A tinge of yellowing borders the paper edges of two Correspondences from the controversial folk music pioneer Percy Grainger. Each letter is marked by his striking signature of bold and curled strokes, a testament to his eccentric personality. Above his personal signature are blocks of text praising the work of Arthur Fickenscher, specifically regarding the Polytone and Fickenscher’s work named “From the Seventh Realm - Quintet for Piano and String Quartet.” It is a bit of a shock that someone who ranked himself above Tchaikovsky and Mozart would gush over the University of Virginia’s very own Arthur Fickenscher (Hickling 2011, par. 1).

The first letter, from Seven Cromwell Place White Plains, New York, is addressed to Arthur Fickenscher on October 28th, 1932. Grainger fawns over how revolutionary Fickenscher’s Polytone is to the music world, especially for liberating the interval and creating more experimental music. (Grainger 1932, par. 1 ). He comments on how before the Polytone, only half-hearted attempts have been made to free the interval, the most important ingredient to music. The letter continues to shower Fickenscher in praise as Grainger states how the Polytone is the perfect match for “all progress-loving composers,” suggesting the musical world would expand once the Polytone was popularized (Grainger 1932, par. 2). Grainger’s wording hints that he believes his opinion encompasses that of other modern composers of the time.

To properly champion the Polytone, Grainger believes the instrument should be in all music spaces such as laboratories, concert halls, and classrooms. His line of thinking likely originates from how Grainger was an educator at NYU at the time of the letter (Sowa 2020, par. 1). This brings into question the intentions of Grainger, whether that is establishing a strong relationship with Fickenscher out of respect or having access to an instrument that could expand his own works.

The second letter was addressed a month later on November 26, 1932 to Mr. Schwab, once again about Fickenscher’s Quintet “From the Seventh Realm.” While shorter in length, Grainger does not hesitate to continue his raving admiration of Fickenscher, describing the work as “epochmaking,” containing “amazing novelty,” and “never lack an indescribable beauty” (Grainger 1932, par. 1). Grainger emphasizes to Schwab how the piece is “glorious” and has never been played in New York, making it worthy of their attention. It is evident that Grainger truly wants to highlight Fickenscher’s work through his own performance, which is crucial as at this point in time, Grainger had gained much popularity through his own musicianship and tours in prior years. From this point of view, we can come to a more secure conclusion that Grainger saw Fickenscher as praiseworthy and somewhat of an idol figure. On the subject of Grainger’s support for Fickenscher, one may ask how exactly did Australian composer Grainger become affiliated with American composer Arthur Fickenscher? Amongst others in the 20th century, many European composers fled to America to seek asylum from war or the rise of facism (Galvan 2011 par. 3). While Grainger was born in Australia, his music career led him to eventually study music in Europe at the age of 13 and like others, move to America to escape the war (English Folk Dance & Song Society, par. 1). As a result, several non-American composers became affiliated with the resources of conservatories and became advocates for modernist movements in America like Grainger. An example of this is Grainger’s involvement with the Interlochen National Music Camp in Michigan, where records of his concert involvements demonstrate his taste for modernist styles (Ould 2018). These archives list Fickenscher’s “The Seventh Realm Quintet” as mentioned in the second archival letter and many of his own folk music compositions.

Grainger’s relationship with Fickenscher even extended to performances, as they performed The Chamber Blue together at the Florida State Teacher’s college in the years after Fickenscher’s retirement. However, Fickenscher was not unique in his work with microtonality as many others in America were also working on projects involving exploring microtonality. One notable example is the microtonality pioneer Charles Ives, who experimented with his creation the “quarter-tone machine,” a “device made with twenty-four or more violin strings that could be tuned in various ways” (Boatwright 1965, par. 5). Another name in this time was Harry Partch, most known for his rejection of the Western 12-tone equal temperament system, developing the just intonation with 43 tone per octave (Reinhard 2023, pg 105). When comparing Fickenscher to these individuals, the most significant comparison is how Fickenscher’s Polytone had 60 tones per octave. This provides some insight about why Grainger regarded Fickenscher so highly as he was the one who had the instrument with the most microtones. It also provides context to who might have been the ‘half-hearted’ attempts Grainger refers to in the original archive letter.

Interestingly, other educators were also aware of Fickenscher’s capabilities to expand music education with the creation of new instruments. While Grainger’s Correspondences reflected excitement about breaking the boundaries of tonality with the Polytone, Marie Lippelt of Central College in Iowa instead emphasized the need for a pure tone instrument through letters written to Fickenscher in 1922 (Lippelt 1922, par 1).

Lippelt’s letters describe “The Pure-Tone Instrument” being able to replicate the “144 tones of the 12 major and minor scales,” disregarding the intervals of microtones (Lippelt 1922, par. 3). To further convince Fickenscher to join the project, Lippelt names the researchers and professors working on the instrument and the logistics such as cost. However, it is apparent in the second letter that Fickenscher needs additional information as Lippelt provides more details about the project’s progress and continues to highlight how music education can be expanded with the instrument. This contrast highlights the two main stances on music tonality in education: unconventionality through microtones and defining traditional tonal structure. More of Fickenscher’s outlook on tonality can be specified in his papers after building the Polytone “The ‘Polytone’ and the Potentialities of a Purer Intonation.” In the paper, he mentions how “Counterpoint and melody would gain enormously variety and freedom if they could shake off the fetters of the artificial twelve steps” (Fickenscher 1941, pg. 364). We see that Fickenscher’s denial of Lippelt’s proposal comes from how he sees that the Polytone has more advantages for music than a Pure Tone instrument would as there are more possibilities with the Polytone.

