CHARLES TOMLINSON GRIFFES
David C F Wright PhD
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was born in Elmira, New York on 17
September 1884. After early studies on the piano and the organ in his
home town, he went to Berlin to study with pianist Ernst Jedliczka at
the Stern conservatory. While there, Griffes also enjoyed a brief but
influential mentorship from the composer Engelbert Humperdinck.
On returning to the USA, in 1907, he became director of music
studies at the Hackley School for boys in Tarrytown, New York, a
post which he held until his early death thirteen years later
Griffes is said to be the most famous American representative of
musical Impressionism. He was fascinated by the exotic, mysterious
sound of the French Impressionists, and was compositionally much
influenced by them while he was in Europe. He also studied the work
of contemporary Russian composers (for example Scriabin), whose
influence is also apparent in his work, for example, in his use of synthetic scales. He was keen to
know new scores such as those by Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Busoni, Schoenberg, Milhaud,
Prokofiev and Varese.
An early orchestral work, the Symphonische Phantasie, suffers from ultra-romanticism and
emotionism. The Poem for flute and orchestra is generally affective.
His most famous works are the White Peacock, for piano (1915, orchestrated in 1919); his Piano
Sonata (1917–18, revised 1919); a tone poem, The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, after Coleridge
(1912, revised in 1916), and Poem for Flute and Orchestra (1918). He also wrote numerous
programmatic pieces for piano, chamber ensembles, and for voice. The amount of his music is
impressive considering his short life as well as his full-time teaching job, and much of his music is
still performed. His unpublished Sho-jo (1917), a one-act pantomimic drama based on Japanese
themes, is one of the earliest works by an American composer to show direct inspiration from the
music of Japan.
He died of influenza, in New York City, on 8 April 1920 during the worldwide pandemic at the age
of 35, but he also had emphysema and had developed pneumonia. An operation on his lungs was
unsuccessful. He is buried in Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey. His
papers passed to his younger sister, Marguerite, who chose to destroy many that explicitly related to
his gay life. Donna Anderson became 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 Lafayette Place Baths and the Produce Exchange Baths. Swimming pools, public baths and the
beach remain venues for voyeurism, not only for homosexuals but also for heterosexuals.
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was drawn into the gay world by the baths not just because he had sex
there, but because he met men there, some of whom helped him find apartments and make his way
through the city, who appreciated his music and gave him new insights into his character, and who
became his good friends. The gay world became a central part of his everyday world, even though he
kept it hidden from others.
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
who used the pseudonym Dan C. Martin), a married New York policeman.
His piano music varies in content and quality. The White Peacock is impressionistic nullity. The
Pleasure Dome of Kublan Khan has a good melodic content, The Three Preludes are so slight as to
be irrelevant. The Piece in E is good and owes something to Mendelssohn and the Three Fantasy
Pieces Op 6 has much to commend it and deserves to become a regular in recitals. The Piano Sonata
is acceptable but somewhat elephantine and primitive.
His music does not have originality and lacks the wow factor.
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, 10 Feb 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, 5 Aug 1917
Sakura-sakura (Japanese folkdance arrangement), fl, cl, hp, 2 vn, vc, db, ?1917, Atlantic City, NJ,
5 Aug 1917
The White Peacock (solo ballet, arrangement of piano work), orchestra, ?1919, New York, 22
June 1919
Salut au monde (festival drama in three acts, after Walt Whitman), fl, cl, 2 hn, tpt, 2 trbn, timp,
drums, 2 hp, pf, 1919, incomplete, New York, 22 April 1922
Orchestral works
Overture, c1905
Symphonische Phantasie, 1907, arranged for 2 pianos, ?1910
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, op. 8, 1917, Boston SO, cond. P. Monteux, Boston, 28 Nov
1919
[version of piano piece, 1912]
Notturno für Orchestra, ?1918, Philadelphia Orch, cond. L. Stokowski, Philadelphia, 19 Dec 1919;
arr. pf/str orch
Poem, flute and orchestra, 1918, G. Barrère, New York SO, cond. W. Damrosch, 16 Nov 1919
Bacchanale, ?1919, Philadelphia Orch, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, 19 Dec 1919 [version of
Scherzo for piano, 1913]
Clouds, ?1919, Philadelphia Orch, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, 19 Dec 1919 [version of piano
piece, 1916]
The White Peacock, ?1919, Philadelphia Orch, cond. Stokowski, Philadelphia, 19 Dec 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, 19 Dec
1916;
arr. wind quintet, str qnt, pf, ?1919, New York Chamber Music Society, Greenwich, CT, 4 June
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, 24 Nov 1920
Piano
Six Variations, op.2, 1898
Four Preludes, op.'40, 1899–1900
Three Tone-Pictures, op. 5: The Lake at Evening, 1910, L. Hodgson, New York, 3 April 1914;
The Vale of Dreams, 1912;
The Night Winds, 1911; arr. ens, 1915, ?1919
Fantasy Pieces, op. 6: Barcarolle, 1912, Griffes, Lowell, MA, 3 Nov 1914; Notturno, 1915;
Scherzo, 1913, orchestrated as
Bacchanale, ?1919
Roman Sketches, op.7: The White Peacock, 1915, W. Christie, New York, 23 Feb 1916, orchd
?1919; Nightfall, 1916;
The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, 1916; Clouds, 1916, orchd ?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, 22 June 1905
Sonata, D, 1 movement, ?1910
Symphonische Phantasie, 2 pf, ?1910 [version of orch piece, 1907];
Sonata, D, 2 movements, ?1911
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, 1912, rev. 1915, orchd 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, 26 Feb 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, 22 April 1918
Phantoms (A. Giovannitti)
Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan, op.10; E. Gauthier, Griffes, New York, 1 Nov 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, 22 April 1918
An Old Song Re-Sung, 1918
Sorrow of Mydath, 1917
Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod, op. 11, 1918; V. Janacopulos, Griffes, New York, 22 March
1919; orchestrated 1918,
M. Dresser, Philadelphia Orch, cond. T. Rich, Wilmington, DE, 24 March 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 (Heine)
An den Wind (Lenau)
Auf ihrem Grab (Heine)
Auf dem Teich, dem Regungslosen (N. Lenau)
Auf geheimen Waldespfade (Lenau)
Das ist ein Brausen und Heulen (Heine)
Das sterbende Kind (E. Geibel)
Der träumende See (J. 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) (F. Hebbel)
Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen (H. Heine)
So halt’ ich endlich dich umfangen (Geibel)
Winternacht (Lenau)
Wo bin ich, mich rings umdunkelt (Heine), c1903–11
Wohl lag ich einst in Gram und Schmerz (E. 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) (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
(1733)
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