Delaware County Symphony
Sebastian Grand, Music Director
Visual Program Notes
March 1st Symphony Concert
Concert Program- Click Here
William Grant Still- Festive Overture
William Grant Still Jr. was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, and because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance. Festive Overture was composed in 1944.
Portrait by Maud Cuney Hare, 1936
William Grant Still- 1949 portrait by Carl Van Vechten
Edward MacDowell- Piano Concerto No. 2
Edward MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. The Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 23 was completed in late 1885.
Edward MacDowell- circa 1900
Edward MacDowell, US Postage, Issue of 1940
William Schuman- New England Triptych
William Schuman was an American composer and arts administrator. He grew up always writing small tunes and songs. After attending a New York Philharmonic concert in Carnegie Hall as a young man, he was astounded by the orchestral sound and decided to become a composer. New England Triptych is an orchestral composition based on works of William Billings composed in 1955. The third movement is based on Chester, a patriotic anthem composed by Billings for his 1770 songbook, The New England Psalm Singer.
William Schuman, circa 1980-
Fair Use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31275956
Psalm-Singer's Amusement by Billings, 1781
Duke Ellington- Three Black Kings
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy. He composed Three Black Kings (Les Trois Rois Noirs) in 1974 honoring King Balthazar (the African king of the Three Magi), King Solomon, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Duke Ellington- circa 1940s
