''Kaintuck'' (

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

) is a 1935

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

for piano and orchestra by American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

William Grant Still William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, and more than thirty choral works, art songs, chamber music, and solo works ...

Background

The work, written after being inspired by a train trip to Kentucky and commissioned by the League of Composers, and originally scored for piano and symphony orchestra, was first performed on two pianos, with the composer's wife,

Verna Arvey Verna Arvey (February 16, 1910 – November 22, 1987) was an American librettist, pianist and writer who is best known for her musical collaborations with her husband William Grant Still, a musician and composer. Early life and education Ver ...

, as soloist, in Los Angeles on October 28, 1935 at a Pro Musica concert. Since then, the work has been played in a full orchestra version by

Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator and music theorist. As director for forty year ...

at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. The work, dedicated to Still's wife ("To my wife, Verna Arvey"), is about eleven minutes long.

Overview

A description of the symphonic poem is as follows: The sound of the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

can be heard in the piece. William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony, Kaintuck, Dismal Swamp by Richard Fields (1997-09-01)
/ref>

Reviews

Music reviewer

Mary Carr Moore Mary Carr Moore (6 August 1873 - 9 January 1957) was an American composer, conducting, conductor, vocalist, and music educator of the twentieth century. She is best remembered today for her association with the musical life of the West Coast of ...

considered ''Kaintuck a work of "real power and splendid proportions". James Manheim of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writes that the work features "impressionist harmonies" and is "a gem".

References

External links

* {{Authority control Symphonic poems by William Grant Still 1935 compositions Works about rail transport Compositions for piano and orchestra

Background

Overview

Reviews

See also

References

Further reading

External links