Charles Tomlinson Griffes

Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, After early studies on piano and organ in his home town, on recommendation of Broughton, he went to Berlin to study with pianist Ernst Jedliczka and Gottfried Galston at the Stern Conservatory. Although recognised as a performer, Griffes grew more interested in composition. Despite being advised against it by Broughton, he left the conservatory and was briefly taught by composer Engelbert Humperdinck. His post has been described as "grim and unrewarding", though it gave him financial stability. He continued to compose at Hackley in his free time and promoted his music during the summer. In 1918, Ito gave three dance recitals interpreting White Peacock, with Griffes at the piano.

Personal life

Griffes died of influenza in New York City during the 1918 worldwide Spanish flu pandemic at the age of 35 and is buried in Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey. His papers passed to his younger sister Marguerite, who chose to destroy many that explicitly related to his life as a homosexual. Donna Anderson (1935–2018) was his literary executor. Griffes kept meticulous diaries, some in German, which chronicled his musical accomplishments from 1907 to 1919, and also dealt honestly with his homosexuality, including his regular patronage of the gay bathhouses at Lafayette Place and the Produce Exchange.

During his time as a student in Berlin, he was devoted to his "special friend" Emil Joèl (aka "Konrad Wölcke"). In later life, he had a long-term relationship with John Meyer (biographer Edward Maisel used the pseudonym Dan C. Martin), a married New York policeman.

Musical compositions

Stage works The Kairn of Koridwen (dance drama in two scenes, after E. Schuré), fl, 2 cl, 2 hn, hp, cel, pf, 1916, New York, February 10, 1917; arr. pf, 1916 Sho-jo (Japanese pantomime in one scene), fl, ob, cl, hp, Chin. drum, tam-tam, timp, 4 str, 1917, rev. ?1919, Atlantic City, NJ, August 5, 1917 Sakura-sakura (Japanese folkdance arrangement), fl, cl, hp, 2 vn, vc, db?1917, Atlantic City, NJ, August 5, 1917 The White Peacock (solo ballet, arrangement of piano work), orchestra?1919, New York, June 22, 1919 Salut au monde (festival drama in three acts, after Walt Whitman), fl, cl, 2 hn, tpt, 2 trombones, timp, drums, 2 hp, pf, 1919, incomplete, New York, April 22, 1922

Orchestral works Overture, c1905 Symphonische Phantasie, 1907, arranged for 2 pianos?1910 The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8, 1917, Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. P. Monteux, Boston, November 28, 1919 [version of piano piece, 1912] Notturno für Orchester?1918, Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. L. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919; arr. piano and string orch. Poem, flute and orchestra, 1918, G. Barrère, New York Symphony Orchestra, cond. W. Damrosch, November 16, 1919 Bacchanale?1919, Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 [version of Scherzo for piano, 1913] Clouds?1919, Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 [version of piano piece, 1916] The White Peacock?1919, Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, December 19, 1919 [version of piano piece, 1915] Nocturne, 1919 [version of 2nd movement of Piano Sonata, 1917–18] Notturno, strings [version of orchestral piece?1918]

Chamber music Three Tone-Pictures, woodwinds and harp, 1915, nos. 1–2 Barrère Ensemble, New York, December 19, 1916; arr. wind quintet, str qnt, pf?1919, New York Chamber Music Society, Greenwich, Connecticut, June 4, 1920 [versions of piano pieces, 1910–12] The Lake at Evening The Vale of Dreams The Night Winds Komori uta, Noge no yama, fl, ob, cl, hp, 2 vn, vc, db?Chin. drum?1917 [Japanese melodies] Two Sketches based on Indian Themes: Lento e mesto, Allegro giocoso, str quartet, 1918–19?première, Flonzaley Quartet, New York, November 24, 1920

Piano Six Variations, Op. 2, 1898 Four Preludes, Op. 4, 1899–1900 Three Tone-Pictures, Op. 5: The Lake at Evening, 1910, L. Hodgson, New York, April 3, 1914; The Vale of Dreams, 1912; The Night Winds, 1911; arr. ens, 1915, arr. orch. 1919 Fantasy Pieces, Op. 6: Barcarolle, 1912, Griffes, Lowell, Massachusetts, November 3, 1914; Notturno, 1915; Scherzo, 1913, orchestrated as Bacchanale?1919 Roman Sketches, Op. 7: The White Peacock, 1915, W. Christie, New York, February 23, 1916, orchestrated ?1919; Nightfall, 1916; The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, 1916; Clouds, 1916, orchestrated ?1919 Children's pieces, first published under name of Arthur Tomlinson: 6 Short Pieces, 1918; 6 Patriotic Songs, 1918; 6 Bugle-Call Pieces, 1918; 6 Familiar Songs (1919); 6 Pieces for Treble Clef (1919) Mazurka, 1898–1900 Sonata, f?1904, Griffes, Berlin, June 22, 1905 Sonata, D, 1 movement?1910 Symphonische Phantasie, 2 pf?1910 [version of orchestra piece, 1907] Sonata, D, 2 movements?1911 The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, 1912, rev. 1915, orchestrated 1917 Sonata, f?1912 Rhapsody, b, 1914 Piece, B?1915 De profundis, 1915 Legend, 1915 Piece, d, 1915 Winter Landscape, c1912 Piece, E, 1916 Dance, a?1916 Sonata, 1917–18, Griffes, New York, February 26, 1918, 2nd movement orchestrated as Nocturne, 1919 Three Preludes, 1919 Notturno [arr. of orchestral piece?1918] Arrangement of J. Offenbach: Barcarolle, Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour, piano solo, perf. 1910 Arrangement of E. Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel, overture, 2 pianos, 1910

