[HUGHES, Langston]. STILL, William Grant. Troubled Island an Opera in 3 Acts. Libretto by Langston Hughes. New York: Leeds Music Corporation, 1949.

8vo. Original stapled blue wrappers lettered in red (some toning to extremities). Provenance: Noël Sullivan (presentation inscription); by descent to present owner.

PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY HUGHES TO SULLIVAN: Inscribed: “For Noel – Yours, Langston."

It would take more than 10 years for William Grant Still’s opera Troubled Island, with libretto by Langston Hughes, to be completed. By the time it premiered at the City Center on March 30 1949, it was the “realization of a personal dream long deferred; it was also a historic event in race relations – the first opera written by blacks to be produced by a major American company. Although the major roles were sung by whites…nine blacks had places in the chorus; eight others danced to the choreography of George Balanchine and Jean Leon Destiné of Haiti… ‘The race is a-rising!’ Langston quipped” (Rampersad, Life, Vol. II, p.166).


Fine African Americana from the Collections of Noël Sullivan & William P. and Alice D. Mahoney