[Africa:
Piano Music of William Grant Still;
Denver Oldham, piano; Koch International Classics 3-7084-2H1]
William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which
features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de
Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com Still's ballet Sahdji (20:31) was
recorded by Mercury in 1959, and is still in print on CD. Howard
Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra and Chorus performed the
work, which is now available on YouTube with detailed notes:
William Grant Still -
Sahdji (Ballet) (20:31)
Published on May 14,
2012 by scrymgeour34
Sahdji
(Ballet) (1930)
"[A] love for stage productions led Still
to the ballet, and one of his earliest was Sahdji, undertaken after
more than a year of studying African music and legend. The work was
first produced at the Eastman School in 1931, under the direction of
Howard Hanson. The setting of the ballet (which calls for chorus, as
well) is a hunting festival of the Azande tribe in central Africa.
Sahdji, the favorite wife of the Azande chieftain Konombju, is
infatuated with his nephew and succesor, Mrabo. While Konombju is
away on a hunting expedition, Sahdji and Mrabo betray him; a few
hours later, at sunset, the hunters return carrying Konombju's body:
he has been killed on the expedition. According to tribal custom, the
favorite wife of the chieftain must take her life when her husband
dies. Sahdji, torn between her loyalty to the death vow and her
desire for life and the love of Mrabo, dances before the bier of
Konombju and finally stabs herself with the sacrificial dagger."
- Shirley Fleming
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