 25 , 235 , 244 , 254 , 255 , 260 , 261 -62, 268 -69, 270 n21, 317 ;
Amerigrove article on, 235 , 236 , 268 ;
and Darker America,236 , 240 , 263 -64, 276 ;
Lisbon, 267 ;
Paris, 235 -67;
piece on Still, 256 -63, 267 ;
significance to Still's career, 267 -69;
Still correspondence with, 10 , 57 -58, 75 , 92 n56, 120 , 235 -73, 276 ;
Still's performances in Europe arranged by, 10 , 221 , 227 , 228 , 240 -44, 246 -51, 317 ;
with Sophie Tucker, 237fig.;
Views and Interviews,253 , 255 -56, 257 , 260 , 272 n47
Schwerké Collection, 235 -36, 269
Screenwriters' Guild, 197
"Scribblings" (Arvey), 12 n4, 108 , 113 n49, 144 , 157 , 162 , 163
segregation: racial, 8 , 22 -26, 33 , 35 , 58 , 194 , 195 . See also separatism
self-help philosophy, Washington's, 26
"separate coach" law (1891), 24
separatism: racial, 187 . See also segregation
Sessions, Roger, 196
Seven Traceries (Still), 156
Sevitzky, Fabien, 77
sexuality:
blues expressing, 55 ;
"exotic" in reviews implying, 5 ;
homophobia, 200 ;
in Troubled Island,189 .
See also gender
Shavitch, Vladimir, 222 , 265 , 286
Shawn, Ted, 155
Shepperson, Carrie Fambro Still (mother), 21 -35, 76 , 215 -17, 283 , 306 , 307 -8
Shepperson, Charles B. (stepfather), 2 , 31 , 217 , 307
Shirley, Wayne D., xii , xiii , 13 n14, 60 , 92 n56, 235 -73
Shuffle Along (1921), 3 , 4 , 7 , 41 ;
Blake and, 70 , 87 n6, 138 -39, 310 ;
Gershwin and, 138 -39, 141 , 144 , 150 n36;
Still's role, 4 , 42 -43, 71 , 144 , 219 , 285
Shulsky, Samuel, 228 , 230
"The Significance of Still's Sahdji" (Forsythe), 103
"signifying," Afro-American Symphony,117 , 144
Slattery, Paul Harold, 146 n5
slavery:
and African American social hierarchy, 28 , 29 ;
Harlem Renaissance and, 42 ;
spirituals and, 46 ;
Still's grandmother and, 216
Slonimsky, Nicholas, 316
Smith, Bessie, 41 , 51
Smith, Bonnie G., 172
Smith, James H., 24 , 27 , 29 , 31
Smith, Leroy, 220 , 310
social status:
among African Americans,
28 -29.
See also class; culture; elite, African American
Sokol, Martin, 199 , 207 n21, 210 n45
Song of a New Race . See Symphony in G Minor: Song of a New Race
songs:
art (genre), 51 -52;
"sorrow songs," 46 , 50 .
See also songs, Still's; spirituals
songs, Still's:
vs. art song genre, 51 -52;
"Breath of a Rose," 51 , 226 , 266 , 290 , 316 ;
"Brown Baby," 71 , 311 ;
commercial, 71 ;
"Dance of Love," 312 ;
"Dance of the Carnal Flowers," 312 ;
"Death of a Rose," 270 n11;
Dialect Songs,290 ;
"Good Night," 312 ;
"Mandy Lou," 298 n46, 312 ;
"Memphis Man," 311 ;
"No Matter What You Do," 311 ;
in "racial idiom," 51 ;
Songs of Separation,275 ;
Three Negro Songs,48 -49, 118 , 289 , 311 -12;
"Winter's Approach," 51 , 226 , 266 , 270 n11, 288 , 190 , 316 .
