Symphony No. 2 in g minor, “Song of a New Race”

Composer: STILL, William Grant
  • Still composed his second symphony, “Song of a New Race,” in 1937.1
  • Still considered his Second Symphony the last entry in a trilogy of works, following his symphonic poem Darker America (1924) and his Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American.”2 The three works were to represent, broadly, first African ancestral roots (Darker America); second, African-American life up to emancipation (“Afro-American” Symphony), and finally, moving toward a more integrated society (Symphony No. 2).3
  • Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in this work’s premiere on December 10, 1937.4

Sources

  1. Gayle Murchison and Catherine Parsons Smith, “Still, William Grant,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed June 9, 2021, https://oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026776.
  2. Catherine Parsons Smith, William Grant Still (American Composers) (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 63.
  3. David Ciucevich, Jr., liner notes to William Grant Still: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3, Wood Notes, Fort Smith Symphony, John Jeter, Naxos 8.559676, CD, 2011.
  4. Catherine Parsons Smith, “William Grant Still, Darker America, Africa, Symphony No. 2,” The American Symphony Orchestra, accessed June 9, 2021, https://americansymphony.org/concert-notes/darker-america-1924-africa-1930symphony-no-2-1937/. 

Cut IDs

48846