PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER

PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER

Percy Aldridge Grainger was born in Melbourne, Australia on July 8, 1882. Grainger was an eccentric character who made many advances on contemporary music. Some of these include a pioneering quartet for electronic instruments, written in 1937, and replacing the usual Italian terms used in music with plain English. Grainger also experimented with different methods of notation. His electronic quartet, for example, was written as a series of zigzags and curves. One of his greatest talents, however, was his piano playing. When he met the famous composer Grieg in 1906, Grainger impressed him with his pianistic skill. Grainger's rendition of Grieg's Piano Concerto became very popular. By 1914, Grainger had settled in the United States. In 1928, he married Ella Viola Strom in an enormous wedding held at the Hollywood Bowl. Between 1919 and 1931, he taught music in summer seminars at the Chicago Musical College. He then chaired the music department at New York University for one year beginning in 1932. In 1935, Grainger established the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne. He hoped to share with the public his large collection of musical souvenirs. He also requested that his skeleton be kept there after his death. When he died in 1961, however, this particular request was denied, and his body was interred in a normal fashion. Grainger's music is folk-based, though he experimented widely with "gliding" intervals and polyrhythm.