Africa (Still)

A description of the symphonic poem is as follows: [The work is] designed as an American Negro's wholly fanciful concept of the cradle of his Race, formed on the folklore of generations.

It subtly conveys the idea that the race has not yet shaken off primitive beliefs, despite the influence of civilization.

The opening theme later proceeds into a rather Oriental motif, by which the composer intended to depict the arid Northern part of Africa.

Africa places the listener instantly on the soil of the Dark Continent; it is not merely a picture of abstract beauty.

[2]The symphonic poem is in three movements as follows: Reviewers, commenting on its premiere performance, noted that the composition was "not as inchoate or as desultory as his Darker America and Journal of a Wanderer," and, according to biographer Catherine Parson Smith, "[the work] quickly became one of his most highly praised compositions".