The loose collective known as “The Frankfurt Gang” came together in 1890s, as students at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt-am-Main. Its members included Balfour Gardiner, Roger Quilter, Norman O’Neill, Cyril Scott, and the youngest of the bunch, the piano prodigy Percy Grainger. This brilliant array of talent bonded in a foreign land, united by a shared language and culture, but also a determination to break away from Teutonic dominance in music, with the goal of creating a fresh “English” art.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have music by four of these firebrands, including Gardiner’s “Overture to a Comedy,” Quilter’s “Where the Rainbow Ends,” Scott’s “Neptune” (refashioned from an earlier work inspired by the sinking of the Titanic), and one of Grainger’s choral settings of a text from Kipling’s “Jungle Book.”
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 was there before Schumann’s departure.
Scott arrived at the school early, at the age of 12, and then later returned for a second stint. 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.
Frankfurt alumni aim for the high notes this week. I hope you’ll join me for “Hochschule Musical,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
Hochschule reunion: (left to right) Grainger, Scott, and Quilter