{"id":16091,"date":"2023-02-20T13:35:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T18:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=16091"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:08:44","slug":"feb20-feb26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2023\/02\/feb20-feb26\/","title":{"rendered":"February 20th-26th: Symphony by William Grant Still"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1728410012912{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Published on Feb 20th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Composer
Composer William Grant Still. Photo lacking attribution. Eastman School Photo Archive, 8×10\u201d, box 29\/8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems appropriate during Black History Month to take note of a performance given in Kilbourn Hall eighty-four years ago this week, on the evening of February 23rd, 1939, of a new Symphony by William Grant Still (1895-1978), who has frequently been referred to as the dean of African American composers.\u00a0 At an American Composers\u2019 Concert\u2014the Eastman School\u2019s third American Composers\u2019 Concert in the 1938-39 season\u2014Howard Hanson conducted the Rochester Civic Orchestra in a performance of Mr. Still\u2019s Symphony no. 2 in G minor, which had been composed in 1936-37.\u00a0 The performance was significant in that it was promoted (in both the printed concert program and in the Rochester press) as being the first occasion that the Symphony had been broadcast by radio; the concert was broadcast by local station WHAM and was released through WHAM\u2019s facilities to the NBC-Blue Network.\u00a0 Reviews of the concert were printed in the Rochester Evening News,<\/em> the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, <\/em>and the Rochester Times-Union; <\/em>all were unanimous in describing the manifest interest and rapt attention of the audience, which was a capacity crowd in Kilbourn Hall, such that \u201cstanding room was at a premium,\u201d to quote one of the reviewers.<\/p>\n

While it wasn\u2019t made explicit on the Eastman School concert program, the Symphony no. 2 in G minor bears the subtitle Song of a New Race.\u00a0 <\/em>Composed in 1936-37, the Symphony had been premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski in that orchestra\u2019s subscription concerts on December 10th and 11th, 1937. (The printed program from those concerts is displayed here, with its substantive program notes by Lawrence Gilman.)\u00a0 The printed program from the Eastman School\u2019s American Composers\u2019 Concert (also displayed here) provides a somewhat shorter program note citing the composer in characterizing the four movements. \u00a0The performance on February 23rd, 1939 was actually the second performance of the Symphony no. 2 at Eastman that season, for Howard Hanson had conducted it in the Eastman School\u2019s third Annual Symposium of American Orchestral Music[1]<\/a><\/sup> the previous October.\u00a0 The Symphony would be performed here again in October, 1940, this time under the composer\u2019s direction, and again in April, 1941, this time performed by the Eastman School Senior Symphony Orchestra under Hanson\u2019s direction. \u00a0The Symphony clocks in at just under one half-hour in duration.\u00a0 Somewhat surprisingly, no copy of the score is present at the Eastman School, neither in the Ensembles Library nor in the Sibley Music Library.\u00a0 (Howard Hanson\u2019s personal collection does happen to contain scores of several other works by William Grant Still, including his own conducting copy of the ballet Sahdji.<\/em>)[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1676917879760{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

The Eastman School\u2019s American Composers\u2019 Concerts had been launched by Howard Hanson in 1925 as a vehicle for the performance and promotion of new works by American composers.\u00a0 It was at an American Composers\u2019 Concert on October 29th, 1931 that William Grant Still\u2019s Afro-American Symphony, <\/em>representing his first symphony, had been premiered. \u00a0(It was that performance that contributed to the claim, now appearing in more than one printed source, that Mr. Still was the first black American to have a symphony premiered by a leading orchestra. While the orchestra at that 1931 concert was comprised of players drawn from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert was an Eastman School event and not one of the RPO\u2019s subscription concerts.)\u00a0 Mr. Still\u2019s music had first been programmed at Eastman during the 1927-28 season, when Howard Hanson had conducted the tone poem Darker America. <\/em>\u00a0Hanson would continue to program Still\u2019s music at the Eastman School\u2019s American Composers\u2019 Concerts and Festivals of American Music in the years ahead.\u00a0 Besides the Afro-American Symphony, <\/em>those works by Still that had their premiere performances at Eastman included his suites Africa[2]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 <\/sup><\/em>and\u00a0 From the Journal of a Wanderer[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/sup>, <\/em>his ballets La Guiablesse[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 <\/em>and \u00a0Miss Sally\u2019s Party[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/sup>, <\/em>\u00a0and his chamber work Out of the Silence[6]<\/strong><\/a>. <\/sup><\/em>\u00a0In addition, his ballet Sahdji <\/em>was performed at Eastman three times[7]<\/a> <\/sup>with choreography by Thelma Biracree Schnepel.[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” gap=”10″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1676915140725{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”16100,16101,16102″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1710857433181{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1710857157228{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\u25ba Concert program from February 23rd, 1939, representing the Eastman School\u2019s third American Composers\u2019 Concert of the 1938-39 season.\u00a0 Whereas the American Composers\u2019 Concerts routinely featured premiere performances, this particular concert offered just one, the work by Eastman School alumnus Gail Kubik.\u00a0 Eastman School of Music Archives.
\n<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”12px” css=”.vc_custom_1710857355698{margin-right: -25px !important;margin-left: -25px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16114″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1676919363260{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1675795444061{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”16113″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” css=”.vc_custom_1710857369236{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space height=”12px” css=”.vc_custom_1710857256938{margin-right: -30px !important;margin-left: -30px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”16103,16104,16105,16106,16107,16108,16109,16110,16111,16112″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1676916021081{border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1710857174408{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\u25ba Printed program from the Philadelphia Orchestra\u2019s subscription concerts of December 10th and 11th, 1937, at which William Grant Still\u2019s Symphony no. 2 in G minor was first introduced.\u00a0 Sibley Music Library.
\n<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes”][vc_column_inner css=”.vc_custom_1669831170763{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1676919466285{margin-top: 40px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

