An Introduction to America’s Music

326 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II

Listening Guide 13.3

Afro-American Symphony, fi rst movement (Moderato assai)

WILLIAM GRANT STILL

CD 2.16

date: 1930

performers: Fort Smith Symphony; John

Jeter, conductor

genre: concert music

meter: duple

form: sonata form

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• use of sonata form


• 12-bar blues structure for the fi rst theme of
  the movement


• reference to the spiritual in second theme of
  the movement


• colorful orchestration, including solo English
  horn and Harmon mutes for trumpets

timing section subsection comments

0:00 introduction Solo English horn sets pensive mood.

0:27 exposition fi rst theme 12-bar blues theme in solo trumpet with Harmon

mute; lightly syncopated blues harmonies in

French horns.

1:04 Blues theme repeats in clarinet, with call-and-

response answers in fl ute and piccolo.

1:47 transition Blues theme motive in violins. Increasing agitation

with movement to new tonality.

2:24 second theme a New theme, in aba form, in oboe, emphasizing the

notes of the pentatonic scale and suggesting the

style of a spiritual.

2:58 b Slightly faster and in minor, as violins extend the

spiritual melody, then relaxing with fl ute ensemble

and return to major.

3:25 a Melody in cellos, followed by a minor-key variation in

the harp; exposition ends softly in G minor.

3:55 development Suspended cymbal begins the development, with a

short transition to the minor key.

4:08 Violins and French horns trade off new melody,

related to opening blues theme.

4:39 Climax, with full orchestra at its highest dynamic.

Tension subsides gradually: brass drop out,

followed by solos for English horn, clarinet, then

bass clarinet accompanied by celesta.

5:10 recapitulation second theme Spiritual theme, now in the violins and in tonic key

but in minor.

5:46 transition Bassoons begin transition; then strings take up a

slow shuffl e rhythm, reinforced by a snare drum

played with wire brushes and a soft backbeat on

the suspended cymbal.

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