Steele Of The Black American Symphony "nationalism" Concept Of Music Research

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is the first black composer of American emergesin first half of the20th century who has number of artistic achievements. As anAfrican-American composer, Still made history unceasingly, and obtained many“first” title: he was the first black composer that created symphony played by famousAmerican orchestra; first black musician commanded American heavyweightprofessional orchestra; first black one commanded Caucasian broadcast orchestra;first black man who cooperation with world-class produced opera and the only blackAmerican composer employed by the television, radio, film industry and other media.There is no denying that Still made a huge contribution to the history of black musicand American professional music, it had a far-reaching impact and epochal historicalsignificance. He was later described as “Dean of Negro Composers”.Still was created a world-renowned classic work Afro-American Symphonywhen the creative period “The Racial Idiom” in1930. The piece to the music ofBlues as the main material, it drawing on a variety of African-American folk musicelements and perfect construct the basis of such a large-scale symphony musicgenres, was the master of Still’s early work.1931, after Howard Hanson (1896-1981)conducted the Eastman Rochester Orchestra the premiere of the Afro-American Symphony, not only making him had great reputation, but also made this piece tobecome the first black composers played by large orchestras in U.S. history. It couldbe said that this tune had extraordinary historical significance because it representedthe first peak of Still’s artistic career and marked the creation of large-scale musicgenre by blacks eventually accepted and recognized.The full text of the main body consisted by five parts: an introduction, threechapters and the conclusion.The introductory section stated on the purpose and significance of the research,the research status and research methods and ideas. Specifically, it reviewed theexisted domestic and foreign historical facts and expounded the value andsignificance of the research as well as the author creative methods and ideasdescribed in this paper.Chapter one is overview concerning divides period of Still’s creation style andthe piece of the Afro-American Symphony, it mainly on Steele’s life experiences, thestaging of music creation as well as creation summary of the masterpieceAfro-American Symphony. Strived through the basic understanding of composer andhis works to accurate positioning dissected the piece.The second chapter is the analysis of music creation techniques for Still’s Afro-American Symphony, mainly microscopic analysis five aspects of the symphonymusic ontology: melody, tone tonality, harmony, musical form and orchestration, topry out the composer “nationalism” creative ideas expression by the music itself.The last chapter establishes on the music ontology research foundation of thesecond chapter, refining the “nationalism” music concepts reflected byAfro-American Symphony. This chapter begins with the generate background of theStill’s “nationalism” concepts, and subsequently one by one discussed the blackmusic elements that reflected concepts from the “nationalism”, through summaryanalysis of compositional techniques and music material come to the core creativeprinciple of the “nationalism” music concepts in Afro-American Symphony at last.Trying to accurately grasp and interpret the inner meaning of Still “nationalism”music concepts behind the Afro-American Symphony macroscopically.The conclusion mainly elaborated the impact of Still “nationalism” musicconcepts as well as the historical significance of the Afro-American Symphony, it is afinal summary of the whole work and its implication creative ideas.