Organ Chorale on ""Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr", 1910

Songs Tone-Images, Op. 3 La fuite de la lune (Oscar Wilde), 1912 Symphony in Yellow (Wilde), 1912 We'll to the Woods, and Gather May (W. E. Henley), 1914 Two Rondels, Op. 4, c1914 This Book of Hours (W. Crane) Come, Love, across the Sunlit Land (C. Scollard) Four Impressions (Wilde) Le jardin, 1915 Impression du matin, 1915 La mer, 1912, new setting 1916 Le réveillon, 1914 Three Poems, Op. 9, 1916 In a Myrtle Shade (William Blake) Waikiki (R. Brooke), E. Gauthier, M. Hansotte, New York, April 22, 1918 Phantoms (A. Giovannitti) Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan, Op. 10; E. Gauthier, Griffes, New York, November 1, 1917 So-fei Gathering Flowers (Wang Chang-Ling), 1917 Landscape (Sada-ihe), 1916 The Old Temple among the Mountains (Chang Wen-Chang), 1916 Tears (Wang Seng-Ju), 1916 A Feast of Lanterns (Yuan Mei), 1917 Two Poems (J. Masefield); E. Gauthier, M. Hansotte, New York, April 22, 1918 An Old Song Re-Sung, 1918 Sorrow of Mydath, 1917 Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod, Op. 11, 1918; V. Janacopulos, Griffes, New York, March 22, 1919; orchestrated 1918, M. Dresser, Philadelphia Orch, cond. T. Rich, Wilmington, DE, March 24, 1919 The Lament of Ian the Proud Thy Dark Eyes to Mine The Rose of the Night Si mes vers avaient des ailes (V. Hugo), 1901 Sur ma lyre l'autre fois (C.A. Sainte-Beuve)?1901 German Songs, c1903–1909 Am Kreuzweg wird begraben (Heinrich Heine) An den Wind (Nikolaus Lenau) Auf ihrem Grab (Heine) Auf dem Teich, dem Regungslosen (Lenau) Auf geheimen Waldespfade (Lenau) Das ist ein Brausen und Heulen (Heine) Das sterbende Kind (Emanuel Geibel) Der träumende See (Julius Mosen) Des müden Abendlied (Geibel) Elfe (J. von Eichendorff) Entflieh mit mir (Heine) Es fiel ein Reif (Heine) Frühe (Eichendorff) Gedicht von Heine (Mit schwarzen Segeln) Ich weiss nicht, wie's geschieht (Geibel) Könnt’ ich mit dir dort oben gehn (Mosen) Meeres Stille (J. W. von Goethe) Mein Herz ist wie die dunkle Nacht (Geibel) Mir war, als müsst’ ich graben (Das Grab) (Christian Friedrich Hebbel) Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen (Heine) So halt’ ich endlich dich umfangen (Geibel) Winternacht (Lenau) Wo ich bin, mich rings umdunkelt (Heine), c1903–11 Wohl lag ich einst in Gram und Schmerz (Geibel) Zwei Könige saßen auf Orkadal (Geibel), before 1910 The Water-Lily (J.B. Tabb), 1911 The Half-Ring Moon (Tabb), 1912 Nachtlied (Geibel), 1912 Pierrot (S. Teasdale), 1912 Les ballons (Wilde)?1912, rev. 1915 Cleopatra to the Asp (Tabb) Evening Song (S. Lanier) The First Snowfall (Tabb) Phantoms (Tabb), c1912 The War-Song of the Vikings (F. MacLeod), 1914 Two Birds flew into the Sunset Glow (Rom. trad.), 1914 Song of the Dagger (Rom. trad.), 1916 In the Harem (Chu Ch′ing-yü)?1917 Hampelas, Kinanti, Djakoan (Javanese trad.), c1917

Choral works Passionlied ("O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden") (P. Gerhardt), SSATB, 1906 Lobe den Herren (J. Neander), SSATB, 1906 Dies ist der Tag (I. Watts), SSATB, 1906 These things shall be (J. A. Symonds), unison chorus, 1916