See also Levee Land
Songs of Separation (Still), 275
Sonneck, Oscar G., 290 , 298 n44
The Sorcerer (Still), 93 n62, 102 -3;
ballet, 82 , 102 , 103 , 312 ;
opera, 82 -83, 94 -95, 102 -3, 108 , 112 n36, 270 n22
"sorrow songs," 46 , 50
So This Is Jazz (Osgood), 288
The Souls of Black Folk (Du Bois), 1 -2, 45 -46;
"Of Our Spiritual Strivings," 45 ;
"Of the Sorrow Songs," 46 ;
"racial idiom" and, 53 ;
"The Training of Black Men," 45 -46
Southern, Eileen, 42
A Southern Interlude (Still), 83 , 85
Spaeth, Sigmund, 71
Spanish Civil War, 183 , 198 , 205 n3
Speight, Mary, 30
Spencer, Jon Michael, 202 , 297 n22
spiritual beliefs. See religious convictions, Still's
spiritualism, 154 , 297 n22
spirituals, 42 , 56 , 307 ;
Marian Anderson reviews, 186 ;
Caucasian influence on, 63 n27, 65 n68, 121 , 330 -31;
Darker America and, 49 ;
Du Bois on, 46 , 50 , 55 ;
Forsythe and, 100 , 279 ;
Locke on, 47 , 50 ;
Still arrangements of, 112 n36, 266 , 330 -31.
See also call-and-response
Spot Cash Drug Store, 25
Standard School Broadcasts, 78
State Department, 193 -94, 209 n38
Steiner, Max, 79 , 80
Steinert, Alexander, 272 n47
Stephens, Charlotte Andrews, 30
stereotypes:
class-related "commercial," 206 n11;
cultural, 203 , 204 .
See also racial stereotypes
Still, Carrie (mother), 21 -35, 76 , 215 -17, 283 , 306 , 307 -8
Still, Grace Bundy (wife), 75 ;
divorced, 164 ;
married, 218 , 233 n4, 285 ;
and "Rashana," 43 , 82 , 93 n61, 167 , 299 n50;
Wilberforce University, 87 n5, 148 n17, 297 n27
Still, Judith Anne (daughter), xi ;
and Blue Steel,83 ;
and communist plot, 192 -93, 198 ;
and Forsythe "Study," 276 ;
and Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," 138 , 149 n34;
and Still's arrangements, 87 n2, 181 n60
Still, Verna Arvey (wife). See Arvey, Verna
Still, William Grant (1871-1895; father), 2 , 21 , 215 -16, 218 , 306
Still, William Grant—chronology, 8 , 15 18, 42
Still, William Grant—family, 2 -3, 31 -32, 283 -84, 306 -8;
father, 2 , 21 , 215 -16, 218 , 306 ;
grandmother, 31 -32, 35 , 216 -17, 307 ;
mother, 21 -35, 76 , 215 -17, 283 , 306 , 307 -8;
status, 2 -3, 8 , 24 , 31 -33, 34 ;
stepfather, 2 , 31 , 217 , 307 ;
Still's birth, 215 , 283 , 306 .
See also Arvey, Verna; children, Still's; Still, Grace Bundy
Still, William Grant—music:
American Suite,117 -18;
And They Lynched Him on a Tree,60 , 167 , 194 , 197 -98, 275 ;
Beyond Tomorrow,327 ;
Black Bottom,289 , 312 ;
The Black Man Dances: Four Negro Dances for Piano and Orchestra,74 -75, 89 n28, 175 , 252 , 327 -28;
Death, 311 ;
A Deserted Plantation,89 n28, 266 , 271 n39, 326 -27, 334 ;
early experiences, 31 33-34, 70 , 217 , 283 -84, 306 -9;
Ebon Chronicle,326 ;
Fantasy on the St. Louis Blues,286 , 310 ;
first African American conductor of whites, 77 , 311 , 337 ;
Forsythe on Still's ideas about, 282 ;
In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy , 60 ;
"Laredo Suite," 81 ;
Log Cabin Ballads,118 , 227 , 290 , 313 ;
Plain Chant for America,194 ;
Portraits, 275 , 285 , 294 ;
Puritan Epic,227 , 234 n20, 265 , 272 n59, 313 ;
"Quit Dat Fool'nish," 108 , 329 ;
Seven Traceries,156 ;
"sketches for the catalog"
Still, William Grant—music (continued )
of Columbia Pictures, 79 ;
as "speaking self," 7 ;
Three Fantastic Dances,285 , 311 .
