The american composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 – 1920) was born in Elmira, New York. At the age of nineteen he went to Berlin to study piano and composition. One of his teachers was Engelbert Humperdinck. Berlin at the time was the place to be if you were in art, music or anything, actually, and Griffes literally had the time of his life until he had to return home in 1907 to help provide for his family. He then teached music at a local school and composed in his free time until his very early death of influenza in 1920. His music did get great reviews, but he felt increasingly sad and isolated away from Berlin.
Nonetheless, he developed a very own style of writing, somewhere between romanticism, impressionism and very modern music. His songs are truly great.
Comments
What a precious little gem of a song – marvelous!
Thank you for this find and more of Charles Griffes please!
Fidi