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William Grant Still's Three Rhythmic Spirituals

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William Grant Still's Three Rhythmic Spirituals William Grant Still’s Three Rhythmic Spirituals Jeff rey L. Webb William Grant Stil l, frequently referred only recently have major symphony orchestras to as “the Dean” of African American begun to program Still’s symphonic works such composers, was born in Woodville, Mis- as the Afro-American Symphony. sissippi, in 1895. Still was a prolifi c com- Still was equally adept at writing works for poser who wrote music for all idioms and the voice, both solo and choral. Along with was the fi rst African American to have his peers such as William L. Dawson (1899-1990), works performed by a major American Still was especially fond of composing and symphony orchestra; conduct a major arranging African American Spirituals and symphony orchestra in the United States wrote dozens of spiritual arrangements for (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1936); and a variety of vocalists. While Dawson’s cho- selected to compose theme music for ral arrangements of spirituals are showcased the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. quite often, Still’s contributions are still not as Though Still broke down many barriers readily performed. Three Rhythmic Spirituals is a for African Americans in the world of collection of three separate pieces arranged by classical music, he still found it diffi cult to William Grant Still: “Lord, I Looked Down the fi nd groups to program his music. As a re- Road,” “Hard Trials,” and “Holy Spirit, Don’t sult, many of his compositions never had You Leave Me.” The following article provides noted performances until long after he a short biography of Still, a history of Three had written them. At the time of his death Rhythmic Spiriuals, and performance consider- in 1978, very few people were perform- ations for readers looking to perform this work ing the music of William Grant Still, and with their own choirs. Jeff rey L. Webb Associate Professor of Music University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown jeff [email protected] 40 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 9 William Grant Still’s Three Rhythmic Spirituals Background including what compositions he worked on from day to William Grant Still was fi rst introduced to spirituals by day. After his death in 1978, Still’s personal items—includ- his maternal grandmother, Sarah Antoniette “Anne” Fam- ing photographs, original manuscripts, music typewriter, bro. She used to sing Negro Spirituals around the house and journals—were given to the University of Arkansas while Still was a young boy. In addition, his mother, Car- at Fayetteville by his widow, Verna Arvey, and daughter, rie Fambro, would take him to church services, where he Judith Anne Still. The journals are currently part of the would further experience American music and its intrinsic William Grant Still/Verna Arvey Papers housed in the rhythmic content.1 He seems to have been intrigued not library at the University of Arkansas. It is through these only by the music heard in the churches but in the way journals that one is able to trace as much of the history the pieces were presented in this setting, which clearly of Three Rhythmic Spirituals as possible. There are, how- infl uenced how he chose to compose and arrange spiri- ever, some diffi culties in tracing the precise history of the tuals. In fact, the music of these small churches was the work. The fi rst is that there is a large gap in the years of initial inspiration for the style and presentation of Three the surviving journals. The fi rst journal, dated July 1930- Rhythmic Spirituals. The inscription Still included with the December 1930, is followed by an almost eight-year gap. solo voice/piano version reads in part: As a result, it is unclear exactly what work may have been done on the pieces during that time. Still’s records start “During the years in which I have been engaged again in 1938 and are relatively intact for the next two principally in composing symphonic and operatic decades. works, I have also made it a point to visit small The second diffi culty in tracing an exact history of the Negro churches in diff erent parts of America for pieces is that during Still’s lifetime, he wrote the spirituals the purpose of observing fi rst-hand the growth of in a variety of settings. As it pertains to the complete set this kind of American music. In most instances, itself, Still wrote Three Rhythmic Spirituals in three diff erent I have found that spirituals, when sung in such versions: solo voice with piano, solo voice with orchestra, surroundings, are quite unlike those usually ar- and mixed choir with piano. Rarely in his journal entries ranged for the public—though no less devout.”2 does