Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, chamber ensembles and

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his later works make him the most famous American representative of musical

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

, along with Charles Martin Loeffler. He was fascinated by the exotic, mysterious sound of the French Impressionists, and was compositionally much influenced by them while he was in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He also studied the work of contemporary

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n composers such as Scriabin, whose influence is also apparent in his use of

synthetic scale In music, a synthetic scale is a scale that derives from a traditional diatonic major scale by altering of one degree by a semitone in either direction."Synthetic Musical Scales". Author(s): J. Murray Barbour. Source: ''The American Mathematica ...

Musical career

Griffes was born in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

. He had early piano lessons with his sister Katherine and later studied piano with Mary Selena Broughton, who taught at Elmira College. Broughton had a profound impact on his personal and musical development. After early studies on

and organ in his home town, on recommendation of Broughton, he went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

to study with pianist

Ernst Jedliczka Ernst Jedliczka (24 May 1855 – 3 August 1904) was a Russian-German pianist, piano pedagogue, and music critic. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition'' stated that Jedliczka "did much to spread Russian music in Germany, placing Russian c ...

and

Gottfried Galston Gottfried is a masculine German given name. It is derived from the Old High German name , recorded since the 7th century. The name is composed of the elements (conflated from the etyma for 'God' and 'good', and possibly further conflated with ) a ...

at the Stern Conservatory. Although recognised as a performer, Griffes grew more interested in composition. Despite being advised against it by Broughton, he left the conservatory and was briefly taught by composer Engelbert Humperdinck. During his time in Berlin he composed several German songs and the Symphonische Phantasie for orchestra. On returning to the U.S. in 1907, he became director of music studies at the Hackley School for boys in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

, a post which he held until his early death thirteen years later. His post has been described as "grim and unrewarding", though it gave him financial stability. He continued to compose at Hackley in his free time and promoted his music during the summer. His most famous works are the ''White Peacock'', for piano (1915, orchestrated in 1919); his Piano Sonata (1917–18, revised 1919); a tone poem, ''The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan'', after the fragment by

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

(1912, revised in 1916), and ''Poem for Flute and Orchestra'' (1918). He also wrote numerous programmatic pieces for piano, chamber ensembles, and for voice. The amount and quality of his music is impressive considering his short life and his full-time teaching job, and much of his music is still performed. His unpublished ''Sho-jo'' (1917), a one-act

pantomimic A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium ...

drama based on Japanese themes, is one of the earliest works by an American composer to show direct inspiration from the music of Japan.

Personal life

Griffes died of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

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during the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic at the age of 35 and is buried in

Bloomfield Cemetery Bloomfield Cemetery, designated a New Jersey Historic Site, is located at 383 Belleville Avenue, Bloomfield in Essex County, New Jersey. Bloomfield Cemetery is one of New Jersey’s most significant rural cemeteries, and the only such landscap ...

in Bloomfield, New Jersey. His papers passed to his younger sister Marguerite, who chose to destroy many that explicitly related to his life as a homosexual.

Donna Anderson Donna Anderson (born September 5, 1939) is an American character actress, active primarily in television during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Anderson was born Donna Knaflich in Gunnison, Colorado, the daughter of Wenona Hanly-Knaflich and Lo ...

(see below) is his current literary executor. Griffes kept meticulous diaries, some in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, which chronicled his musical accomplishments from 1907 to 1919, and also dealt honestly with his homosexuality, including his regular patronage of the bathhouses at Lafayette Place and the Produce Exchange. During his time as a student in Berlin he was devoted to his "special friend" Emil Joèl (aka "Konrad Wölcke"). In later life, he had a long term relationship with John Meyer (biographer Edward Maisel used the pseudonym Dan C. Martin), a married New York policeman.

Musical compositions

Stage works

*''The Kairn of Koridwen'' (dance drama in two scenes, after E. Schuré), fl, 2 cl, 2 hn, hp, cel, pf, 1916, New York, February 10, 1917; arr. pf, 1916 *''Sho-jo'' (Japanese pantomime in one scene), fl, ob, cl, hp, Chin. drum, tam-tam, timp, 4 str, 1917, rev. ?1919, Atlantic City, NJ, August 5, 1917 *''Sakura-sakura'' (Japanese folkdance arrangement), fl, cl, hp, 2 vn, vc, db, ?1917, Atlantic City, NJ, August 5, 1917 *''The White Peacock'' (solo ballet, arrangement of piano work), orchestra, ?1919, New York, June 22, 1919 *''Salut au monde'' (festival drama in three acts, after