William Grant Still\u2019s relationship with the Eastman School of Music under Howard Hanson\u2014both in Hanson\u2019s capacity as Director and then as Director of the Institute for American Music following his 1964 retirement\u2014was of considerable importance to his career. \u00a0The composer publicly acknowledged \u00a0Hanson\u2019s support on numerous occasions.\u00a0 Dr. Andrea Sherlock Kalyn has described how Hanson, in fact, became Still\u2019s primary advocate and interpreter.[9]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> Hanson, staunchly valuing the twin crafts of composition and orchestration, recognized the brilliance of Still\u2019s music, and the programming of Still\u2019s works in the American Composers\u2019 Concerts and the Festivals of American Music at Eastman is today reflected in the preservation of master audio discs and tapes in the Eastman Audio Archive.<\/p>\n

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_____________________________________________________________________________<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The Annual Symposium of American Orchestral Music at the Eastman School was another of Howard Hanson\u2019s performance initiatives to promote new works by American composers, specifically those written for the orchestral medium.\u00a0 Held over a four-day period in the fall semester, the Symposium utilized various orchestral forces\u2014the Rochester Civic Orchestra at first, and later the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra\u2014in presenting the music to the public at no charge.\u00a0 Writing for the Rochester Times-Union <\/em>in 1938, faculty member Dr. Wayne Barlow (served 1937-78) once described the Symposium as being \u201cin the nature of a research project wherein much new material is examined and given performance, affording an opportunity for the possible discovery of new talent and also providing a \u2018proving ground\u2019 for works which will be later repeated at scheduled public concerts in the American Composers\u2019 series.\u201d\u00a0 In that vein, the Still Symphony no. 2 was first presented at Eastman under the auspices of the fall Symposium, and then repeated in an American Composers\u2019 Concert.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0 At an American Composers\u2019 Concert on October 24th, 1930.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0 At an American Composers\u2019 Concert on May 8th, 1929.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0 At the 3rd annual Festival of American Music on May 5th, 1933.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0 At the 4th annual Festival of American Music on May 2nd, 1941.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 At the Annual Symposium of American Orchestral Music on October 28th, 1942.\u00a0 Scored for flute, piano, and string orchestra, the work was performed by the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra (Hanson conducting) with flutist Joseph Mariano and pianist Irene Gedney.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0 At three different Festivals of American Music:\u00a0 on May 22nd, 1931; May 4th, 1934; and, May 6th, 1950.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Choreographer and teacher Thelma Biracree Schnepel (1904-1997) is, alas, now only seldom recalled out of Rochester\u2019s cultural past. She operated a ballet school in downtown Rochester in the immediate vicinity of the Eastman School, and was commissioned to choreograph several ballet productions in the Eastman Theater, a number of them produced under the auspices of the Eastman School\u2019s annual Festivals of American Music over roughly a 20-year period.\u00a0 The Sibley Music Library is privileged to own a collection of piano scores used in rehearsals under her direction; finding aid accessible online:<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Constructing a Nation\u2019s Music: Howard Hanson\u2019s American Composers\u2019 Concerts and Festivals of American Music, 1925-71 <\/em>by Andrea Sherlock Kalyn.\u00a0 Thesis (Ph. D.)–University of Rochester, 2001. William Grant Still is discussed in chapter six (pages 280-296).<\/span><\/p>\n

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It seems appropriate during Black History Month to take note of a performance given in Kilbourn Hall on the evening of February 23rd, 1939, of a new Symphony by William Grant Still (1895-1978)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":16092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[24],"coauthors":[3],"class_list":["post-16091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-week-at-eastman","tag-february"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22731,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091\/revisions\/22731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16091"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}