Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (born September 17, 1884 in Elmira , in the US state of New York , † April 8, 1920 in New York City ) was an American composer . Griffes, who died early, is considered the best-known American representative of musical impressionism .
Life
After early piano and organ lessons in his hometown, Griffes studied piano with Gottfried Galston and composition with Philipp Bartholomé Rüfer from 1903 at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin - initially with the aim of a career as a pianist. However, he increasingly turned to composition and took a. a. Lessons with Engelbert Humperdinck . Returned to the USA in 1907, he accepted a position as a music teacher at the Hackley School in Tarrytown , which he held throughout his life - depending on the modest salary. He also took part in New York's musical life: in 1916 he played there in the American premiere of Stravinsky's Petrushka in the version for two pianos, and in 1918 there was a concert with works by Griffes.
Griffes died at the age of 35 from the sequelae of influenza that he contracted in late 1919 (possibly the Spanish flu ). His grave is in Bloomfield Cemetery, Essex County, New Jersey . Griffes kept detailed diaries, some of which were destroyed by his sister after his death, as they made Griffes' homosexuality obvious.
plant
Obliged in the early works of German late romanticism, Griffes became the best-known American representative of musical impressionism , the characteristics of which appear in his music from around 1911. In addition to the music of the French Impressionists, he also studied the works of contemporary Russian composers, for example by Alexander Scriabin , whose influence can also be seen in his work, for example in the use of synthetic scales and whole-tone scales . Griffes also experimented with East Asian scales.
His best-known works are White Peacock for piano (1917), the piano sonata in F (1918), the tone poem The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan based on a fragment by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1919) and the Poem for flute and orchestra written for Georges Barrère ( 1919). He also wrote numerous programmatic pieces for piano, chamber ensembles and singing. In view of his short life and the simultaneous teaching commitments, his catalog of works is relatively extensive; some of his compositions are still played today or are available on phonograms.
literature
- Marianne Betz: Griffes, Charles Tomlinson. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 8 (Gribenski - Hilverding). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1118-7 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
- The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians , 8th ed.Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York, Schirmer Books, 1993. ISBN 002872416X
Web links
- Works by and about Charles Tomlinson Griffes in the catalog of the German National Library
- Curriculum vitae ( memento June 7, 1997 in the Internet Archive ) on: Thomas Hampson: I Hear America Singing
- Biography at naxos.com
- Inventory of Griffes' manuscripts in the New York Public Library
- Sheet music and audio files by Charles Griffes in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ^ Marianne Betz: Griffes, Charles Tomlinson. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 8 (Gribenski - Hilverding). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1118-7 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
- ↑ Information at findagrave.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Griffes, Charles Tomlinson |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Elmira , New York (State) |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 1920 |
| Place of death | New York City |