Still refer to the specifi c version of the pieces he was working on at any given time. Still favored the simplicity in the music that he heard in This author could fi nd nothing within the writings these church settings over more elaborate arrangements of Still’s journals to explain why Still chose the three of spirituals. This approach is in contrast to William spirituals he did. His journals do indicate that he had Dawson, who was creating more complex arrangements worked on some arrangements (orchestral and vocal) of of Negro spirituals for the Tuskegee Institute Choir.3 the individual pieces that make up Three Rhythmic Spiritu- als at diff erent times over the course of his career. The inscription that he wrote for the solo voice/piano version History of Three Rhythmic Spirituals indicates that the three pieces he chose for the set best The history of Three Rhythmic Spirituals is a long, com- enabled him to showcase the element of the music that plicated, and varied one. Though Still wanted the set to was the most important to him—the rhythm. The inscrip- accentuate specifi c rhythmic qualities, he was still capable tion reads in part: of giving each spiritual its own unique character. For example, “Lord, I Looked Down the Road” uses steady “In presenting these three spirituals, I have tried staccato notes in the accompaniment to aid in producing a to arrange them as I heard them sung by folk driving rhythm, while “Holy Spirit, Don’t You Leave Me” singers, and to emphasize, as they did, the natural is a slow blues that seems to echo the same lyrical feel pro- rhythmic content of the music.”4 duced in the main theme of Still’s Afro-American Symphony. William Grant Still kept relatively detailed journals Still seems to have intended for his arrangements of these throughout his adulthood, keeping note of his daily life, spirituals to retain the free and simplistic natures of the 42 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 9 posing multiple spiritual arrangements in hopes of publi- cation and had settled on one of the pieces he wanted to arrange. On August 29, he wrote in an entry that he had received a message regarding publication of “Holy Spirit Don’t You Leave Me” from the C.C. Birchard Publishing Company; however, it is unclear if the piece was accepted for publication, since the Birchard library does not include any pieces written by William Grant Still, nor is there any documentation in the William Grant Still/Verna Arvey Papers that states the piece was accepted. At the behest of Verna Arvey, Still wrote several pages about his life and career that were to be included in Arvey’s biography of Still, titled In One Lifetime.6 While some of what he wrote in these pages made it into the biography, a great deal was left out, and the pages were thought to be lost. In 2008, Still’s daughter, Judith Anne, found the missing pages in a box of photocopies of the manuscript for In One Lifetime. She took these pages and published them as the book My Life, My Words: The Au- tobiography of William Grant Still.7 It is in these pages that there is a mention of “Lord, I Looked Down the Road,” another spiritual that would eventually make its way into Three Rhythmic Spirituals. “Lord, I Looked Down the Road” was a piece he arranged during his time with The Deep William Grant Still in June 1937. River Orchestra (1931-1932). The Deep River Orchestra was founded by Willard Robison and became the featured spirituals he heard in the Negro churches he visited and orchestra on the “Deep River Hour” radio program. Ro- no doubt the ones he heard his grandmother sing to him bison hired Still to write arrangements for the orchestra, as a child. Yet, he also wanted the spirituals to maintain and Still eventually took over as conductor for a short their rhythmic excitement and intensity. This is an aspect time. A second mention of “Lord” came via a journal of spiritual writing that Still talks about repeatedly in his entry in 1940 in which Still wrote that he was working on journals and in discussing the diff erent spirituals he ar- another arrangement of the piece. ranged throughout his career. What we learn from these journal entries and other The earliest mention of any of the three spirituals that writings by Still is that he had worked on arrangements of would eventually make up Three Rhythmic Spirituals is in a at least two of the three spirituals long before he decided journal entry from August 20, 1930, which reads: “Map- to put them together as a set. Due to the large gap in the ping out spirituals for Birchard. ‘Holy Spirit Don’t You surviving journals, it is unclear whether Still worked on Leave Me’ the fi rst.”5 an arrangement of “Hard Trials,” the third piece of the In journal entries from earlier in the year, Still mentions set, before he decided to put the three spirituals together.
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