Photo of William Grant Still by Carl Van Vechten

“The Dean of Afro-American Composers,” Still was born in Woodville, Mississippi. After his father died, his mother moved the family to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he began studying the violin. He later attended Wilberforce College and the Oberlin Conservatory. After serving in the navy during World War I, he played with W.C. Handy’s band, and studied with George Whitefield Chadwick and Edgard Varèse. Still was the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra (Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra). His “Afro-American Symphony” was the first symphony by a black American to be played by a major orchestra (Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra).

In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy was one of a series of patriotic works commissioned by the League of Composers during World War II. It was first performed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Artur Rodzinski, on Jan. 5, 1944. In his review in the New York Times, Olin Downes noted the music’s strong “simplicity and feeling, without affectation or attitudinizing.” In his liner notes to the Fort Worth Symphony’s recording, David Ciucevich writes: “The wording of the title does carry an ironic aspect, reflecting the fact that African Americans were fighting for world freedom and civilization abroad while being denied those very freedoms at home.”

~ Program Notes by Charley Samson, copyright 2021.