Mid-20th Century Symphony Archives - Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra

William Grant Still is the most influential African-American composer of the early 20th century. He was born in Woodville, Mississippi, in 1895 and started his musical career as an oboist in the pit orchestra of an All-Black musical, “Shute Along”, in 1921. He began composing when he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, this during the era of Jim Crow segregation when Oberlin was one of just a few major schools to admit black students.

His 1931 “Afro-American Symphony” was one of the first works by a black composer to be performed by a major symphony orchestra. Its first performance met with controversy in the press because some critics felt the piece belonged with jazz groups like the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the group that premiered Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” There certainly is that distinct classical jazz sound and feel of Gershwin’s music in this symphony. In Still’s own words he “wanted not to portray the higher type of colored Americans, but the sons of the soil, who still retain so many of the traits peculiar to their African forebears and who have not responded completely to the transforming effect of progress.”

(Fantasia for a Gentleman)

Joaquin Rodrigo is the most popular Spanish composer of the 20th century. Although he wrote music for many different instruments and ensembles, he is best remembered for his pieces for the guitar.

At age three, he completely lost his eyesight after contracting diptheria. His blindness did not diminish his musical abilities. He began to study piano and violin at age eight, and harmony and composition at age sixteen. He was accepted into the Conservatoire de Paris where he was a pupil of Paul Dukas.

Rodrigo’s own compositions were written in Braille, then transcribed into standard musical notation for publication. His most famous works, both for Spanish guitar and orchestra, are “Concierto de Aranjuez” and “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre.”

Rodrigo composed “Fantasia for a Gentleman” in 1954 at the request of guitar virtuoso Andres Segovia. It is in four movements based on short dance melodies from a 17th century instructional guitar manual by Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz. Many believe that the “gentleman” referred to in the title is Sanz. But Rodrigo probably intended this concerto to honor Segovia, the guitarist.

This piece was premiered on March 5th, 1958, in San Fransisco, with Segovia as the soloist.

Tag: Mid-20th Century Symphony

AFRO-AMERICAN SYMPHONY by William Grant Still, 1895-1978

FANTASIA PARA UN GENTILHOMBRE by Joaquin Rodrigo, 1901-1999