Danzas de Panama

• Still composed Danzas de Panama (Dances of Panama) in 1948. He created versions for string orchestra, string quartet, or string quintet.¹
• This work premiered in the Harrison Gallery of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History on May 21, 1948.²
• Still collaborated with violinist Elisabeth Waldo of the Waldo Latin American String Quartet in writing this work. Waldo collected the folk dance tunes which Still arranged in this suite, and Waldo’s ensemble performed the premiere.³

“This suite embodies authentic folk material gathered by Elisabeth Waldo during two tours to Central America, in the course of which Miss Waldo studied folk culture. The first and last of these dances are Negro in origin, probably brought by the first slaves imported to Panama. The Mejorana and Punto are both of Spanish derivation with Indian influence. There is a distinct unity and a touch of Caribbean color in these four dances.”

Elisabeth Waldo, program notes for the premiere performance of Danzas de Panama.⁴

Movements

1. Tamborito
2. Mejorana y Socavon
3. Punto
4. Cumbia y Congo⁵

1. Gayle Murchison and Catherine Parsons Smith, “Still, William Grant,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 5, 2022, https://oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026776.
2. Judith Anne Still, Michael J. Dabrishus, and Carolyn L. Quin, William Grant Still: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1996), 83.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., 84.
5. “Works for Orchestra,” William Grant Still Music, accessed May 5, 2022, http://www.williamgrantstillmusic.com/WorksforOrchestra.htm#Danzas%20de%20Panama.