See also Africa; arranging, Still's; ballets, Still's; commercial work; composing career, Still's; Darker America; dedications by Still; Dismal Swamp; From the Black Belt; From the Journal of a Wanderer; From the Land of Dreams. Kaintuck'; Lenox Avenue; operas, Still's; reviews; songs, Still's; symphonic music; Three Visions
Still, William Grant—photos, 80fig ., 171fig ., 250
Still, William Grant—writings:
"An Afro-American Composer's Point of View," 51 , 53 ;
anticommunist, 168 -69, 170fig.,194 -96;
"Are Negro Composers Handicapped?," 58 ;
"Communism in Music," 195 -96;
correspondence with Schwerké, 57 -58, 75 , 92 n56, 120 , 235 -73, 276 ;
"Fifty Years of Progress in Music," 194 -95;
handwriting, 269 n6;
"The Men Behind American Music," 139 -40;
"Modernism in Music," 54 ;
music typewriter, 89 n29, 93 n61;
"Personal Notes," 9 , 70 , 215 -34, 276 , 300 ;
"Politics in Music," 194 ;
"Still 1924" theme book, 120 -21, 141 , 142fig.;
"Writing Music for Films" (talk), 77 ;
"Writings by William Grant Still and Verna Arvey," 172 .
See also "Rashana" sketchbook; Still, William Grant—music
Still-Arvey collections, 74 , 268 , 269 , 276
Stinson, Eugene, 254
Stock, Frederick, 224 , 265 , 289 , 313
Stokowski, Leopold, 289 , 298 n40;
and Afro-American Symphony,144 , 254 , 3 18;
Still work dedicated to, 235 ;
and Symphony in G Minor,53 , 322 , 323 25;
and Troubled Island,188 , 193 , 207 n21, 208 nn23, 34 ;
view of modern music, 256 , 271 n44
Stoloff, Morris, 79
Stormy Weather,81 , 85 , 197 , 210 n44
String Quartet (Crawford), 115
Studies of American Composers, 266 -67
"A Study in Contradictions" (Forsythe), xii , 73 , 94 , 95 , 274 -99;
Arvey and, 161 ;
in Still-Schwerké correspondence, 136 ;
on Van Vechten, 104 , 287 , 298 n35
style: Still's, 336 -37. See also musical styles
Survey Graphic,44 -45
symphonic music, 86 ;
by and for African Americans, 3 , 145 ;
first African American to compose a symphony, 318 , 337 ;
first African American to lead a major symphony orchestra, 77 , 337 ;
Still's "ultramodern idiom " in, 49 -51.
See also Afro-American Symphony; Symphony in G Minor: Song of a New Race
Symphony in G Minor: Song of a New Race,44 , 53 , 296 n10, 322 -25;
dedicated to Isabel Morse Jones, 322 ;
page from composer's holograph score, 324ex.;
reviews, 323 -25;
second movement, opening, 323ex.;
in trilogy, 73 , 316 -25
syncopation:
Darker America,49 ;
"I Got Rhythm," 141
Szell, George, 254
T
Talbert, Florence Cole, 76 , 90 n33
"Talented Tenth," 2 , 29 -30, 45 , 46 -47, 57 , 58 . See also "New Negro" construct
Tansman, Alexandre, 256 , 257
Taubman, Howard, 168 , 193 , 196 , 208 n30
Taylor, Deems, 196 , 333
television:
Still music in series, 81 ;
Still opera (Highway I, U.S.A. ) on, 85
Teske, Charles, 333
theater, 5 -6, 31 ;
black, 7 , 41 , 43 , 62 n14, 70 .
See also Broadway productions; musicals; opera
Theodora Goes Wild, 79
Thompson, Randall, 196
Three Fantastic Dances (Still), 285 , 311
Three Negro Songs (Still), 48 -49, 118 , 289 , 311 -12
Three Visions (Still), 266 , 328 -29;
"Dark Horseman," 329 , 329ex.;
"Radiant Pinnacle," 330ex.;
"Summerland," 102 -3, 266 , 329 , 329 ex .
