#AUTUMN SONATA THEA MUSGRAVE SERIES#

Music for the native dancers of Panama has been notated so infrequently that it is still unknown to people outside of the country itself.

With all of these accomplishments, Still was a pioneer, but, in a larger sense, he pioneered because he was able to create music capable of interesting the greatest conductors of the day: truly serious music, but with a definite American flavor. He was the first to have an opera televised over a national network. He was the first to have an opera produced by a major company in the United States, when in 1949 his Troubled Island was done at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York City. He was the first of his race to conduct an all white radio orchestra in New York City. He was the first African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the Deep South in 1955, when he directed the New Orleans Philharmonic at Southern University. He was the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, when in 1936 he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in his compositions at the Hollywood Bowl. Still's service to the cause of brotherhood is evidenced by his many firsts in the musical realm: Still was the first African-American in the United States to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra. There his musical education began - with violin lessons from a private teacher, and with later inspiration from the Red Seal operatic recordings bought for him by his stepfather.ĭr. When William was only a few months old, his father died and his mother took him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught English in the high school. They were of African, Native American, Spanish, Irish and Scotch descent. On May 11, 1895, he was born in Woodville, Mississippi to parents who were teachers and musicians. Long known as the 'Dean of African American Composers,' as well as one of America’s foremost composers, William Grant Still has had the distinction of becoming a legend in his own lifetime. 2 is in the three expected movements typical of the galant period. Burney remarked that 'his exquisite taste and deep science prevented the admission of whatever was not highly polished.' His String Quartet in B flat major, Op. His music, especially his adagios, possesses a great depth of emotion. Abel's cause of death is attributed to an over indulgence in rich food and, in particular, wine and spirits.

Abel enjoyed the company of artists, engravers, and designers, and was a friend to a host of London figures, including Gainsborough and Cipriani. Abel was a genteel man as can be seen in his portrait by Thomas Gainsborough here at The Huntington Main Art Gallery. Bach, though Abel was able to keep them going a little bit longer under his own name. The concerts declined after the death in 1782 of J.C. Under the patronage of Lord Abingdon (who brought Haydn to London) they opened their own concert hall in 1775 in Hanover Square, producing ten to fifteen concerts and eleven oratorio evenings.

#AUTUMN SONATA THEA MUSGRAVE SERIES#

2Ĭarl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach held an annual series of concerts in London that began on Januand ended May 9, 1781.

Autumn sonata thea musgrave