232
9. output: four symphonies, orchestral suites, film
scores, stage works, operas, chamber music,
vocal music, piano music, choral music
C. Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano
1. drawn on established genre: modernist neo–
Classical trend
2. movements inspired by African American
artworks
a. African Dancer by Richmond Barthé,
sculpture
b. Mother and Child by Sargent Johnson, chalk
on paper
c. Gamin by Augusta Savage; sculpture of a
street– smart kid in Harlem
D. LG 50: Still: Suite for Violin and Piano, III (1943)
1. sectional form, opening returns frequently
2. “rhythmically and humorously”
3. bluesy melodies, modal harmonies
4. quick duple meter, ashy syncopated violin line
5. insistent bass pattern, chords on offbeats: 2 and 4
a. resembles “Harlem stride piano” (evolved
from ragtime)
6. call- and- response exchanges between violin
and piano
7. violin effects: glissandos, trills, double stops
OVERVIEW
Chapter57 turns to African American contributions to musi–
cal modernism during the 1920s and 1930s. The music of
William Grant Still illustrates his position as one of the lead–
ing figures of the Harlem Re nais sance, as well as among
composers in search of a distinctively American musical
identity.
OUTLINE
I. The Harlem Re nais sance
A. 1920s and 30s movement celebrating African
American culture and arts
1. sparked by The New Negro (1925), edited by
Alain Locke
a. encouraged fellow black artists, Africa for
inspiration
b. call for racial equality
c. pride in black cultural heritage
2. growth of black cultural prestige
a. musical traditions fostered: blues, jazz,
spirituals
b. less interested in development of modernist
art music
B. William Grant Still (1895–1978)
1. African American composer, violinist
2. most impor tant musical voice of Harlem
Re nais sance
3. Memphis and New York: arranger for radio and
musical theater
4. broke numerous racial barriers:
a. Afro- American Symphony (1931): first sym–
phony by African American composer per–
formed by major American orchestra
b. Troubled Island (1949): first African
Ameri can composer performed in major
opera house
5. Guggenheim Fellowship; honorary degrees
6. film and tele vi sion scores: Gunsmoke, and Perry
Mason background music
7. deliberately moved away from avant– garde
8. music infused with ele ments of spirituals, blues,
and jazz
Modern Amer i ca: Still and Musical
Modernism in the United States
CHAPTERfi57
Modern Amer i ca: Still and Musical Modernism in the United States | 233
for Violin and Piano and other artistic creations of the
Harlem Re nais sance? What is the relationship between
the African American experience (both con temporary
and historical) and urban life? How does this context
continue to play out in predominantly African Ameri–
can forms of music and other kinds of cultural
expression?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Teaching the Harlem Re nais sance brings up a challenging
question that has been associated with the movement from
its very beginnings: How do African American artists assert
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
sus native forms and styles.
Smith, Catherine Parsons. William Grant Still. Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 2008. An excellent biography of Still and dis–
cussion of his works. Chapter6 (“Still’s Instrumental Music”)
places the Suite for Violin and Piano within the context of his
larger instrumental output.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Seek out works by African American art- music composers
of the twentieth and twenty– first centuries. (Three examples
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the value of music within the creative con–
text of the Harlem Re nais sance
2. To recognize the music of William Grant Still as draw-
ing from the African American experience to establish
a uniquely American musical identity
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Have students read Langston Hughes’s poem “The
Weary Blues” (from the collection The Weary Blues
music. After playing the excerpt and discussing these
connections, give the student groups another five to ten
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. As the textbook notes, during the 1920s and 1930s, the
musical efforts of composers such as William Grant Still
created a dilemma for both the concert music establish-
ment and the proponents of the Harlem Re nais sance. On
the one hand, incorporating blues and jazz bothered
some conservative critics of the serious concert tradition.
In contrast, for supporters of the Harlem Re nais sance,
the Eurocentric traditions of the concert hall were not
compatible with the essence of African American artis-
234 | Chapterfi57
est ing counterpart to the music of Stephen Foster explored
in Chapter38. Cook is remembered for writing the first suc–
cessful full- length Broadway musical performed by an all-
black cast, In Dahomey, in 1903, providing mainstream
MODEL RESPONSE
The musical approach of Will Marion Cook contrasts with
that of William Grant Still in that Cook writes for the