Clare Grundman
Biography
Clare Ewing Grundman (11 May 1913, Cleveland, Ohio - 15 June 1996, South Salem, New York) was an American composer and arranger, one of the 20th century's most prolific and highly respected composers for band.
Grundman's schooling included Shaw High School in East Cleveland and Ohio State University (BS, 1934; MA, 1939). He also attended the Berkshire Music Center where he studied composition with Paul Hindemith. From 1937 to 1941 he taught arranging, woodwinds and band at Ohio State; during World War II he was in the Coast Guard.
Grundman credited Manley R. Whitcomb with first encouraging him to write for band and Paul Hindemith with providing practical techniques for composition. During a span of 50 years, he wrote more than 100 compositions for school, university and professional bands. His works also include scores and arrangements for radio, television, motion pictures, ballet and Broadway musicals. His music has become repertoire standards in school and college bands throughout the world. Some of Grundman's most popular band scores include American Folk Rhapsody No. 4 (1977), Norwegian Rhapsody (1979), Overture on a Short Theme (1978), The Spirit of '76 (1964), and Tuba Rhapsody (1976).
His lively, inventive compositions combined substance, playability and audience appeal, and are regarded as standard repertoires in the field. Also valuable are his settings of works by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Gustav Holst, and Edward Elgar.
Works for Winds
Adaptable Music
- Kentucky 1800 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Longfield) (1954/2006/2017)
All Wind Works
- American Folk Rhapsody No. 1 (1948)
- American Folk Rhapsody No. 2. See: Second American Folk Rhapsody
- American Folk Rhapsody No. 3 (1970)
- American Folk Rhapsody No. 4 (1977)
- An American Scene (1952)
- A Bernstein Tribute (as arranger) (1991)
- The Black Knight (1956)
- The Blue and the Gray (1961)
- The Blue and the Gray (arr. Longfield) (1961/2013)
- The Blue-Tail Fly (1951)
- Burlesque for Band (1967)
- Caprice for Clarinets (1961)
- Chessboard Suite (1964)
- Chorale from "Concord" (arr. Longfield) (1988/2018)
- Concord (1987)
- Concertante for Alto Sax and Band (1973)
- A Copland Portrait (as adapter) (1986)
- A Copland Tribute (as arranger) (1986)
- Joy to the World (as arranger) (1970)
- An English Christmas (1982)
- English Suite (1968)
- Fantasy on American Sailing Songs (1952)
- Fantasy on English Hunting Songs (1985)
- Flutation (1961)
- The Green Domino (1951)
- Hebrides Suite (1962)
- An Irish Rhapsody (1971)
- Japanese Rhapsody (1969)
- Kentucky 1800 (1954/1987)
- Kentucky 1800 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Longfield) (1954/2006/2017)
- Little English Suite (1968)
- Little Suite for Band (1957)
- March Processional (1950)
- A Medieval Story (1966)
- Music for a Carnival (1957)
- Nocturne for Harp and Band (1975)
- Quiet Christmas (1959)
- A Scottish Rhapsody (1981)
- Second American Folk Rhapsody (1959)
- Señor, Señor (1963) (as Carlos Guermo)
- Slava! (as transcriber) (1977/1978)
- A Somerset Rhapsody (as transcriber) (1906/1927/1980)
- Spirit of '76 (1964)
- Three Sketches for Winds (1969)
- Two Moods (1947)
- Tuba Rhapsody
- A Welsh Rhapsody (1968)
- Western Dance (1968)
Resources
- Clare Grundman Archive at The Ohio State University
- Clare Grundman. Wikipedia. Accessed 22 July 2023
- "Meet the Composer: An Interview with Clare Grundman." The Instrumentalist vol. 37, no. 2, September 1982, pp. 20-21.
- Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. (2010). Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 1. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 154.
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 255.