From the original archival object, we see how both Fickenscher and Grainger were engaged with the movement of modernism in the 20th century to efforts to expand the possibilities of music. While the recordings of Fickenscher’s work are no longer available, the extent that Fickenscher contributed to the movement of modernism can be assessed by context clues and Grainger’s own opinions.

For instance, those who influenced Fickenscher along with his composition titles may hint into his involvement with the modernism Grainger respected so highly. According to the UVA Library, Fickenscher was influenced by “.. Bach, Wagner and César Franck” (Arthur Fickenscher Papers, par. 8). Particularly, Wagner was known to “perfectly straddle the Romantic and modernist eras,” (Weintraub, par. 1) serving as a precursor to modernist movements. This provides insight into how Fickenscher was influenced by the fictitious universes Wagner embodied in his music, and this comes across in how Fickenscher’s style was characterized by elements of “sensuous mysticism.” Additionally, titles of Fickenscher’s compositions seem to represent their own world from “Willowwood and Wellaway” to “The Land East of the Sun.”

In terms of Grainger’s opinions, he regarded himself as the “prophet of modernism” to the Perth newspaper in 1934, introducing to Australians “elements of primitive music—microtonality, irregular rhythm, discordance and hybridity—as the source of musical progress” after his studies in America (Robinson 2012, par. 1) . Evidently, Grainger was largely involved in modernist movements and mostly held respect for those who did the same such as Fickenscher.

As mentioned before, Fickenscher’s Quintet from “The Seventh Realm” was highly regarded by Grainger as he admitted “..I must confess that this American work by Fickenscher out-soars them all, for my ears, in point of spiritual rapture and sensuous loveliness” (MacDowell, par. 3). From this quote and the archive letter, we can assume that this piece encaptured what Grainger believed to be the essence of modernism along with Fickenscher’s work with the polytone.

Overall, the archival letters of Grainger regarding Fickenscher provide a window into Fickenscher's involvement with modernism through his own compositions at UVA and the Polytone. While Fickenscher’s legacy has faded in comparison to others, undoubtedly his contributions to modernism in expanding the interval remain significant to the music world.

Works Cited

Arthur Fickénscher Papers, Accession 12731, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library [http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu01897.xml]

Boatwright, Howard. “Ives’ Quarter-Tone Impressions.” Perspectives of New Music 3, no. 2 (1965): 22–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/832500.

Fickénscher, Arthur. “The ‘Polytone’ and the Potentialities of a Purer Intonation.” The Musical Quarterly 27, no. 3 (1941): 356–370. http://www.jstor.org/stable/739392.

Galván, Gary. “Music: Classical.” In The 1930s in America, Hackensack: Salem, 2011. Accessed March 15, 2017. http://online.salempress.com.

Grainger, Percy. Percy Grainger to Arthur Fickenscher, October 28, 1832. Letter. From University of Virginia, The Arthur Fickenscher Papers, 1895–1995. Accessed February 13, 2025.

Hickling, Alfred. “Percy Grainger: The Ninth Best Composer Ever.” The Guardian, November 10, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/nov/10/percy-grainger.

Lippelt, Marie. Marie Lippelt to Arthur Fickenscher, May 7, 1922. Letter. From University of Virginia, The Arthur Fickenscher Papers, 1895–1995. Accessed February 18, 2025.

Lippelt, Marie. Marie Lippelt to Arthur Fickenscher, May 15, 1922. Letter. From University of Virginia, The Arthur Fickenscher Papers, 1895–1995. Accessed February 18, 2025.

Ould, Barry Peter. “Percy Aldridge Grainger and Interlochen National Music Camp* 1930, 1937, 1942–1944.” Percy Grainger Society, November 20, 2018. https://percygrainger.org/blog/6916027.

“Percy Grainger.” English Folk Dance and Song Society, November 27, 2019. https://www.efdss.org/learning/resources/beginners-guides/35-english-folk-collectors/244 0-efdss-percy-grainger.

Reinhard, Johnny. “Charles Ives — Microtonalist. Part I.” IKONI / ICONI, no. 2 (April 11, 2023): 105–113. https://doi.org/10.33779/2658-4824.2022.2.101-113.

Sowa, Cora Angier. “Percy Grainger and Duke Ellington at NYU: Grainger’s Rather Odd Relationship with Jazz, Part 1.” Percy Grainger Society, September 15, 2020. https://percygrainger.org/blog/9237862.

Weintraub, David. “Precursors to Modernism: Richard Wagner, Part 1.” David Weintraub, November 9, 2020. https://davidweintraubblog.wordpress.com/modernism/precursors-to-modernism-part-1/.