Grassi, Eugène

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Grassi, Eugène

Grassi, Eugène, French composer; b. Bangkok (of French parents), July 5, 1881; d. Paris, June 8, 1941. He went to France as a youth and studied with d’Indy; he revisited Siam from 1910 to 1913 to collect materials on indigenous music. His works reflect this study as well as, in harmonic idiom, the influence of Debussy. Among his compositions, all with oriental flavor, were Le Reveil de Bouddha, symphonic poem (Paris, Feb. 20, 1920), Poeme de Vunivers for Orch. (Paris, April 9, 1922), Les Sanctuaires (Paris, March 25, 1926), and songs in the impressionist manner.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire