"New Music" and the "New Negro": The Background of William Grant Still's "Afro-American Symphony"

Abstract

William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony has taken on mythic proportions in the history of African-American music. First performed in 1931, it stands as a powerful symbol of black achievement-as one of the first symphonies by an African-American composer, as the first work by a black to be performed by a major orchestra, and as one of the most widely recognized musical manifestations of the Harlem Renaissance. Yet, in addition to being regarded solely for its position within black American culture-a point of view taken by most writers about the work, from Eileen Southern in The Music of Black Americans to Rae Linda Brown and others in specific studies of the piece (Southern 1983, 424-425; Brown 1990, 75)-the symphony also deserves consideration in terms of the broad artistic movements of the day. Alongside its preeminent position among black concert works of the early twentieth century, the AfroAmerican Symphony belongs with a group of pivotal pieces by white composers written in 1930 and 1931, especially Aaron Copland's Piano Variations, Ruth Crawford's String Quartet, and Edgard Varese's Ionisation. These compositions signal a time of profound transition in American culture, capping a decade of economic prosperity and exceptional artistic openness when the values and styles of the past faced bold challenges. Change marched under many banners during the twenties,