William Grant Still's 'Africa'

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1930,  Howard Hanson led the premiere performance of the full orchestral version of William Grant Still’s symphonic poem, Africa at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Still had originally conceived Africa as a chamber work, dedicated to and premiered by great French flutist Georges Barrère earlier that same year.

In a letter to Barrère, he said his new work depicted “the Africa of my imagination,” explaining: “An American Negro has formed a concept of the land of his ancestors based largely on its folklore, and influenced by his contact with American civilization. He beholds in his mind’s eye not the Africa of reality, but an Africa mirrored in fancy, and radiantly ideal.”

That said, the Africa of Still’s imagination included not only serene, pastorale moments, but also — according to his wife — the surfacing of “unspoken fears and lurking terrors.”

In its revised full symphonic version, Africa proved successful recalls the colors of Rimksy-Korsakov’s reimagined pagan Russia, and as an orchestral showpiece proved successful in subsequent performances in Europe, but, for some reason known only to Still, Africa remained unpublished during his lifetime.

Music Played in Today's Program

William Grant Still (1895-1978): Land of Romance and Land of Superstition, from Africa; Fort Smith ASym; John Jeter, conductor; Naxos 8.559174

On This Day

Births

• 1811 - German composer, conductor and pianist Ferdinand Hiller, in Frankfurt am Main

• 1882 - Hungarian operetta composer Imre [Emmerich] Kálman, in Siófok

• 1925 - Italian composer Luciano Berio, in Oneglia, Imperia

• 1929 - American composer George Crumb, in Charleston, West Virginia

• 1931 - Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, in Chistopol, Tatar (USSR)

Deaths

• 1799 - Austrian violinist and composer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, 59, at Castle Rothlottia, near Neuhaus (Bohemia)

• 1948 - Austrian composer Franz Lehár, 78, in Bad Ischl

• 1949 - Cuban composer and violinist Joaquin Nin y Castellanos, 70, in Havana

• 1971 - American composer Carl Ruggles, 95, in Bennington, Vermont

Premieres

• 1737 - Rameau: opera Castor et Pollux, in Paris at the Palais Royal Opéra

• 1885 - Johann Strauss Jr.: operetta, The Gypsy Baron, in Vienna

• 1910 - Victor Herbert: operetta, Naught Marietta, in Syracuse, New York

• 1930 - Roussel: Symphony No. 3, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting

• 1931 - Robert Russell Bennett: Abraham Lincoln Symphony, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting

• 1936 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 16, in Moscow

• 1940 - John Alden Carpenter: Symphony No. 1 (revised version), by Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting;

• 1946 - Bernstein: ballet Facsimile, at the Broadway Theater in New York City by the Ballet Theater, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with composer conducting

• 1946 - Cowell: Symphony No. 4 (Short Symphony), by the Boston Symphony, Richard Burgin conducting

• 1970 - Penderecki: Kosmogonia, at the United Nations in New York City

• 1992 - Libby Larsen: Marimba Concerto (After Hampton), by the Long Beach Symphony, with soloist William Moersch and JoAnn Falleta conducting

• 1994 - Harrison Birtwistle: opera The Second Mrs. Kong, at Glyndeborune

• 1997 - Geoffrey Burgon: Piano Concerto, in Singapore, with soloist Joanna MacGregor and the Singapore Symphony

• 1997 - Corigliano: D.C. Fanfare, in Washington, D.C., by the National Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting

• 2001 - Steve Reich: orchestral version of Different Trains, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, David Robertson, conducting

Others

• 1818 - Felix Mendelssohn, 9, plays his first public concert, in Berlin

• 1919 - First performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Rothwell, conductor