Thurman, Wallace Henry (1902-1934), 296 n9;
Arvey and, 157 ;
Forsythe and, 5 , 13 n10, 97 , 101 , 102 , 279 , 296 n9;
Harlem,5 -7, 13 n9
Tibbett, Lawrence, 155
Tiomkin, Dimitri, 79 , 80
Toch, Ernst, 255
Toomer, Jean (1894-1967):
Cane, 105 , 296 n10, 299 n50;
Forsythe and, 279 , 280 , 294 , 299 n50;
in Locke's The New Negro,40 , 41
Tremblay, George, 159
Tribune, Paris, 235
trickster:
Afro-American Symphony,126 ,
133 , 144 , 203 -4;
From the Black Belt,315 .
See also "minstrel mask"
Troubled Island (Still), 82 , 83 , 85 , 164 , 167 , 275 ;
Arvey's "William Grant Still" on, 332 ;
campaign for production, 85 , 187 -89, 207 n21;
and communist plot, 183 , 187 , 192 -201, 207 n22;
about Dessalines, 43 , 189 , 332 ;
Halász and, 188 , 193 , 196 ;
Hughes libretto, 1 , 43 , 74 , 167 , 183 , 188 , 198 , 296 n9, 332 ;
Metropolitan Opera rejection, 85 , 187 , 194 , 207 n22;
premiere at New York City Opera (1949), 85 , 165 , 183 , 187 , 189 , 207 n21, 208 n25;
racial style, 71 , 74 ;
reviews, 184 , 189 -92, 193 ;
revision, 189 -92, 190 -91ex.;
"Still 1924" theme book and, 120 ;
Still discouraged after, 192 -93, 200 ;
Still-Schwerké correspondence on, 267 ;
on Voice of America, 189 , 193 -94, 207 n21
Tucker, Sophie, 237fig.,310
Turner, Sara, 109
Tuskegee Institute, 26 , 34 , 296 n14
"Twell de Night Is Pas"' (Dunbar), 125
Twentieth Century Fox, 81 , 85 , 197
typewriter, music, 89 n28, 93 n61
U
"ultramodern idiom," 8 , 49 -51, 306 ;
Black Bottom,312 ;
chronology, 8 , 48 ;
Darker America,115 ;
Dismal Swamp,78 , 91 n44;
From the Land of Dreams,287 , 312 ;
Levee Land, 12 n8, 115 , 203 ;
shift away from, 48 , 50 -51, 64 n42, 71 -72, 85 , 127 -28, 184 , 194 , 201 -2, 312 -113.
See also modernism; Varèse, Edgard
unions, musicians', segregated, 194
"universal idiom," 7 , 59 -60, 61 , 73 -74;
chronology, 8 , 48 ;
and romantic triangle, 95
uplift. See race progress/racial uplift
upper class. See elite, African American
urban centers, New Negro/blues and jazz, 51
V
Van Vechten, Carl, 104 -8. 109 , 113 n46, 163 , 287 , 298 n35
Varèse, Edgard (1883-1965), 221 , 233 n10, 295 n7;
Darker America and, 225 , 314 ;
Forsythe "Study" and, 276 , 277 , 284 -85, 286 , 287 , 288 , 295 n7;
From the Land of Dreams and, 123 , 265 , 287 , 312 ;
International Composers' Guild founded by, 285 ;
Ionisation,115 ;
Levee Land and, 288 ;
and Musicians' Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, 205 n3;
Pan-American Association of Composers, 293 ;
Paris, 236 , 272 n47, 284 ;
in Schwerké's Views and Interviews,272 n47;
Still compositions dedicated to, 235 , 265 ;
Still's admiration for, 88 n15;
Still's scholarship with, 219 , 310 ;
Still's shift away from, 48 , 50 , 64 n42, 71 -72, 127 -28, 312 -13;
Still's study with, 4 , 48 , 49 , 71 , 120 , 121 , 219 , 284 , 295 n7, 306 , 310
Victor Red Seal recordings, 31 , 82 , 217 , 307
Views and Interviews (Schwerké), 253 , 255 -56, 257 , 260 , 272 n47
