Kaintuck william grant still biography

symphonic poem by William Grant Still

Kaintuck' (Kentucky) is a symphonic poem for piano and orchestra by American composerWilliam Grant Still.^[1]

Background

The work, written after being inspired by a train trip to Kentucky^[2] 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, as soloist, in Los Angeles on October 28, at a Pro Musica concert.

Since then, the work has been played in a full orchestra version by Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.^[3] The work, dedicated to Still's wife ("To my wife, Verna Arvey"),^[4] is about eleven minutes long.

Overview

A description of the symphonic poem is as follows:

[The work is] short and poetic It was written to express musically [Still's] inner reactions to the peaceful, shimmering, misty sunlight on the