Biography of Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger was born on July 8th, 1882 in Melbourne, Australia. He started his musical training with his mother, Rose, on the piano at a young age. By the age of 10 Grainger was giving piano concerts in Australia around Australia. In the early 1900's, Grainger decided to start his work as a composer, starting to take lessons from many instructors in Europe, most importantly, Edvard Grieg. Grieg's influence inspire Grainger to start arranging European folk music (Goldman, 1938). Grainger spent years going around Europe and collecting folk songs using wax cylinders and phonographs. Especially regarding the use of the phonograph in the recording and collection of folk songs, Grainger was a pioneer (Blocher et. al, 1997). Grainger immigrated to the United States in 1910, eventually becoming a citizen in 1915. He joined the United States Army band as a soprano saxophonist (his favorite instrument). Rumor has it that nobody knew who he was until he sat down at the piano one day in rehearsal.
After being discharged, he started composing and conducting in the United States. Due to the lack of original band music available, Grainger's main compositional focus was on music for wind band. He wrote many songs and arranged many folk songs that have made their way into the standard band literature. Just as Holst and Williams had been pioneers of the European wind band movement, Grainger was also a key player in the wind band movement, especially in America (Goldman, 1938).
Many pictures have surfaced of Grainger conducting college and community bands. Grainger was not the best conductor and was never very graceful, with his technique everywhere and his movements were told to be "jerky and disjointed" (Begian, 1992). Compositional techniques of Grainger have also posed problems for performers for decades. Grainger was notorious for writing his parts first before writing the score. As Dr. Begian explained, while playing under Grainger at Wayne State University Grainger would have the players perform from original manuscripts, while he would correct parts in the middle of rehearsal. He would also play from a type of condensed score, in which the melody line and time signature changes were cut out on colored paper according to instruments, and then pasted onto a plain sheet of paper so that Grainger could conduct the changes, and make sure he knew who was supposed to be playing the melody (Begian, 1992). Pictures of Grainger conducting from these scores can be found in the Wayne State University Music office.
After being discharged, he started composing and conducting in the United States. Due to the lack of original band music available, Grainger's main compositional focus was on music for wind band. He wrote many songs and arranged many folk songs that have made their way into the standard band literature. Just as Holst and Williams had been pioneers of the European wind band movement, Grainger was also a key player in the wind band movement, especially in America (Goldman, 1938).
Many pictures have surfaced of Grainger conducting college and community bands. Grainger was not the best conductor and was never very graceful, with his technique everywhere and his movements were told to be "jerky and disjointed" (Begian, 1992). Compositional techniques of Grainger have also posed problems for performers for decades. Grainger was notorious for writing his parts first before writing the score. As Dr. Begian explained, while playing under Grainger at Wayne State University Grainger would have the players perform from original manuscripts, while he would correct parts in the middle of rehearsal. He would also play from a type of condensed score, in which the melody line and time signature changes were cut out on colored paper according to instruments, and then pasted onto a plain sheet of paper so that Grainger could conduct the changes, and make sure he knew who was supposed to be playing the melody (Begian, 1992). Pictures of Grainger conducting from these scores can be found in the Wayne State University Music office.
History of "Lincolnshire Posy"
The American Bandmasters Association commissioned Grainger to write "Lincolnshire Posy" in 1937. At this time, there was not much literature for the modern wind band. Most wind band music was written in the form of marches (i.e. Sousa, King, Goldman), but both Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams have written pieces for this type of ensemble and incorporated folk songs into their band music (Holtz, 2009). Grainger began collecting the folk songs for "Lincolnshire Posy" in 1905 on wax cylinder's, collecting the bulk of these in Lincolnshire, England (Wollum, 2011). After receiving the commission, he arranged these folk songs and added his own signature twist on them by adding suspensions, dissonance, and odd meters to the piece. The settings are true to the verse structures, but they also depict the singers that Grainger collected the songs from ((Blocher et. al, 1997).
