Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

View details of this image

Percy Grainger has gained a measure of affection and stature in the public mind as an Australian musical pioneer. Quite precocious at an early age, he made his first concert tour aged twelve. In 1895, he went to Germany with his mother, Rose, to further his training as a pianist and composer with study at Hoch's Conservatory at Frankfurt. He developed friendships with many Scandinavian and English musical figures, including Herman Sandby, Cyril Scott, and Balfour Gardiner.

Between 1901 and 1914, Grainger and his mother lived in London where his talents flourished. During this time, he published Colonial Song and Mock Morris. In these years he also befriended the Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg, whose love of national music inspired him to look closely at English folk music. Frederick Delius was another early champion of Grainger's music. With the aid of a phonograph, Grainger collected songs from folk-singers. From these he later made many famous arrangements, including "Molly On The Shore", and "Shepherd's Hey!".

In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States of America, where he lived for the rest of his life. He became an American citizen, although he always described himself as Australian. During a brief spell in the US Army Bands, he "dished-up" (as he put it) the Country Gardens piece which many people now equate with his name. Conscious of the way his name seemed always to be linked with folksong, however, Grainger was often at pains to emphasise what he regarded as his more important work: his original compositions using entirely his own ideas.

After the First World War, Grainger continued his hectic life of concert tours and lectures, including tours to Australia. In 1928, he married the Swedish artist, Ella Strom. The wedding was a spectacular affair staged at the Hollywood Bowl, at which he conducted his To a Nordic Princess. On a tour of Australia in 1930s, Grainger set up the Grainger Museum in Melbourne to house his manuscripts, and instructed that his bones be preserved, and possibly displayed, within it. His request was declined, and after his death he was buried in an ordinary manner.

A somewhat original music thinker for his time, he did much to publicise medieval European music, and the music of other cultures. Towards the end of his life he worked on means for producing "free music" - music not limited by time or pitch intervals. The "free music" machines he created in association with scientist Burnett Cross may be regarded as the crude forerunners of the modern electronic synthesisers. As early as 1937, he wrote a quartet for electronic instruments, notating the pitch by zigzags and curves.

Information from
Record number
1083942
Other names
  • Percy Aldridge Grainger
  • George Percy Grainger
Born
  • 08 July 1882, Brighton, Melbourne, Vic
Died
  • 20 February 1961, White Plains, New York, USA
Gender
male
Activities
  • composer
  • arranger
  • pianist
  • musician
  • collector
  • instrumentalist
References

  • "Percy Grainger", Australian Music Centre composer biography, http://www.amcoz.com.au/comp/g/pgrain.htm accessed 5 May 2004

  • Dreyfus, Kay, "Grainger, George Percy (1882-1961)", Australian Dictionary of Biography 9

  • Gillies, Malcolm, "Grainger, Percy Aldridge", in Bebbington, Warren (ed.), Oxford Companion to Australian Music (Melbourne: OUP, 1997), pp. 246-249

  • NLA Collections

Updated
28 June 2004
To cite this page
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ma-ANL%3AMA~1083942

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000000048424
Other names
  • Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
10 August 1982

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000000287410
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
05 September 1991

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000000376798
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
18 June 1993

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000000377820
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
22 June 1993

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000000406010
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
02 December 1994

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Information from
Record number
000001083942
Other names
  • Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)
  • Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)
Born
  • 1882
Died
  • 1961
Updated
22 February 2005

Page 1 of 2 people and organisations