Although now no longer a family name, Charles Tomlinson Griffes performed an critical position withinside the improvement of the American artwork track. Griffes possessed one of the maximum unique voices in American song, and his track catalog, at the same time as mild in size, confirmed his precise cappotential to fuse song and text, particularly in his mature songs. It is regrettable that he suffered an premature death, on the age of thirty-5, simply as he reached the top of his career. Even so, expert musicians in addition to the concert-going public have substantially benefited from the contributions Griffes bestowed on America.
Born on 17 September 1884 in Elmira, New York, Griffes become the 0.33 of 5 kids of Wilber Griffes and Clara Tomlinson. When Griffes become ten years old, he acquired his first piano classes from his oldest sister, Katharine, who become herself a pupil of Mary Selena (Selina) Broughton. Miss Broughton become the piano trainer at Elmira College, and at age fifteen, Griffes commenced his formal musical education together along with her. Broughton additionally served as a mentor to the younger Griffes; it become at her idea and together along with her monetary aid that Griffes traveled to Berlin in 1903 to observe song on the Stern Conservatory. After years on the Conservatory, Griffes studied in brief with Engelbert Humperdinck. Griffes additionally persevered his piano classes in Europe with Gottfried Galston. In 1907, Griffes again to America and have become the director of song on the Hackley School for Boys in Tarrytown, New York. Although he did now no longer intend the placement to be permanent, Griffes served as a director on the Hackley School for the the rest of his brief life. At Hackley, Griffes become liable for a whole lot of duties, such as coaching piano and organ, directing the choir, appearing in concerts, and accompanying visitor artists at college functions. Although he become regularly pissed off at some stage in his years at Hackley, the placement afforded Griffes a solid surroundings with a constant income, permitting him to commit his spare time to composition. Around this time Griffes commenced to set up himself in American song circles. He made contacts with the various outstanding musicians in New York, such as fellow American composers Walter Damrosch and Arthur Farwell. In 1909, Griffes' paintings acquired its first guide whilst song writer G. Schirmer revealed 5 of his German Songs. By 1915, Griffes had a settlement with Schirmer for the guide of six piano compositions (op. five and op. 6) and 5 English Songs for Voice and Piano (op. three and op. 4). margot robbie That Griffes had begun, via way of means of this time, to glide farfar from German romanticism is clear in his impressionistic works for piano, such as Three Tone-Pictures, op. five (1915), and Roman Sketches, op. 7 (1917). In 1916 and 1917, Griffes set 5 poems for voice and piano, the use of the 5- and six-tone scales not unusualplace in Eastern song as opposed to the ones related to Western tonalities. Published as Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan, op. 10, they have been premiered on 1 November 1917 via way of means of Eva Gauthier, soprano, and Griffes, accompanying on the piano. Other Asian-prompted works via way of means of Griffes consist of Sho-jo, commissioned via way of means of Russian choreographer and dancer Adolf Bolm for the Ballet-Intime, and The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan to begin with scored for piano solo and later orchestrated. The latter composition did now no longer obtain its first overall performance in its authentic piano model till 21 September 1984 whilst pianist James Tocco performed it withinside the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|