Jennifer Griffith
Jennifer Griffith
As composer, pianist, and jazz vocalist, Jennifer Griffith's creative life combines genres from early 20th-century French and New Orleans jazz to music theater and opera. Griffith's political dramas draw from the underrepresented individuals that have influenced her life. New York City Opera's performance of her opera Dream President, in their VOX: 2004 showcase provoked controversial responses. Besides working with Donald Wheelock, who encouraged her to compose, Griffith also studied with Tania Leon, David Del Tredici, Thea Musgrave, and George Brunner. She has played piano and sung jazz all her life, and currently resides in New York. She has been commissioned to write choral works (The Reed) and chamber pieces, and her electroacoustical work "Who is Miranda" was included in a cd featuring works inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Little Beastliness
Year: 2009
Duration (in minutes): 0:05:00
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: any string, guitar
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Score PDF: iii.frogsportrait-5.pdf
Description: This piece, "A Little Beastliness," was commissioned by guitarist Oren Fader. There are three in this set of "animal" pieces: Bug-eyed, Camel, and Frogs, written in style combining classical with some jazz harmonies and voicings.
Pandora's Hope
Year: 2001
Duration (in minutes): 3:50
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Score PDF: pandora3-5.pdf
Description: This was written for Cygnus, a new music ensemble in New York City. You can hear their recording on this site on my page.
Woodwind Quintet
Year: 2000
Duration (in minutes): 12
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players, woodwind ensemble, woodwind quintet
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, oboe
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: Jennifer Griffith says her quintet “came about because of my love of winds and their pungent tones. This, combined with my Francophilia, and with an eye on Hindemith’s Kammermusik in general, led to an interplay of French and (some) German harmonic and melodic flavors.”
Three Pieces for Horn, Flute and Piano
Year: 1999
Duration (in minutes): 4
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, flute, horn, piano
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: I wrote the second and third of these miniatures after the first one came out of an improvising session for something quite different. Modeled after Webern in their length but with a different intensity of expression, they are designed for, say, aperitifs.
Three Early Songs
Year: 1998
Duration (in minutes): 4
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: Settings of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Wallace Stevens, these songs represent my early efforts in composition, when influenced by Berg and Schoenberg.
Look Askance
Music by Jennifer Griffith. Includes Wind Quintet, Three Songs and Three Pieces for Horn, Flute, and Piano.
Composers: Jennifer Griffith.
Label: GriffitiMusic
Product ID: GRIF-01
Little Beastliness
Year: 2009
Duration (in minutes): 0:05:00
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: solo instrument other than piano
Instruments: any string, guitar
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Score PDF: iii.frogsportrait-5.pdf
Description: This piece, "A Little Beastliness," was commissioned by guitarist Oren Fader. There are three in this set of "animal" pieces: Bug-eyed, Camel, and Frogs, written in style combining classical with some jazz harmonies and voicings.
Pandora's Hope
Year: 2001
Duration (in minutes): 3:50
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Score PDF: pandora3-5.pdf
Description: This was written for Cygnus, a new music ensemble in New York City. You can hear their recording on this site on my page.
Woodwind Quintet
Year: 2000
Duration (in minutes): 12
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players, woodwind ensemble, woodwind quintet
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, oboe
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: Jennifer Griffith says her quintet “came about because of my love of winds and their pungent tones. This, combined with my Francophilia, and with an eye on Hindemith’s Kammermusik in general, led to an interplay of French and (some) German harmonic and melodic flavors.”
Three Pieces for Horn, Flute and Piano
Year: 1999
Duration (in minutes): 4
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument trio, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any brass, any woodwind, flute, horn, piano
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: I wrote the second and third of these miniatures after the first one came out of an improvising session for something quite different. Modeled after Webern in their length but with a different intensity of expression, they are designed for, say, aperitifs.
Three Early Songs
Year: 1998
Duration (in minutes): 4
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: solo voice(s) with piano
Publisher: GriffitiMusic
Description: Settings of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Wallace Stevens, these songs represent my early efforts in composition, when influenced by Berg and Schoenberg.
Look Askance
Music by Jennifer Griffith. Includes Wind Quintet, Three Songs and Three Pieces for Horn, Flute, and Piano.
Composers: Jennifer Griffith.
Label: GriffitiMusic
Product ID: GRIF-01