A Composer in Africa: Essays on the Life and Work of Stefans Grove, with an Annotated Work Catalogue and Bibliography.(Book review)

A Composer in Africa: Essays on the Life and Work of Stefans Grove, with an Annotated Work Catalogue and Bibliography. By Stephanus Muller and Chris Walton. Foreword by John Tyrrell. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Sun Press, 2006. [v, 172 p. ISBN-10 1920109048; ISBN-13 9781920109042. R160.] Music examples, bibliographic references, index, list of works.

What do you know about classical music from Africa? Can you name one composer from that continent? Have you heard any of the music on radio or television or at a concert? Here is a chance to become ever so slightly familiar with one composer who comes from Africa, studied at Harvard on a Fulbright, taught at Peabody, and returned to his native land to continue composing, using African elements in his musical and literary compositions.

Stefans Grove was born in 1922 in Bethlehem, Orange Free State of South Africa. He studied with his composer uncle D. J. Roode. After music studies in Cape Town, Grove went to Harvard on a Fulbright scholarship in 1953. While studying composition with Piston and Copland, he also took private lessons at the Longy School of Music with Boston Symphony Orchestra flutist James Pappoutsakis. After a "year stint" at Bard College, Grove taught composition at Peabody from 1956 to 1972. He spent his 1961 sabbatical at the University of Cape Town. In 1972 he returned to South Africa, taught at the University of Pretoria, retired in 1987, but continued to work part-time. He is now "Composer in Residence" there.

The book is written as a Festschrift, a series of essays to honor someone at a hallmark point in the person's career (in this case, his eightieth birthday). The essays take up less than seventy-five pages and reveal memories of a teacher, overall impressions, and individual recollections. Each essay is followed by endnotes. The remainder of the book is filled with a list of works, recordings, reviews, "The Hoofstad Sketches" (eight of Grove's short stories in Afrikaans), a bibliography, and an index of names. The bibliography lists five pages of articles Grove has written and twelve pages of concert reviews plus many more reviews for scores and recordings. Grove is "most likely to be remembered" as a music critic (p. 76). Possibly most interesting is the list of works which includes instrumentation and, occasionally, the story or inspiration for the music.

From these essays, or anecdotes, one gets an impression of his persona. He was quiet, shy, and made critical comments only at his students' private lessons. One student did not feel he received much guidance, but his ...