Charles Tomlinson Griffes

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) was one of America's first modern composers. Griffes studied in Germany through 1907, and upon his return taught at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY, for the rest of his short life, ended prematurely by the influenza outbreak of 1918. Griffes' Roman Sketches Op. 7 (1916) -- particularly "The White Peacock" -- established his fame while he lived, but his masterpieces include the Piano Sonata (1919) and the symphonic poem The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan (1917). Griffes fully embraced impressionism, but moved beyond it and was one of the first composers to grasp so-called "Asian fusion."