Grobe, Charles

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Grobe, Charles

Grobe, Charles, German-American pianist, teacher, and composer; b. probably in Saxe-Weimar, c. 1817;d. Stroudsburg, Pa., Oct. 20, 1879. He emigrated to the U.S. about 1839. From 1840 to 1861 he was head of the music dept. at Wesleyan Female Coll. in Wilmington, Del. After running his own Musical and Educational Agency there (1862-70), he taught at Pennington (N.J.) Seminary and Female Collegiate Inst. (1870-74) and at Centenary Collegiate Inst. in Hackettstown, N.J. (1874-79). He publ. a New Method for the Pianoforte (1859) and Concordia: A Collection of Vocal Music (1861), both for female seminaries. He also contributed articles to many American music journals. Grobe was a prolific composer of piano music, producing a grand total of 1,998 opus numbers. He was particularly adept at creating “variations brillantes” on themes by the great German masters and on popular songs. Among his engaging titles were Buds and Blossoms (1851-67; 150 sets of variations) and Beauties of Beethoven (1857-60; 6 sets of variations). His Music of the Union (1861) was also a popular collection.

Bibliography

A. Kane Jr., The Piano Music of C. G. (thesis, Ohio Univ., 1973).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire