Impressionism · Composers linked to impressionism
1884 – 1920
Elmira, New York, USA. USA → New York
Life
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was born in Elmira, New York, on September 17, 1884. He studied in Berlin, where he received classes from Engelbert Humperdinck, and when he returned to the United States he worked as a music teacher at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, making up in the short time the classes left him.
He is the American impressionist composer par excellence. On the basis of German influence, he discovered Debussy, Ravel and Scriabin and was interested in the eastern scales, as is seen in The White Peacock or The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan. He died in New York on April 8, 1920, at only thirty-five years old, shortly after his premiere finally gave him recognition.
Featured works
- Three Tone-Pictures for piano (1910-1912)
- Roman Sketches, with «The White Peacock» (1915-1916)
- The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan (1917, revised in 1919)
- Sonata for piano (1918)
- Poem for flute and orchestra (1918)
