|
The American composer and teacher, Grover Ackley Brower, studied at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) in New York City and later in Toronto.
Grover Ackley Brower seems to have had an academic career, including spells as director of music at Susquehanna University (1914-1916) and, later, at the Birmingham Conservatory (Alabama). An ex-student has recalled to the pianist Phillip Sear that Brower was a heavy smoker and died of suffocation from a fire brought about by smoking in bed.
Grover Ackley Brower seems to be remembered today more for his translations of music theoretical works by Taneyev than for his own works, which include a symphony, a string quartet and a piano sonata. Although he was a keen contrapuntalist, and wrote a treatise on counterpoint, the reflective set of pieces, 3 Sketches, Op. 6 (completed in New York in April 1920) is freely constructed and hints at British and Russian late romantic styles, with a hint of Edward MacDowell near the start of the second piece. |
