Although now now no longer a own circle of relatives name, Charles Tomlinson Griffes carried out an important function withinside the development of the American art work song. Griffes possessed one of the most specific voices in American track, and his song catalog, on the equal time as slight in size, showed his unique cappotential to fuse track and text, mainly in his mature songs. It is regrettable that he suffered an untimely death, at the age of thirty-five, in reality as he reached the pinnacle of his career. Even so, professional musicians further to the concert-going public have extensively benefited from the contributions Griffes bestowed on America.
Born on 17 September 1884 in Elmira, New York, Griffes grow to be the 1/3 of five children of Wilber Griffes and Clara Tomlinson. When Griffes grow to be ten years old, he received his first piano training from his oldest sister, Katharine, who grow to be herself a scholar of Mary Selena (Selina) Broughton. Miss Broughton grow to be the piano teacher at Elmira College, and at age fifteen, Griffes began his formal musical training collectively alongside her. Broughton moreover served as a mentor to the more youthful Griffes; it grow to be at her concept and collectively alongside her economic useful resource that Griffes traveled to Berlin in 1903 to look at the track at the Stern Conservatory. After years at the Conservatory, Griffes studied in short with Engelbert Humperdinck. Griffes moreover endured his piano training in Europe with Gottfried Galston. Dolly parton In 1907, Griffes once more to America and feature grow to be the director of track at the Hackley School for Boys in Tarrytown, New York. Although he did now no longer intend the position to be permanent, Griffes served as a director at the Hackley School for the relaxation of his short life. At Hackley, Griffes grow to be responsible for an entire lot of duties, consisting of training piano and organ, directing the choir, performing in concerts, and accompanying vacationer artists at university functions. Although he grow to be often annoyed throughout his years at Hackley, the position afforded Griffes a strong environment with a steady income, allowing him to dedicate his spare time to composition. Around this time Griffes began to installation himself in American track circles. He made contacts with the diverse high-quality musicians in New York, consisting of fellow American composers Walter Damrosch and Arthur Farwell. In 1909, Griffes' artwork received its first manual while track creator G. Schirmer discovered five of his German Songs. By 1915, Griffes had an agreement with Schirmer for the manual of six piano compositions (op. 5 and op. 6) and five English Songs for Voice and Piano (op. 3 and op. 4). That Griffes had begun, thru manner of this time, to waft far far from German romanticism is apparent in his impressionistic works for piano, consisting of Three Tone-Pictures, op. 5 (1915), and Roman Sketches, op. 7 (1917). In 1916 and 1917, Griffes set five poems for voice and piano, the usage of the five- and six-tone scales now no longer unusual place in Eastern track instead of those associated with Western tonalities. Published as Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan, op. 10, they had been premiered on 1 November 1917 thru manner of manner of Eva Gauthier, soprano, and Griffes, accompanying at the piano. Other Asian-triggered works thru manner of Griffes include Sho-jo, commissioned thru manner of manner of Russian choreographer and dancer Adolf Bolm for the Ballet-Intime, and The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan initially scored for piano solo and later orchestrated. The latter composition did now now no longer gain its first ordinary overall performance in its genuine piano version until 21 September 1984 while pianist James Tocco carried out it withinside the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium.
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