Percy Aldridge Grainger Research Papers

Sam Houston was one of the founding fathers of Texas known as a soldier, statesman and man of integrity. Spending most of his youth in Tennessee, he was impatient and reckless with a sense of adventure which lead him to the Cherokee country. His time spent with family and the Cherokee Indians is where he developed his practical, level-headed and grounded character. Houston’s passion for peace and support for the Cherokee’s came from having seen the effects of war and strife on the Indians. The values instilled from these early experiences are prevalent in Houston’s political and personal viewpoints throughout his life and career.

Phineas P. Gage was born in 1823. He was a railroad construction worker outside a small town of Cavendish, Vermont. On September 13, 1848, Phineas suffered from a traumatic brain injury, which caused severe damage to parts of his frontal brain due to his accident at work.

My great grandfather, Sanford Robert Gragg, was an extraordinary man. Although I never had the privilege to meet him, the stories that have been told about his life urge me to learn more about how he lived and the unique things he did during his life. My great grandfather did some pretty amazing things during his life and some of the facts about his life astound me.

When George Gershwin was around the age of 15, he worked for a giant publisher of popular music attempting piano. He was always

Grieg’s use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway

“There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require”-Sir Edward Elgar. Elgar was one of the 19th century’s most famous composers. He devoted his life to writing musical pieces such as Enigma Variations, The Dream of Gerontius, and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Certain personality aspects of Elgar, such as his wit and creative humor, are found in his music and set him apart from the other composers of his time.

Edvard Grieg was one of several Scandinavian composers who were commissioned to write a commemorative piece for the bicentennial celebration of the birth of the “Molière of the North,” the Norwegian writer Ludvig Baron Holberg (1684-1754). Grieg called his set of short piano pieces From Holberg’s Time and gave his first performance of the piano work in Bergen, Norway in December 1884. The following year he transcribed the work for string orchestra, which is how it is known today. The work is based on the musical style of Holberg's time, employing the Baroque forms of prelude, sarabande, gavotte, air, and rigaudon, all French dances, with the exception of the standard introductory prelude. Grieg then gave the pieces his own magical touch, making

In the 2004 adaptation by Rupert Goold, he is attempting to unnerve the viewer by creating an very frighteningly unnatural scene. He tries conveying this sense of discomfort through juxtaposition of their clothing, the lighting, their position, and their body language. Nurses are people usually perceived as helpful and admirable, however the juxtaposition against the dark, cold, clinical background creates an unsettling sense that something is amiss. The witch in the middle is also smiling, a bizarre expression to have given the dead person in front her, and gives her a menacing, almost psychopathic air. This is enhanced by the door outline partially, framing her body, leading lines created by the man’s body and the hallway, the minimalist

(13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, and conductor who became a leading force in musical education. As a student at the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), he was admired by Felix Mendelssohn, who invited him to come to Germany. In three long visits there between 1836 and 1842 he performed as a pianist and composed, befriending Robert Schumann. In 1837 he began teaching at the RAM, with which he was associated for most of his life. His pupils included Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, and Tobias Matthay. He performed throughout the 1840s and 1850s, returning to composition in 1858; by this time his works were considered old-fashioned, though they were still popular. He was Professor of Music at the University of

My composer’s name is Edvard Grieg. He was born on June 15, 1843 and he died on September 4, 1907 at the age of 64. He was born in Bergen, Norway and died in Bergen, Norway. He was homeschooled at Tanks School when he was young. He then went to the school of Leipzig Conservatory when he got older. He later went to college at Oxford University. His mom started to give him piano lessons when he was 6. He played the piano and the organ his whole life.

Jean Sibelius born as Johan Christian Julius Sibelius on December 8, 1865 in a small Russian town in Finland. Sibelius began to take his interest in music serious when he became a teenager. At the age of 20, he decided to pave his way in the music industry by declaring it as a career. He was positive that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Then, he enrolled in a music school to fulfill this dream. The school was later named Sibelius Academy in his honor. Sibelius began to work with well known composers and figured that he wanted to be a violinist. However, he waited to late into his career to make this sort of decision. The training was too intense. Sibelius spent most of his music career composing pieces in well known places such as Italy and Berlin. It has been found that Sibelius cherished nature especially the scenery from his usual surroundings. Therefore, many of his works’ were influenced by the elegance of nature.

The original score was 26 movements where Greig has made two Suite by taking eight movements out of the Original score. “Peer Gynt, Op. 23 is the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play of the same name.”(Wikipedia)

Grieg’s Peer Gynt is a fine example of incidental music that has become more famous than the original play. Grieg wrote it for Norwegian poet and writer Henrik Ibsen who wanted authentic Norwegian music for a stage performance based on his poem of the same name. Ibsen wrote the poem in 1867. It was in January 1874, Ibsen sent an invitation to Grieg to write incidental music for Peer Gynt. At that time, Grieg was busy composing music for another Norwegian writer and poet Bjornstjerne Bjornson. They had already worked together successfully for Bjornstjerne’s play Sigurd Jorsalfar. For some reason, their musical collaboration failed, and Grieg was free to compose music for Ibsen’s play. Composing music for the play proved to be more challenging

It was Franz Peter Schubert, who said to a friend “I have come into the world for no other purpose but to compose”. For someone to be so certain, focused and dedicated at such a young age with extraordinary talent and promise, finding out more about Schubert’s life and astonishing music was a must for me.

The Harry Erskine series is a set of novels by renowned British horror novelist Graham Masterton. Given that Graham dabs in so many other genres and has many other series under his belt, the publication of the six novels in the series has been sporadic. That being said the bulk of the novels have been published between 1976 and 2009. The lead character in the series is the self-styled psychic Harry Erskine. When we first come across the enigmatic Erskine, he is a shaman earning his living through providing psychic reading to an assortment of old rich ladies in New York City. Nonetheless, given the high demand for his services, he frequently travels to other cities on the Eastern seaboard such as Miami. Harry Erskine had been skeptical of the