Four german songs (1976)/ Griffes, Charles Tomlinson

Charles Griffes, in full Charles Tomlinson Griffes, (born Sept. 17, 1884, Elmira, N.Y., U.S.—died April 8, 1920, New York City), first native U.S. composer to write Impressionist music. Intending to become a concert pianist, Griffes went to Berlin in 1903 to study piano and composition, but his teacher, Engelbert Humperdinck, turned his main interest toward composition. In 1907 he returned to the United States and took a job as a music teacher at the Hackley School for Boys at Tarrytown, N.Y. He died at 35, on the threshold of his artistic maturity. (...)|