Grainger's London years: A performing history history

Abstract

I would have enjoyed playing the piano if I could have done it with even a reasonable amount of skill and accuracy. If I could have played with the facility of any of my advanced pupils … I would have loved to play the Schumann Concerto, the G major Beethoven Concerto, the two Chopin Concertos, the Beethoven ‘Emperor’ Concerto [and] two of the Rachmaninoff Concertos … In my early years as a grown-up pianist I used to get worn out during my public appearances and feared I could not keep going to the end. Especially when playing concertos with orchestra I felt feeble and inadequate … I feel disgraced by my feebleness as a pianist (my poor fingerwork, my unreliable memory) and as a conductor (by that feeling of helplessness when I stand before a choir or orchestra).

This paper was originally presented to the Percy Grainger Centenary Conference, Melbourne, on 5 July 1982, under the title ‘Percy Grainger: London Society Pianist’. A revised version of that paper was read to the Australian Capital Territory Chapter of the Musicological Society of Australia on 18 November 1982. The author has incorporated many of those revisions into this published paper. All Grainger correspondence and documents quoted are held in the Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne; publication is by kind permission of Mr Steward R. Manville of White Plains, New York and the Grainger Museum Board, University of Melbourne. The author wishes to acknowledge the great assistance to his research provided by Ms Helen Reeves of the Grainger Museum and Mrs Eileen Dorum of Hawthorn, Victoria. He further acknowledges the help and guidance of Dr Kay Dreyfus, of the Grainger Museum, particularly in directing him to the rich materials found in The British Australasian newspaper.

This paper was originally presented to the Percy Grainger Centenary Conference, Melbourne, on 5 July 1982, under the title ‘Percy Grainger: London Society Pianist’. A revised version of that paper was read to the Australian Capital Territory Chapter of the Musicological Society of Australia on 18 November 1982. The author has incorporated many of those revisions into this published paper. All Grainger correspondence and documents quoted are held in the Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne; publication is by kind permission of Mr Steward R. Manville of White Plains, New York and the Grainger Museum Board, University of Melbourne. The author wishes to acknowledge the great assistance to his research provided by Ms Helen Reeves of the Grainger Museum and Mrs Eileen Dorum of Hawthorn, Victoria. He further acknowledges the help and guidance of Dr Kay Dreyfus, of the Grainger Museum, particularly in directing him to the rich materials found in The British Australasian newspaper.

Notes

This paper was originally presented to the Percy Grainger Centenary Conference, Melbourne, on 5 July 1982, under the title ‘Percy Grainger: London Society Pianist’. A revised version of that paper was read to the Australian Capital Territory Chapter of the Musicological Society of Australia on 18 November 1982. The author has incorporated many of those revisions into this published paper. All Grainger correspondence and documents quoted are held in the Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne; publication is by kind permission of Mr Steward R. Manville of White Plains, New York and the Grainger Museum Board, University of Melbourne. The author wishes to acknowledge the great assistance to his research provided by Ms Helen Reeves of the Grainger Museum and Mrs Eileen Dorum of Hawthorn, Victoria. He further acknowledges the help and guidance of Dr Kay Dreyfus, of the Grainger Museum, particularly in directing him to the rich materials found in The British Australasian newspaper.