The piece was first performed by the Milwaukee Concert Band and only three movements were done, movements one, two, and four. Six had not been finished and three and five were omitted completely (Grauer, 1992). This was because Grainger believed that the performers cared "more about their beer then the music" (Grainger, 2010). Grainger in his score says that any high school band should be able to perform the piece, while most high schools that take on the piece only perform movements one, two, and six (sometimes four). Grainger did have to test the parts out with a group besides the performance group, so he used the Ernest Williams Band School in Brooklyn, NY (Grauer, 1992). The performance group was only given three times the length of the piece to perform, with a gentleman using a stopwatch to time the events down to the second. These issues and the views of Percy Grainger are why I suspect that Richard Davis of "The Milwaukee Journal" said that "Lincolnsire Posy was a step back for the concert band" (Grauer, 1992).
Three months after the official premier of Lincolnshire Posy, Edwin Franco Goldman conducted the entire piece, premiering the final three movements (Grauer, 1992). This piece of "musical wildflowers," as Grainger referred to the piece as, has now blossomed into not only a standard part of the wind band repertoire, but a quintessential piece to push an ensemble's limits, and to provide a solid foundation of band literiture.
Folk songs used in "Lincolnshire Posy"
Mvt. 1 - "Lisbon" (Sailor's Song)
Notated by Grainger in 1905 from the singing of Mr. Deane of Lincolnshire. There is a counter-melody in the middle of the movement is "The Duke of Marlborough" fanfare, which was notated by Lucy Broadwood from the singing of Henry Burstow.
Mvt. 2 - "Horkstow Grange" (The Miser and his Man - a local Tragedy)
Noted by Grainger in 1905 from the singing of George Gouldthorpe. Grainger adds his "Graingerness" (chromaticism, heavy orchestration, and non-traditional rhythms) towards the end of the piece.
Mvt. 3 - "Rufford Park Poachers" (Poaching Song)
Grainger noted this folksong down in 1906 from the singing of Joseph Taylor. There were two versions of this movement written and published.
Mvt. 4 - "The Brisk Young Sailor" (who returned to wed his True Love)
This folksong was notated by Grainger in 1906 from the singing of Mrs. Thompson, who was born in Liverpool, but living in Lincolnshire at the time.
Mvt. 5 - Lord Melbourne" (War Song)
George Wray sung this song for Grainger in 1906. This movement is a variant of "The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare" from movement 1. This is the most controversial movement because of the free time sections.
Mvt. 6 - "The Lost Lady Found" (Dance Song)
This folksong was noted by Lucy Broadwood from the singing of it from a nurse in Lincolnshire.
All of this information was taken from the full score version of "Lincolnshire Posy" (Grainger, 2010).
Notated by Grainger in 1905 from the singing of Mr. Deane of Lincolnshire. There is a counter-melody in the middle of the movement is "The Duke of Marlborough" fanfare, which was notated by Lucy Broadwood from the singing of Henry Burstow.
Mvt. 2 - "Horkstow Grange" (The Miser and his Man - a local Tragedy)
Noted by Grainger in 1905 from the singing of George Gouldthorpe. Grainger adds his "Graingerness" (chromaticism, heavy orchestration, and non-traditional rhythms) towards the end of the piece.
Mvt. 3 - "Rufford Park Poachers" (Poaching Song)
Grainger noted this folksong down in 1906 from the singing of Joseph Taylor. There were two versions of this movement written and published.
Mvt. 4 - "The Brisk Young Sailor" (who returned to wed his True Love)
This folksong was notated by Grainger in 1906 from the singing of Mrs. Thompson, who was born in Liverpool, but living in Lincolnshire at the time.
Mvt. 5 - Lord Melbourne" (War Song)
George Wray sung this song for Grainger in 1906. This movement is a variant of "The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare" from movement 1. This is the most controversial movement because of the free time sections.
Mvt. 6 - "The Lost Lady Found" (Dance Song)
This folksong was noted by Lucy Broadwood from the singing of it from a nurse in Lincolnshire.
All of this information was taken from the full score version of "Lincolnshire Posy" (Grainger, 2010).
