Grainger Studies
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Item[Front matter and Introduction](University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ItemCover, Editorial Advisory Board, Editors, Title page, Imprint page, Contents, Introduction
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ItemPercy Grainger's aleatoric adventures: The Rarotongan part-songs(University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ArticleThis article draws together a range of source material relating to the recording and notation of the Rarotongan part-songs encountered by Percy Grainger during his 1909 concert tour of Australasia, and presents his transcriptions and notes for the first time within a critical framework. The various extant recordings, initially made in 1907 during the New Zealand International Exhibition by Alfred J. Knocks and later copied by Grainger, together with Grainger's attempts at transcription, are evaluated in both the context of his activities as a collector of folk music and within the framework of his developing ideas of the notion of democracy in music. Grainger cited the music of Rarotonga as 'a treat no less than the best Wagner's(1) and he maintained its importance throughout his life. Whilst his transcriptions of the songs, and his planned settings of the music, were never completed, echoes of the Rarotongan music can be found in much of Grainger's experimental output. In particular, he was to mine this material for the production of Random round, the genesis and development of which will be examined in part two of this article (to be published in number 3 of Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal).
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Item'Into a cocked-hat': The folk song arrangements of Percy Grainger, Cecil Sharp and Benjamin Britten(University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ArticleAt first glance, it might appear as though Percy Grainger was determined to avoid the traditional musical aesthetics to which many of his more conservative peers subscribed. Through innovations ranging from complex rhythmic structures that he called 'beatless music', to 'elastic scoring', and eventually to his microtonal or gliding 'free music', Grainger was determined to be a musical trailblazer, despite the fact that his status as a composer never managed to keep pace with his reputation as a pianist. But one of the very few places in which Grainger attempted to make some headway in a more commercially successful genre was in his settings of English folk songs for voice and piano. Song settings such as these, which had been a popular chamber and domestic genre as far back as Beethoven's settings of Scottish and Irish folk songs, had flourished throughout the 19th century, and had been further invigorated by the late- Victorian folk song revival in England, during which time folk song became the soundtrack for an insistent English nationalism.(1) / I begin here by providing a short history of Grainger's study of English folk song from 1905 to 1909. I follow this with an examination of some of Grainger's folk song settings as they compare with those of one of the more prominent arrangers of his day, Cecil Sharp. Finally, I show how Grainger's folk song arrangements influenced those of Benjamin Britten, which stand not only as sophisticated and poignant compositions, but also as representations of the way in which Britten used both the legacy of Grainger and English folk song to enact a radical politics of emancipation.
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ItemObject of desire: Portraits of Percy Grainger from his London period(University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ArticleThis article looks at five portraits of Percy Grainger from his London period (1901-14), the 'London portraits': one by Rupert Bunny, one by Jacques- Emile Blanche, one by John Singer Sargent and two by Adolph de Meyer. Two are paintings, two are photographs and one is a drawing. Despite the differences in media and technique, they are a particularly interesting group of portraits that warrant comparison, as they represent Grainger during the seminal phase of his career and they all arose from similar circumstances. These portraits reflect the formative nature of Grainger's London years, projecting images that are variously ambiguous and idealising, illustrating both the complex social position Grainger assumed as feted performer for London's upper classes, and the construction of his public profile as a virtuoso pianist. Further, all the artists of the London portraits were of either confirmed or suspected homosexual orientation, a significant factor in their interest in Grainger as a subject, and an important influence on the way they each represented him.
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ItemUnderstanding John Grainger through the prism of an architectural rivalry(University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ArticleThis article discusses the intersections in the careers of two important Australian architects: John H. Grainger (1854-1917) and John James Clark (1838-1915). Their professional paths crossed in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, resulting in a rivalry that spanned 25 years and three colonies. The author speculates on the level of personal antagonism that may or may not have resulted, and on the ultimate effects of these circumstances on Grainger's level of professional achievement.
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ItemGuidelines for contributors(University of Melbourne Library, 2012)Journal ArticleGuidelines for contributors. Please note that Grainger Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, is no longer published. Two issues were produced: no. 1 (2011) and no. 2 (2012).