Still :Suite for Violin and Piano

Suite for Violin and Piano (1943)

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

Mother and Child

Gamin

It is well known that even in the earliest days of colonial America slaves transported to these shores from Africa exhibited a remarkable richness of musical activity. At the time most white people paid little attention of the unique African music-making which survived under slavery, much of which would manage to survive well into modern times. But in the plantation world music of a different kind was often supplied by slaves who quickly adapted to the instruments and tunes of their masters, providing entertainment in an environment which seems scarcely believable today. (It it ironic to note that public advertisements in the 18^th century frequently referred to musical talent among African slaves as a “selling point” in the ghastly commerce of slavery!)

The emergence in the late 19^th century of genuine Black American music---first of all, the Spirituals, and later popular forms which develop into Ragtime, the Blues, Jazz---is now fairly widely recognized. Yet to this day the growth of distinct and finely-crafted Black concert music often remains cloaked in obscurity, and demands proper recognition.

William Grant Still, in his lifetime often called the “Dean of Black American Composers,” was one of the primary figures in the emergence of first-rate professional Black classical musicians in the first half of the 20^th century. A Californian by birth, Still studied in Ohio, worked for a while in Memphis with W. C. Handy (composer of the “Saint Louis Blues”), later with Eubie Blake in New York (notably in the pioneering Black Broadway musical, “Shuffle Along” in 1921), going on to serious study with several of the most eminent classical composers of the ‘20s and ‘30s. Still sprang to wide notice with his Afro-American Symphony (1930), which was widely performed by some of the most important American orchestras, and conductors such as Leopold Stokowski and Howard Hanson.

The Suite for Violin and Piano, comprising three movements, shows Still’s lifetime fascination with the graphic arts, each section being linked to the work of Black American artists. “Mother and Child,” an outpouring of deeply felt lyricism was inspired by a lithograph of that title by Sargent Johnson (1887-1967), a noted sculptor based in California. In sharp contrast, “Gamin” (“Street urchin”) is filled with quirky humor, with bluesy acrobatics in the violin heard against a strutting “boogie-woogie” piano accompaniment. This was inspired by one of the best-known works by the Black American sculptor, Augusta Savage, a warm-hearted representation of a Black youngster, wearing—even sixty years ago!---his cap with the brim turned around.

for a concert by Darwyn Apple