Stefans Grové

Stefans Grové (born 23 July, 1922, Bethlehem, Orange Free State, South Africa) is a South African composer. "He is regarded by many as Africa's greatest living composer, possesses one of the most distinctive compostional voices of our time" [ [http://www.ais.up.ac.za/special/bookmonth/oct06/index.htm Review of "A composer in Africa Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] .

Early life

In Bethlehem, where Grové was born, his mother worked as a music teacher and his father as a school principal [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 141.] ] . Grové's musical education began at school and his first compositional efforts date from that time. He eventually trained as a pianist and organist, with the guidance from his mother's brother, D.J. Roode [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 141.] ] . As a student he remained an avid reader of musical scores (often without the assistance of accompanying soundtracks) which not only informed his own development as a composer but may also have developed his talent for sight-reading at the piano.

Life and works

In 1942 Grové moved to Klerksdorp where he worked as a teacher church organist for two years [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 141.] ] . Thereafter he relocated to study composition at the University of Cape Town (then still called the South African College of Music) first with William Henry Bell and then with Erik Chisholm. Compositions from this time include a ballet suite for orchestra (1944), the "String quartet in D major" (1945), and a czardas for violin and piano (1946?).

As the first South African recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Grové had the opportunity of going to Harvard University where he completed his Master's degree. His teachers there included Thurston Dart and Walter Piston. Works that Grové composed under their guidance won him the G. Arthur Knight Prize and the New York Bohemian Prize [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 142.] ] . These were awarded for the "Pianoforte trio" and the "Sonata for pianoforte and cello" respectively. Grové attended Aaron Copland's composition class at the Tanglewood Summer School and studied the flute at the Longy School of Music [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 142.'] ] . After these studies, beginning in 1956, Grové taught at the Bard College for two years, and then at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore for a further eight [ ["The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", edited by Stanley Sadie. X, 455.] ] . While working at the Bard College, Grové also took up a post as choirmaster for the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, where he pursued an interest in the performance of early music -- most notably the cantatas of J.S. Bach. A similar venture was undertaken with a group that Grové founded in 1962, the Pro Musica Rara [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 142.] ] .

While abroad, Grové evidently had a viable platform for the performance of his music. Thus, his "Elegy for strings" was performed in the Washington Gallery in 1952; the "Three inventions" for the piano was featured at the Salzburg ISCM Festival of 1953; the "Sonata for flute and piano" was played at Cambridge, Massachussets in 1954; the "Harp quintet" at Guildhall, London, in 1954; the "Partita for orchestra" in Brussels, in 1964; the "First Symphony" was led by Max Rudolph with the Cincinatti Orchestra in 1966; the "Violin Concerto" was performed that same year in Baltimore, Gabriel Banat being the soloist; and the "Sinfonia concertante" was recorded in 1973 by the Radio Orchestra of South-West Australia [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 142.] ] .

Afrocentrism

Grové returned to South Africa for a sabbatical in 1960 when he lectured at both the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education as well as the South African College of Music. He returned to South Africa permanently in 1972 and, the following year, was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Pretoria.

Grové was one of the first white South African composers to incorporate elements of black African music into his own style, "venturing far beyond mere "couleur locale" to forge a unique creative synthesis of the indigenous and the "Western"." [ [http://www.ais.up.ac.za/special/bookmonth/oct06/index.htm Review of "A composer in Africa Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] Grové's 'African' stylistic phase was result of a Damascus moment when he overheard a song sung by an African streetworker. The melody haunted him and inspired the "Sonata on African Motives" for violin and pianoforte (1984). Some other works composed in Grové's afrocentirc style are, the "Dance Rhapsody" (1986), "Liedere en danse van Afrika" (1990), "7 Boesman-liedere" for soprano and string quartet (1990), "Gesang van die Afrika-geeste" (1993), "Nonyana, the Ceremonial Dancer" for piano (1994), "Afrika Hymnus I" for organ (1995), and "Afrika Hymnus II" for organ (1996) [ ["The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", edited by Stanley Sadie. X, 455.] ] .

Remembering the African element in Grové's mature style, one can trace his development "from Debussy and Ravel through to Bartok and the neo-classicism of Hindemith, with passing passions for Messiaen and a more lasting fascination for Bach and early counterpoint" [ [Stefanus Muller and Chris Walton, 2006, p. 3. "A Composer in Africa: Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] . He undoubtedly had a better exposure to European and American avant-garde than his contempories and that difference can be noticed in the quality of his music. His work, "Glimpses. Five Miniatures for Piano" (2004) was performed at the ISCM World Music Days in Hong Kong in November 2007 [ [http://www.newmusicsa.org.za/iscmwmdselected2007.html STEFANS GROVÉ'S GLIMPSES TO BE PERFORMED] ] .

Writing

Apart from his work as a composer, Grové is also a fine writer whose essays and short fiction has received praise from no less a figure than André P. Brink. He has also been active as a music critic, most notably for the newspapers "Rapport" and "Beeld" [ ["South African Music Encyclopedia", edited by Jacques P. Malan. II, 142.] ] .

Legacy

Although he is still alive it is already possible to trace a legacy in Grové's work. First, he forms part of a troika of white Afrikaans composers who are considered as "founding fathers of South African art music" [ [Stefanus Muller and Chris Walton, 2006, p. 3. "A Composer in Africa: Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] . The other two composers in this category are Arnold van Wyk and Hubert du Plessis. But beyond that, and arguably more significantly, Grové has managed to shape a "hybrid style" [ [Stefanus Muller and Chris Walton, 2006, p. 2. "A Composer in Africa: Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] for himelf, beginning a new creative phase in a time when it must have amounted to a radical move on his part: he was a white composer -- working in a country that was still functioning at the height of P.W. Botha's apartheid administration -- whose new style was rejecting any notions of "apartheid" (seperateness) by fusing white South African (Western) and black South African (African) musical languages. Unlike van Wyk and du Plessis, he was "prepared to consider and eventually to develop consistently a "rapprochement" between his Western art and his physical, African space" [ [Stefanus Muller and Chris Walton, 2006, p. 3. "A Composer in Africa: Essays on the life and work of Stefans Grové"] ] .

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