Piano Music of North America (Canada & the USA)

[phikfy]

Abram Chasins (1903-1987) - don't think this has been posted before - considered by some as his most original composition Narrative 'Remembrance of Things Past'.

Malcolm

Chasins A - Narrative 'Remembrance of Things Past' [mhb].pdf

Thanks a lot Malcolm. What a substantial piece by Chasins!

[mballan]

Richard Hoffman (1831-1909) English born - American pianist and composer. A few further works are available on IMSLP.

Malcolm

Hoffman R - 'Chi-Ci Pipi Nini' Cuban Dance [mhb].pdf

Hoffman R - Dixiana - Caprice on the melodie 'Dixie's Land' [mhb].pdf

[fleubis]

Thank you Malcolm for the Hoffman pieces. It is easy to see why these pieces were popular at one time.

And a belated appreciation for your posting of the wonderful Chasins "Remberance...." and how appropriate it for me as I'm just now starting to read Proust--want to see what all the excitement was 100 years ago.

[tobyjj]

Fleubis,

I hope you have an abridged version!
You could die of boredom trying to remember Proust's nostalgia - it is rather slow.
If I knew how to post a smiley, I would.

Best wishes,
tobyjj

[4candles]

Transferring this from another discussion thread:

This is perhaps not quite the correct place to post this, but I've come across the name of an American composer - Edward Jerome Hopkins - who seems to have written some quite original works, including a piano concerto.
Does anyone have any music by him or have any detailed background info?

Any thoughts?

Thanks
4c

[fredbucket]

... but I've come across the name of an American composer - Edward Jerome Hopkins - who seems to have written some quite original works, including a piano concerto.
Does anyone have any music by him or have any detailed background info?

This piece appears to be the same composer, but is C. Jerome Hopkins, not Edward.

hopkins - op. 11 the wind demon.pdf

From Grove:
Hopkins, (Charles) Jerome
(b Burlington, VT, 4 April 1836; d Athenia [now Clifton], NJ, 4 Nov 1898). American composer, pianist and music educator. He moved to New York in about 1853, where he performed and lectured, and in 1861 he founded the Orpheon Free Schools to teach sight-singing and basic musicianship to working-class children, shortly afterwards issuing his Method for Teaching Orpheon Singing Classes; he claimed to have educated over 30,000 pupils. In 1864 he began an annual series of concerts to help fund the schools, and founded the Orpheonist and Philharmonic Journal, partly to promote his schools and concerts, and partly to provide a forum for his trenchant musical and social criticism. In 1871 he introduced ‘Piano-lecture Concerts’, which mixed criticism and aesthetic theory with performance. His niece, and his closest companion after the death of his wife in 1876, was the pianist Amy Fay.

Hopkins was a curious amalgam of the traditional singing-school master and the progressive composer and virtuoso performer. His articles, letters and pamphlets (including Music and Snobs, 1888), display a scathing wit; at the same time his pedagogical works and collections of church music were conventional, even staid. He was a champion of American composers as early as 1856, and remained a polemical partisan of native music to the end of his life. As a performer, Hopkins was essentially self-taught, but he was evidently an excellent pianist and organist. His compositions include choral works and operas (many of which were performed repeatedly in his lifetime), concert music, and short piano pieces and songs. He sometimes wrote for unusual ensembles – as in the Dramatic Caprice for five pianos, and the Vespers Service (1875) for three choirs, soloists, two organs, harp, and orchestra. His more conventional pieces, such as the Piano Trio (1857–8), the Serenade in E (1870) and the Symphony (performed under Theodore Thomas), are often idiomatic and engaging. Hopkins’s music manuscripts are at Harvard University, and the New York Public Library has a collection of his letters.

Regards
Fred

[4candles]

Many thanks for this Fred.
4c

[Scriabinoff]

charming improv on two folk tunes.

RAPHLING, SAM - IMPROVISATIONS ON TWO AMERICAN FOLK SONGS (1).pdf

[Scriabinoff]

Fisher%2C%20Leander%20(ed%20Calvin%20Grooms)%20-%20The%20Robin's%20Return%20-a%20Caprice-%20.pdf

here is a newer edition w much easier to read type set of the Leander Fisher famous caprice Robbin's Return just scanned this a.m. Sorry for the file name, this upload is from my mobile.

the antiquated setting can be found on imslp

[Scriabinoff]

Allan Grant
interesting character and difficult to find any inffo on him but i did find and old newspaper article from the 30's
I am trying to exceprt and gleam some info on him

apparently actively composed first half of 20th century, i found two pieces (a nocturne and a valse) and a piano concerto mentioned but he was also a champion boxer.

this is part of a set of Chinese inspired works

Grant%2C%20Allan%20-%20Three%20Chinese%20Pieces%20%2C%20No%202%20Jade.pdf