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

), fl, cl, 2 hn, tpt, 2 trombones, timp, drums, 2 hp, pf, 1919, incomplete, New York, April 22, 1922

Orchestral works

*Overture, c1905 *''Symphonische Phantasie'', 1907, arranged for 2 pianos, ?1910 *''The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan'', Op. 8, 1917, Boston Symphony Orch., cond. P. Monteux, Boston, November 28, 1919 ersion of piano piece, 1912*''Notturno für Orchester'', ?1918, Philadelphia Orch,. cond. L. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919; arr. piano and string orch. *''Poem'', flute and orchestra, 1918, G. Barrère, New York Symphony Orch., cond. W. Damrosch, November 16, 1919 *''Bacchanale'', ?1919, Philadelphia Orch., cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 ersion of Scherzo for piano, 1913*''Clouds'', ?1919, Philadelphia Orch., cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 ersion of piano piece, 1916*''The White Peacock'', ?1919, Philadelphia Orch., cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 ersion of piano piece, 1915*''Nocturne'', 1919 ersion of 2nd movement of Piano Sonata, 1917–18*''Notturno'', strings ersion of orchestral piece, ?1918

Chamber music

*''Three Tone-Pictures'', woodwinds and harp, 1915, nos. 1–2 Barrère Ensemble, New York, December 19, 1916; arr. wind quintet, str qnt, pf, ?1919, New York Chamber Music Society, Greenwich, CT, June 4, 1920 ersions of piano pieces, 1910–12#The Lake at Evening #The Vale of Dreams #The Night Winds *''Komori uta, Noge no yama'', fl, ob, cl, hp, 2 vn, vc, db, ?Chin. drum, ?1917 apanese melodies*''Two Sketches based on Indian Themes'': Lento e mesto, Allegro giocoso, str quartet, 1918–19; ?première, Flonzaley Quartet, New York, November 24, 1920

Piano

*''Six Variations'', Op. 2, 1898 *''Four Preludes'', Op. 4, 1899–1900 *''Three Tone-Pictures'', Op. 5: The Lake at Evening, 1910, L. Hodgson, New York, April 3, 1914; The Vale of Dreams, 1912; The Night Winds, 1911; arr. ens, 1915, arr. orch. 1919 *''Fantasy Pieces'', Op. 6: Barcarolle, 1912, Griffes, Lowell, MA, November 3, 1914; Notturno, 1915; Scherzo, 1913, orchestrated as ''Bacchanale'', ?1919 *''Roman Sketches'', Op. 7: The White Peacock, 1915, W. Christie, New York, February 23, 1916, orchestrated ?1919; Nightfall, 1916; The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, 1916; Clouds, 1916, orchestrated ?1919 *Children's pieces, first published under name of Arthur Tomlinson: 6 Short Pieces, 1918; 6 Patriotic Songs, 1918; 6 Bugle-Call Pieces, 1918; 6 Familiar Songs (1919); 6 Pieces for Treble Clef (1919) *Mazurka, 1898–1900 *Sonata, f, ?1904, Griffes, Berlin, June 22, 1905 *Sonata, D, 1 movement, ?1910 *Symphonische Phantasie, 2 pf, ?1910 ersion of orchestra piece, 1907*Sonata, D, 2 movements, ?1911 *The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, 1912, rev. 1915, orchestrated 1917 *Sonata, f, ?1912 *Rhapsody, b, 1914 *Piece, B, ?1915 *De profundis, 1915 *Legend, 1915 *Piece, d, 1915 *Winter Landscape, c1912 *Piece, E, 1916 *Dance, a, ?1916 *Sonata, 1917–18, Griffes, New York, February 26, 1918, 2nd movement orchestrated as ''Nocturne'', 1919 *Three Preludes, 1919 *Notturno rr. of orchestral piece, ?1918*Arrangement of J. Offenbach: Barcarolle, Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour, piano solo, perf. 1910 *Arrangement of E. Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel, overture, 2 pianos, 1910

Organ

*Chorale on ""

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr "" (Alone to God in the highest be glory) is an early Lutheran hymn, with text and melody attributed to Nikolaus Decius. With the reformers intending church service in German, it was intended as a German version of the Gloria part of the Latin mass ...

