Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy

Percy Grainger (July 8 1882 – February 20 1961) Where do I begin? Vegetarian? Sadomasochist? Racist? Incestuous?

Let's start somewhere a bit more normal, by college student standards. Grainger never ironed his clothes and often wore the same clothes for days on end saying, "concert audiences can't tell the difference." He was arrested twice, here in America, for vagrancy and could be found on some nights dumpster diving in his best clothes for parts out of which to make musical instruments. Though Grainger was a vegetarian, he was not fond of vegetables at all. He ate mostly nuts, boiled rice, wheatcakes, cakes, bread and jam, ice cream, and oranges.

His sleeping habits were a bit ... "off". Most of us probably use more blankets in the winter to retain our warmth while sleeping and conversely in the summer use less blankets or an airconditioner to keep us cool. Grainger did exactly the opposite. Feeling that summer is meant to be hot and winter cold, Grainger would sleep naked in the winter with his windows open and would use heavy wool blankets during the summer. However, this is just the beginning of his sadomasochism.

Grainger was certainly well aware of his sadomasochistic tendencies and his enthusiasm for flagellation, and he was certainly not ashamed of it. This odd man and his wife would document and photograph everything that the two did. The walls of his home were covered in mirrors so that after he whipped himself he could take a picture of himself from all angles. These pictures were documented with the date, time, location, whip and camera settings. From 1934 to 1935, Grainger gave most of his earnings to the University of Melbourne to create and maintain a museum dedicated to himself. Though, he didn't only donate his manuscripts and instruments, he donated all of those photos of himself along with blood-soaked shirts and seventy-three whips. Yes, he owned at least 73 whips. Fucking weirdo.

At this point, I'd like you to stop reading and just look at the picture of Grainger. Notice how similar he looks to Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version). Now imagine him standing inside his home after a good whipping session with a look of deep satisfaction and pleasure on his face while blood trickles down his back as he snaps a photo of it. You're welcome.

The curious nature of his personality doesn't stop there however. Grainger believed in the racial superiority of blond-haired and blue-eyed northern Europeans. Sound a bit familiar? In letters and musical manuscripts, he would specifically only use "blue-eyed English" to expunge all non-Germanic influences. Grainger hated italian terms. Unforunately for him, musical compositions are rife with them (e.g. pianissimo, andante, largo, forte, crescendo, etc.). To avoid using these musical terms, "poco a poco crescendo molto" would simply be written as "louden lots bit by bit". However, he was completely inconsistent with his attitude of racial superiority, donating to African-American causes and was friends and even admired Duke Ellington and George Gershwin.

When you read something like this, you can't help but think that it all had to start somewhere. Well, guess what. It did. His mother refused to touch him for the first five years after his birth for fear of giving him syphillis. His mother even allotted time out of every day during which she would stare at a statue of a Greek god, as she believed it would pass good qualities to her son. Grainger was fluent in 11 foreign languages, two of which are Icelandic and Russian.

Other oddities of Grainger include:

• running to most performances because he preferred playing when he was exhausted
• he lost the tip of an index finger while working on a bicycle chain
• walked 105km in South Africa to one of his performances
• when travelling by ship, he would spend his free time shoveling coal in the boiler room
• started designing his own clothes in 1910, from togas to skirts to leggings all of which he would wear
• similarly, he designed a crude forerunner to the sports bra for "his Danish sweetheart"
  

In 1914, he moved to upstate New York, where you can actually tour his house. Now, don't be misled by that. You're given a tour by one man who lives nearby. There's no one else around, and he'll probably take you into the basement to view some of the original scores and drafts of Grainger's. You may get a feeling that you'll be killed down there and no one will ever find you.

Now onto his music. At the turn of the century, Grainger started working on "beatless music". One of his more famous successions of time signatures being 2/4, 2.5/4, 3/4, 2.5/4. Predating John Cage (of 4'33" fame) by 40 years, Grainger began to work with chance music (i.e. composing a piece that has an element of chance in it, and will sound different every time).

During his time in London, Grainger developed an interest in the folk songs of rural England. This interest developed into Lincolnshire Posy, a six movement piece considered to be one of his greatest works. Lincolnshire Posy is a collection of movements which Grainger wanted to be "a kind of musical portrait of the singer who sang its underlying melody". Each movement is a story. The six movements are as follows:

• I: Lisbon (Sailor's Song)
• II: Horkstow Grange (The Miser and his Man -- a local Tragedy)
• III: Rufford Park Poachers (Poaching Song)
• IV: The Brisk Young Sailor (who returned to wed his True Love)
• V: Lord Melbourne (War Song)
• VI: The Lost Lady Found (Dance Song)

Each of these movements is distinct from the other, telling its own tale. To describe all six movements would be an injustice, but you should listen to them all and listen to the story being told. You can hear the plot points in the music. Each movement encapsulates its tale brilliantly, especially the fifth movement (my personal favorite). I'll maybe follow this post up in a while with a brief description of the tales told in Lincolnshire Posy, but for now, just have a listen. Performed by the North Texas Wind Symphony.