- Grainger composed this piece in 1910. At the time he was working in London as a concert pianist and piano instructor. He was also collecting, recording and transcribing folksongs.1
- Grainger played “Mock Morris,” along with virtuosic works by other composers, at his debut recital in New York in 1915, beginning a very successful career as a concert pianist in the USA.2 He had emigrated to the USA in 1914.3
- Grainger created several arrangements of this work. The original version was for an ensemble of six string instruments.
- This piece is an original work by Grainger, not based on an existing folk tune. It was inspired by English Morris dancing.4
Sources
- Malcolm Gillies and David Pear, “Grainger, (George) Percy,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 10, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011596.
- Eleanor Tan, “Grainger the Performer,” in Facing Percy Grainger, David Pear, ed. (Canberra, Australia: National Library of Australia, 2006), 20.
- Kay Dreyfus, “Grainger, George Percy (1882-1961),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 9 (MUP, 1983), accessed October 15, 2019, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grainger-george-percy-6448.
- Gregory C. Depp, “Percy Grainger (1882-1961), Mock Morris (1910) (Trans. by Joseph Kreines),” MetWinds Metropolitan Wind Symphony, accessed October 15, 2019, https://www.metwinds.org/media/pdf/notes-2013springconcert.pdf.
Cut IDs
10462, 41431