William Grant Still in Ohio (1911-1919)

By Catherine Parsons Smith

Little attention has been paid to William Grant Still's student and apprenticeship years, especially the period between 1911, when he matriculated at Wilberforce, and 1919, when he went to work for W.C. Handy in New York City. The dual paths he later followed through the worlds of commercial music on one hand and concert music and opera on the other led him to a position that has long been recognized as unique, yet many of the ambiguities and seeming contradictions that contribute to his unique situation bear further exploration. I hope to enrich our perspective on the formation of both his character and his aesthetic approach through this investigation of this period of his early adulthood.