violence, racial, 59 -60
Vodery, Will, 70 , 76 , 149 n34, 233 n12
Voice of America, Troubled Island on, 189 , 193 -94, 207 n21
Voorhees, Donald (1903-1989), 148 n21, 234 n14, 297 n28, 310 ;
Bell Telephone Hour, 146 n2, 234 n14;
Earl Carroll's Vanities,70 , 220 , 234 n14, 285 , 310
W
Walrond, Eric (1898-1966), 279 , 296 n9
Warner's, 80
Washington, Booker T., 1 -2, 12 n4, 25 , 26 -27, 34
Webster., Margaret, 196
Weill, Kurt, 196 , 210 n45
Weingartner, Felix, 221 , 270 n25
"W'en I Gits Home" (Dunbar), 125
Wessel, Marvin, 228
"We Walk League," Little Rock, 23
White, Clarence Cameron, 31 , 220 , 221
White, Walter, 41
Whiteman, Paul (1890-1967), 88 -89n16, 98 , 148 n21, 286 , 297 n28, 326 -27;
Africa on program, 221 , 227 , 317 ;
A Deserted Plantation for, 89 n28, 266 , 326 -27;
Four Negro Dances for, 74 -75, 89 n28;
Grofé with, 89 n17, 296 n15;
King of Jazz,72 , 89 n17;
"Old Gold Hour," 69 , 72 , 297 n28;
Still as arranger for, 69 , 72 -75, 88 -89n16, 118 -19, 147 -48n15, 220 , 221 , 285 , 310 ;
"sweet" synthesis of blues and jazz, 203
whites:
African Americans passing for, 35 ;
and Afro-American Symphony sensibility, 144 -45;
arts promoting greater knowledge among, 48 ;
audiences, 3 -5, 13 n9, 54 , 77 , 118 , 124 , 145 ;
blues not influenced by, 63 n27, 65 n68, 121 , 128 ;
"borrowings" from black musicians, 136 -43, 149 nn33, 34 , 150 n39, 164 -65, 203 -4, 211 -12n60, 288 -89;
Forsythe "Study" on press of,
whites (continued )
279 ;
Hollywood composers, 76 ;
Little Rock, 22 , 23 -24, 28 , 33 , 35 ;
Los Angeles composers, 77 ;
modernist, 4 , 73 , 115 , 117 , 151 n43, 182 , 195 , 211 -12n60;
spirituals influenced by, 63 n27, 65 n68, 121 , 330 -31;
Still's early association with, 28 , 35 .
See also reviews
white supremacy myth, 23
Wilberforce University:
Grace Bundy, 87 n5, 148 n17, 297 n27;
Still (1911-1915), 25 , 34 , 70 , 87 n5, 148 n17, 217 , 233 n4, 284 , 297 n27, 308 -9
Wilkins, William T., 98 -99, 110 n15
"William Grant Still" (Arvey), 9 , 266 -67, 276 , 304 -39
"William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions" (Forsythe). See "A Study in Contradictions"
William Grant Still Music, 100 , 120 , 345
Winchell, Walter, 327
Winfrey, Solomon, 29 -30
"Winter's Approach" (Dunbar-Still), 51 , 226 , 266 , 270 n11, 288 , 290 , 316
women:
"abusive widows," 172 -73;
composers marginalized, 90 -91n38;
and modernists' misogyny, 172 -73;
voting rights, 98 , 110 n13
Woods, E. M., 29
Workers' Music League, 186
World's Fair (1939), New York, 74 , 334
World War II, 60 , 93 n60
Wright, Richard, 201 , 205 n3
writing. See Arvey, Verna; Forsythe, Harold Bruce; literary figures, Harlem Renaissance; Still, William Grant—writings
"Writing Music for Films" (Still talk), 77
"Writings by William Grant Still and Verna Arvey," 172
Y
YMCA, Harlem, 54 , 86 , 183
YWCA, Los Angeles, 77
Z
Zachary, Jesse, 290
Zemach, Benjamin, 178 n26, 152
Zuck, Barbara, 184 , 186