Loading details…
Artist
Ferde Grofé
12+ albums
symphonic jazzClassicalcomposeramerican20th Century Classical
about
Ferde Grofé, (1892 – 1972) was an American pianist, arranger and composer. Born Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé on 27th March 1892 in New York City, of French Huguenot extraction, his family had four generations of classical musicians. His father, Emil von Grofé, was a baritone who sang mainly light opera and his mother, Elsa Johanna von Grofé, was a professional cellist. She was also a versatile music teacher who taught Ferde to play the violin and piano. Elsa's father, Bernardt Bierlich, was a cellist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York and Elsa's brother, Julius Bierlich, was first violinist and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Symphony. Ferde's father died in 1899 and Elsa took Ferde abroad to study piano, viola and composition in Leipzig, Germany. Given such a musical background, it is perhaps understandable that Ferde became proficient over a remarkable range of instruments including piano (his favored instrument), violin, viola (he became a violist in the Los Angeles Symphony), baritone horn, alto horn, and cornet. This command of musical instruments and composition gave Ferde the foundation to later become first an arranger of other composers' music and then an orchestrator of his own compositions. Grofé left home at the age of fourteen and variously worked as a milkman, truck driver, usher, newsboy, elevator operator, helper in a book bindery, iron factory worker, and as a piano player in a bar for two dollars a night and as an accompanist. He continued st
top songs
1
Grand Canyon Suite: 1. Sunrise
4,1882On The Trail
1,3033Grand Canyon Suite: 3. On the Trail
8624Grand Canyon Suite: I. Sunrise
6605Grand Canyon Suite: 2. The Painted Desert
5736Grand Canyon Suite: III. On the Trail
5287Grand Canyon Suite: 4. Sunset
5278Grand Canyon Suite: 5. Cloudburst
4449Grand Canyon Suite: On The Trail
32110Grand Canyon Suite: IV. Sunset
307albums
Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite/Gershwin: Porgy & Bess
Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite / Mississippi Suite / Niagara Falls
Grofé: Grand Canyon & Mississippi Suites
Grand Canyon Suite
▥
Tomita's Greatest Hits
▥
The Lure of the Grand Canyon
Grofe: Death Valley Suite / Hudson River Suite / Hollywood Suite
▥
In Classical Mood (Forces Of Nature)
The Modern American Music of Ferde Grofé
▥
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue - Strike Up the Band: Overture - Promenade - Catfish Row
▥
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue / An American in Paris
Grofé: Symphonic Suites