Percy Grainger (1882–1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early 20th century. Grainger left Australia in 1895 to study at the
Hoch Conservatory in
Frankfurt. Between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer and collector of original folk melodies. He met many of the significant figures in European music, forming friendships with
Frederick Delius and
Edvard Grieg, and became a champion of
Nordic music and culture. In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States, where he took citizenship in 1918. He experimented with music machines that he hoped would supersede human interpretation. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "
Country Gardens". This
glass negative of Grainger was taken at some point around 1915–1920.
Photograph credit: Bain News Service; restored by Adam Cuerden and MyCatIsAChonk
