Special Collections Finding Aids

Percy Grainger Programs - Ephemera

Accession: SC1998.22

Location: M2A 6,3

Size: 1 feet

Biography: Born in Australia in 1882, Percy Grainger lived the first thirteen years of his life in Melbourne, where his general music education was undertaken at home under the guidance of his mother Rose. He later studied piano with Louis Pabst and made his first public appearance at the age of ten. At age twelve, he traveled to Europe and continued his musical studies with Busoni and several famous teachers. The intimate relationship with Edward Grieg inspired Grainger to make a thorough study of English folk music. Besides the many transcriptions Grainger made, he has also composed many original works for orchestra, piano and songs. Grainger emigrated to the United States in 1915 and remained there until his death in 1961.

Provenance: Source unknown, however a certificate of the Percy Grainger Library Society, sent by Mrs. Grainger (1/13/65) and addressed to Ms Ruth Watanabe, then a librarian at Sibley Library is one of the items among this collection.

Scope and Content: This collection contains programs of Grainger's performances as conductor and performer. It also includes performances of Grainger's compositions, publicity materials by his agent Antonia Sawyer, writings and articles on/by Grainger, press reviews as well as publicity brochures of Grainger's participation in summer camps.

Associations: The Sibley library possesses an unprocessed collection of Frederick Fennell, a personal friend of Grainger who performed much of Grainger's compositions. Also of interest are two letters written by Grainger to Robert E Gray, Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Illinois, Urbana in the Letter File collection. These letters were written on 1/25/59 and 2/5/59.

Restrictions: None

Series: 1

Series Name: Ephemera

Series Description: This collection is divided into two Subseries. Subseries 1 is organized chronologically and contains programs of Grainger performances, as well as performances of Grainger's works by various musicians. Subseries 2 contains publicity materials, writings and essays on/by Grainger. This subseries includes articles in journals such as Musical Quarterly, Grainger Society Journal, Australian Musical News, and reprints taken from Musical Courier. The following abbreviations have been used consistently in the entries: Pf = Performer, Cmp = Composer, Cn = Conductor, AU = Australia, NOR = Norway, ENG = England, CAN = Canada, HOLL = Holland, U = University, H S = High School, AUD = Auditorium. States within the USA are abbreviated by means of the current postal abbreviations.