", 1910

Songs

*''Tone-Images'', Op. 3 #La fuite de la lune (

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

), 1912 #Symphony in Yellow (Wilde), 1912 #We'll to the Woods, and Gather May (W. E. Henley), 1914 *''Two Rondels'', Op. 4, c1914 #This Book of Hours (W. Crane) #Come, Love, across the Sunlit Land (C. Scollard) *''Four Impressions'' (Wilde) #Le jardin, 1915 #Impression du matin, 1915 #La mer, 1912, new setting 1916 #Le réveillon, 1914 *''Three Poems'', Op. 9, 1916 #In a Myrtle Shade (

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

) #Waikiki (R. Brooke), E. Gauthier, M. Hansotte, New York, April 22, 1918 #Phantoms (A. Giovannitti) *''Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan'', Op. 10; E. Gauthier, Griffes, New York, November 1, 1917 #So-fei Gathering Flowers (Wang Chang-Ling), 1917 #Landscape (Sada-ihe), 1916 #The Old Temple among the Mountains (Chang Wen-Chang), 1916 #Tears (Wang Seng-Ju), 1916 #A Feast of Lanterns (Yuan Mei), 1917 *''Two Poems'' (J. Masefield); E. Gauthier, M. Hansotte, New York, April 22, 1918 #An Old Song Re-Sung, 1918 #Sorrow of Mydath, 1917 *''Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod'', Op. 11, 1918; V. Janacopulos, Griffes, New York, March 22, 1919; orchestrated 1918, M. Dresser, Philadelphia Orch, cond. T. Rich, Wilmington, DE, March 24, 1919 #The Lament of Ian the Proud #Thy Dark Eyes to Mine #The Rose of the Night *Si mes vers avaient des ailes (V. Hugo), 1901 *Sur ma lyre l'autre fois (C.A. Sainte-Beuve), ?1901 *German Songs, c1903–1909 #Am Kreuzweg wird begraben (

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

) #An den Wind ( Nikolaus Lenau) #Auf ihrem Grab (Heine) #Auf dem Teich, dem Regungslosen (Lenau) #Auf geheimen Waldespfade (Lenau) #Das ist ein Brausen und Heulen (Heine) #Das sterbende Kind ( Emanuel Geibel) #Der träumende See ( Julius Mosen) #Des müden Abendlied (Geibel) #Elfe ( J. von Eichendorff) #Entflieh mit mir (Heine) #Es fiel ein Reif (Heine) #Frühe (Eichendorff) #Gedicht von Heine (Mit schwarzen Segeln) #Ich weiss nicht, wie's geschieht (Geibel) #Könnt’ ich mit dir dort oben gehn (Mosen) #Meeres Stille ( J. W. von Goethe) #Mein Herz ist wie die dunkle Nacht (Geibel) #Mir war, als müsst’ ich graben (Das Grab) ( Christian Friedrich Hebbel) #Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen (Heine) #So halt’ ich endlich dich umfangen (Geibel) #Winternacht (Lenau) #Wo ich bin, mich rings umdunkelt (Heine), c1903–11 #Wohl lag ich einst in Gram und Schmerz (Geibel) #Zwei Könige sassen auf Orkadal (Geibel), before 1910 *The Water-Lily (J.B. Tabb), 1911 *The Half-Ring Moon (Tabb), 1912 *Nachtlied (Geibel), 1912 *Pierrot (S. Teasdale), 1912 *Les ballons (Wilde), ?1912, rev. 1915 *Cleopatra to the Asp (Tabb) *Evening Song (S. Lanier) *The First Snowfall (Tabb) *Phantoms (Tabb), c1912 *The War-Song of the Vikings (F. MacLeod), 1914 *Two Birds flew into the Sunset Glow (Rom. trad.), 1914 *Song of the Dagger (Rom. trad.), 1916 *In the Harem (Chu Ch′ing-yü), ?1917 *Hampelas, Kinanti, Djakoan (Javanese trad.), c1917

Choral works

*Passionlied (" O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden") (P. Gerhardt), SSATB, 1906 *Lobe den Herren (J. Neander), SSATB, 1906 *Dies ist der Tag (I. Watts), SSATB, 1906 *These things shall be (J.A. Symonds), unison chorus, 1916

References

External links

* * *
Edward Maisel research files on Charles T. Griffes, 1904–1985
Music Division, The New York Public Library.
Donna K. Anderson research files on Charles Tomlinson Griffes, 1800s-2017
Music Division, The New York Public Library.

- Composer profile
Charles Griffes
American Musicological Society Newsletter Essay by Howard Pollack {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffes, Charles Tomlinson 1884 births 1920 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical composers American classical composers American male classical composers Classical musicians from New York (state) Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in New York (state) LGBT classical composers American LGBT musicians LGBT people from New York (state) People from Elmira, New York