La Guiablesse is a 1927 ballet composition in nine-movements by American composer William Grant Still. [1] The ballet was first performed in 1933 by Howard Hanson and Thelma Biracree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and Ruth Page in Chicago, Illinois. The work is about nineteen minutes long.
A description of the ballet is presented as follows:
La Guiablesse (a patois word meaning female devil) is based on a scenario by Ruth Page which in turn was based on a legend of Martinique. The opening theme is that of La Guiablesse. This appears throughout the score, and finally in the funeral march at the end. The she-devil herself is introduced by an offstage contralto solo, a haunting, wordless melody. Sensuous beauty and dramatic intensity mark the music. It progresses from a fairly quiet and atmospheric beginning to a thrilling climax. The story concerns two young lovers, Adou and Yzore, whose tender love is interrupted by the appearance of the greedily sensuous she-devil. She lures Adou away from his village sweetheart. Then, just as he is past returning, the music assumes a horrible tinge as the beautiful woman turns into a demon, and like demoniac laughter it continues as she insists on claiming her prey. Adou, unconscious, falls from her embrace into the pit below. [2]
— Catherine Parson Smith, University of California Press
The ballet is in nine movements as follows:
Reviewer Herman Devries of the Chicago American noted, "[The ballet] is far above the average ballet music ... both in quality of invention and in the value of its themes and imagination. It is a highly-colored, vivid, evocative, gorgeous score." [2] Another reviewer, Stuart R. Sabin of Rochester, wrote, "The music is charming, picturesque and dramatically suggestive, never padded, never divorced from the action, yet with an individual appeal of its own." [2]
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Sahdji is a 1930 ballet composition in two-movements by American composer William Grant Still. The ballet was first performed in 1931 under the direction of Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music. The work is about twenty minutes long.
Africa is a 1930 symphonic poem in three movements by American composer William Grant Still. The work, originally scored for chamber orchestra, was first performed in 1930 by French flautist Georges Barrère and, in a full orchestra version, by Howard Hanson on October 24, 1930, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. The work is about twenty-eight minutes long.
Darker America is a 1924 symphonic poem by American composer William Grant Still. The composition, exploring themes of sorrow, hope, and prayer, is a work derived from Still's studies with the modernist composer Edgard Varèse. In the work, Still uses "melodic types found in African American music such as the descending melodic curve, the pentatonic scale of the spirituals, and the 'blues scales' of the blues. The primary harmonies used were the tonic, subdominant, and dominant harmony of the spirituals." The work was first performed by Eugene Goossens on November 22, 1926 at the Aeolian Hall in New York City, New York and is about twelve minutes long.
Three Visions is a 1935 suite in three parts for solo piano, and later, the second part, Summerland, for chamber orchestra, by American composer William Grant Still. According to Judith Anne Still, the composer's daughter, "The three segments of the suite, Dark Horsemen, Summerland, and Radiant Pinnacle, tell the story of the human soul after death: the body expires, and the soul goes on to an apocalyptic judgment. If it is seen that the past life has been a good one, the soul may enter “heaven,” or “Summerland”. After a period of time, the soul may reincarnate to learn additional earthly lessons on the human plane. Some souls reincarnate many times in a constant circular progress toward Godly perfection." Three Visions was composed by Still for his wife, Verna Arvey, who first played the composition in Los Angeles in 1936. The suite is about eleven minutes long.
Blue Steel is a 1934 opera by American composer William Grant Still. Overall, the music assumes a jazz form, harmonically and rhythmically, although at other times, the music merges into the form of a Negro spiritual.
Kaintuck' (Kentucky) is a 1935 symphonic poem for piano and orchestra by American composer William Grant Still.
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