Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 1882 – 20 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens". Grainger left Australia at the age of 13 to attend the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. Between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer and collector of original folk melodies. As his reputation grew he met many of the significant figures in European music, forming important friendships with Frederick Delius and Edvard Grieg. He became a champion of Nordic music and culture, his enthusiasm for which he often expressed in private letters, sometimes in crudely racial or anti-Semitic terms. In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, though he travelled widely in Europe and Australia. He served briefly as a bandsman in the United States Army during the First World War through 1917–18, and took American citizenship in 1918. After his mother's suicide in 1922, he became increasingly involved in educational work. He also experimented with music machines, which he hoped would supersede human interpretation. In the 1930s he set up the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, his birthplace, as a monument to his life and works, and as a future research archive. As he grew older, he continued to give concerts and to revise and rearrange his own compositions, while writing little new music. After the Second World War, ill health reduced his levels of activity. He considered his career a failure. He gave his last concert in 1960, less than a year before his death. |
Birth and Death Data: Born July 8, 1882 (Melbourne), Died February 20, 1961 (White Plains)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1914 - 1945
Roles Represented in DAHR: piano, composer, arranger, conductor, guitar, harmonium
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 1-25 of 163 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-16639 | 10-in. | 10/11/1915 | Irish tune from County Derry | Victor Concert Orchestra | Orchestra | composer, arranger | |
Victor | BVE-16738 | 10-in. | 6/29/1927 | Shepherd's hey | Victor Concert Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | B-16738 | 10-in. | 11/2/1915 | Shepherd's hey | Victor Concert Orchestra | Orchestra, with harp and xylophone | arranger | |
Victor | B-17789 | 10-in. | 6/5/1916 | Molly on the shore | Maud Powell | Violin solo, with piano | composer | |
Victor | C-21912 | 12-in. | 5/9/1918 | Molly on the shore | Flonzaley Quartet | String quartet | composer | |
Victor | B-29846 | 10-in. | 3/27/1924 | Molly on the shore | Fritz Kreisler | Violin solo, with piano | composer | |
Victor | B-30760 | 10-in. | 9/9/1924 | Irish tune from County Derry | Mark Andrews | Pipe organ solo | composer | |
Victor | BVE-32700 | 10-in. | 5/12/1925 | Shepherd's hey | Ossip Gabrilowitsch | Piano solo | composer | |
Victor | BVE-38097 | 10-in. | 6/29/1927 | Country gardens | Rosario Bourdon ; Victor Concert Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-51829 | 10-in. | 4/25/1929 | Londonderry air | Philadelphia Chamber String Sinfonietta ; Fabien Sevitzky | String orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-51830 | 12-in. | 4/25/1929 | Molly on the shore | Philadelphia Chamber String Sinfonietta ; Fabien Sevitzky | String orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-59898 | 12-in. | 4/8/1930 | Over the hills and far away | Rosario Bourdon ; Victor Symphony Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-59899 | 12-in. | 4/8/1930 | Colonial song | Rosario Bourdon ; Victor Symphony Orchestra | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-81500 | 10-in. | 1/16/1934 | Shepherd's hey | Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra ; Eugene Ormandy | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-81501 | 12-in. | 1/16/1934 | Molly on the shore, no. 1 | Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra ; Eugene Ormandy | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-81502 | 12-in. | 1/16/1934 | Londonderry air | Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra ; Eugene Ormandy | String orchestra, with 2 horns | composer | |
Victor | BVE-81503 | 10-in. | 1/16/1934 | Country gardens | Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra ; Eugene Ormandy | Orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BS-057049 | 10-in. | 10/29/1940 | Londonderry air | Collins H. Driggs | Novachord solo | arranger | |
Victor | BRC-Test-1115 | 10-in. | 4/17/1931 | Canción del fado | Nino Martini | Male vocal solo, with piano | composer | |
Columbia | 77294 | 10-in. | 8/28/1917 | Maguire's kick | Percy Grainger | Piano solo | instrumentalist, piano | |
Columbia | 77295 | 10-in. | 8/28/1917 | Irish tune from County Derry | Percy Grainger | Piano solo | composer, instrumentalist, piano | |
Columbia | 77303 | 10-in. | 9/1/1917 | The gum sucker's march | Percy Grainger | Piano solo, with band | composer, instrumentalist, piano | |
Columbia | 77605 | 10-in. | 1/3/1918 | One more day, my John (Sailors' sea chanty) | Percy Grainger | Piano solo | composer, instrumentalist, piano | |
Columbia | 77611 | 10-in. | 1/5/1918 | To the springtime | Percy Grainger | Piano solo | instrumentalist, piano | |
Columbia | 79715 | 10-in. | 2/5/1921 | Turkey in the straw | Percy Grainger | Piano solo | instrumentalist, piano |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Grainger, Percy," accessed November 21, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102572.
Grainger, Percy. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 21, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102572.
"Grainger, Percy." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 21 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Percy Grainger
Discogs: Percy Grainger
Allmusic: Percy Grainger
Grove: Percy Grainger
IMSLP: Percy Grainger
RISM: Percy Grainger
IMDb: Percy Grainger
Britannica: Percy Grainger
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79124007
Wikidata: Percy Grainger - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q318354
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/74037679
MusicBrainz: Percy Grainger - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/9d5a875f-9815-4384-9e4f-cd4ea4f2bc16
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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