The Sounds of Place by Denise von Glahn

Author:Denise von Glahn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

FERDE GROFÉ:

Mississippi Suite, Grand Canyon Suite, Hudson River Suite, and Niagara Falls Suite

Unlike his contemporary Roy Harris, Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé (1892–1972), known as Ferde Grofé, spent little effort arguing his claim as spokesperson for American music, although he proudly identified himself as a composer of Americana.131 Between 1920 and 1968, his most active years, Grofe was too busy pursuing multiple careers as pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor to devote much thought to shaping his image. Most famous, initially, for his work with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra (1920–32) and his history-making arrangement of George Gershwin’s raw two-piano score of Rhapsody in Blue (1924), which catapulted all three into the national spotlight, over the years Grofé became more closely associated with his own creations, Mississippi Suite (1925), and Grand Canyon Suite (1931) especially.132 With the theme of “On the Trail” from the latter loping into millions of radio listeners’ living rooms as the signature tune for the Philip Morris radio show for twenty years, Ferde Grofé became a household name. Radio announcers of the 1950s and 1960s introduced him simply as “one of America’s greatest composers,”133 and “a man who will live forever.”134

Grofé was a New Yorker by birth but moved to California early in his life, which made him familiar with both coasts and much of the country between. During his active career his travels took him to Arizona, Chicago, up the Hudson, and all over Europe. Wherever he went, Grofé seems to have been especially receptive to natural scenes. In explaining his 1956 tone poem Dawn at Lake Mead, Grofé remembered the site of a fishing trip there: “I was inspired by the wild terrain and the absolute absence of vegetation, and the almost forbidden look of the mountains there. … dawn coming up [and] the magnificent colors in the sky, a near flotilla of clouds.”135 Such a poetic reaction to one’s surroundings goes a long way toward explaining the number of place pieces that Grofé composed, especially those with a direct connection to the land. Grofé admitted to that particular affinity when he spoke about a commission to write a work for the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair: “I considered the fact that my hand had always been best at composition more closely related to nature. In such as the Grand Canyon Suite, Mississippi Suite, and Death Valley Suite, I measured in music the sights, sounds and sensations, which seemed to spring so naturally from our land. A suite to depict a World’s Fair, however, called for a harmonic yardstick of another kind. … Where to start?”136

But Grofé did not always need mountains and clouds to stir his creative juices, nor did he confine himself to such depictions. With the early compositions Broadway at Night (1924) and Metropolis (1927–28), he captured sounds of the more urban environment where he worked.137 The 1938 ballet Café Society, named after the famous Manhattan nightclub, and plans for a Madison Square Garden Suite (1939) suggest a continuing connection with America’s city of cities.

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