Background
He was born in 1882 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Percy Grainger's father, John Grainger (1854–1917), was an English-born architect who emigrated to Australia in 1877.
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He was born in 1882 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Percy Grainger's father, John Grainger (1854–1917), was an English-born architect who emigrated to Australia in 1877.
Except for three months' formal schooling as a 12-year-old, Percy was educated at home. At the age of 10 he began studying piano under Louis Pabst, a German emigré then considered to be Melbourne's leading piano teacher. He continued his studies at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany, an institution recommended by William Laver, head of piano studies at Melbourne's Conservatorium of music.
In February 1902 Grainger made his first appearance as a piano soloist with an orchestra, playing Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with the Bath Pump Room Orchestra. In October of that year he toured Britain in a concert party with Adelina Patti, the Italian-born opera singer. Patti was greatly taken by the young pianist and prophesied a glorious career for him. Grainger returned to London in July 1903; almost immediately he departed with Rose on a 10-month tour of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as a member of a party organised by the Australian contralto Ada Crossley.
In 1905, inspired by a lecture given by the pioneer folk-song historian Lucy Broadwood, Grainger began to collect original folk songs. Starting at Brigg in Lincolnshire, over the next five years he gathered and transcribed more than 300 songs from all over the country, including much material that had never been written down before. From 1906 Grainger used a phonograph, one of the first collectors to do so, and by this means he assembled more than 200 Edison cylinder recordings of native folk singers. In 1907 he met Frederick Delius, with whom he achieved an immediate rapport – the two musicians had similar ideas about composition and harmony, and shared a dislike for the classical German masters. Grainger gave Delius his setting of the folk song Brigg Fair, which the older composer developed into his famous orchestral rhapsody, dedicated to Grainger.
In 1911 Grainger finally felt confident enough of his standing as a pianist to begin large-scale publishing of his compositions. At the same time, he adopted the professional name of "Percy Aldridge Grainger" for his published compositions and concert appearances. In a series of concerts arranged by Balfour Gardiner at London's Queen's Hall in March 1912, five of Grainger's works were performed to great public acclaim.
In April 1914 Grainger gave his first performance of Delius's piano concerto, at a music festival in Torquay.
Grainger's first American tour began on 11 February 1915 with a recital at New York's Aeolian Hall. He played works by Bach, Brahms, Handel and Chopin alongside two of his own compositions: "Colonial Song" and "Mock Morris". In July 1915 Grainger formally registered his intention to apply for US citizenship. He served briefly as a bandsman in the United States Army during 1917–18. After his mother's suicide in 1922 he became increasingly involved in educational work.
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Grainger was a musical democrat; he believed that in a performance each player's role should be of equal importance. His elastic scoring technique was developed to enable groups of all sizes and combinations of instruments to give effective performances of his music.
He was self-taught as a composer, and his writings were largely inspired by folk music that he heard in different parts of the world during his concert tours.
Quotes from others about the person
Of Grainger the pianist, The New York Times critic Harold Schonberg wrote that his unique style was expressed with "amazing skill, personality and vigor".
