First Book on Operas of African-American Composer William Grant Still Published

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The African-American composer William Grant Still (1895—1978) dreamed of a world in which his eight operas - for him the ultimate form of musical expression - would be heard in the major opera houses in the United States, devoting most of his career toward the pursuit of this goal. “I Dream a World: The Operas of William Grant Still,” by Beverly Soll, is the first book on Still’s operas.  It has just been published by the University of Arkansas Press (Cloth $24.95), and could help to popularize Still’s operas and may even help to get some of them performed.

“I Dream a World” creates a context for Still’s operas and explores commonalities among them, including structural elements and musical characteristics. It traces the research, composition and performances of the operas as a way of documenting the history of the composer and his contributions to American opera.

Although “I Dream a World” is not intentionally biographical, it is very personal. It is more than the story of William Grant Still’s love of operatic music, of the libretti that reflect his own life and philosophy, and of the world he dreamed through his work. It opens a window on Still the man as well as on Still the composer that offers important insights into the social milieu of this pioneering figure, whom Leopold Stokowski called “one of America’s great citizens.”

The Special Collections division of the University of Arkansas Libraries houses the William Grant Still and Verna Avery Papers, which Soll used extensively in her research for the book. The collection is a rich resource documenting the lives and careers of Still and his wife Avery, and including not only sheet music, audio recordings, photographs, and books, but also musical scores, literary manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, a log of performances of Still’s compositions, and dream books for both Still and Avery. Numerous illustrations from the collection appear in the book.

Beverly Soll is the coordinator of arts and special events at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire and the author of “Arias, Duets, and Scenes from the Operas of William Grant Still.”

She is available for interviews.