Charles Tomlison Griffes (1876 - 1920) American

         Charles Tomlinson Griffes  (Wikipedia article) 


Who was Charles Griffes?

Griffes was born in Elmira,New York, and as a teen took piano lessons from a professor at Emira College.  He then went to Germany for seven years and began composing in the German romantic style.  After he returned to the U.S. he taught music at a Tarrytown boys' school where he worked until he died at 35 of influenza.  In this period he rejected romanticism and embraced impressionism and the new harmonics being influenced by composers like Alexander Scriabin.  He is mostly known for his symphonic poem The Pleasure Palace of Kubla Khan (1915).


Selected Compositions:


           "The White Peacock" from Roman Sketches, Op. 7  (1915, rev. 1919)  (5:41)

                     Solungga Liu, piano 


            Piano Sonata  (1917-18, rev. 1919)   (14:30)

                     Jonathan Levan, piano

                            I.  Allegretto con Moto

                           II.  Attaca: Molto tranquillo