The Frankfurt Group, sometimes called the Frankfurt Gang, met at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt-am-Main in the 1890s. The group included Balfour Gardiner, Roger Quilter, Norman O’Neill, Cyril Scott, and the youngest of the bunch, the piano prodigy Percy Grainger.
Later, though never officially part of the group, other figures became closely associated, including Frederic Delius, Sir Thomas Beecham, and the composer Frederic Austin.
The Hoch Conservatory of the day had the reputation of being one of the very finest in Europe. Clara Schumann had been on the faculty there until 1892 – within a few years of the Frankfurt Group’s arrival. In fact, at least one of them, Cyril Scott had already been there.
Scott arrived at the school early, at the age of 12, and then later returned for a second stint. Balfour Gardiner was also there twice, taking a break to attend Oxford. Grainger was 13 at the time he was admitted. He was to remain at the Hoch Conservatory for four-and-a-half years.
What united this brilliant array of young talent in a foreign land? Well, there was shared language and culture, of course, but also a determination to break away from the dominant, Teutonic musical thinking of the time, and especially the place, to create a fresh English art.
I hope you’ll join me for “Hochschule Musical,” sampling works by members of the Frankfurt Group, this Sunday night at 10:00 EST on “The Lost Chord,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
PHOTOS: Former classmates (clockwise from top) Percy Grainger, Cyril Scott, and Roger Quilter
5 responses