Grainger was indeed quite the racist and anti-semitist. He went so far
in his northern-European-o-philism as to eschew the use of Italian tempo
markings etc. in his music, using 'louden' for crecendo, and so on.
He was also apparently quite the strange sexual deviant. If you are
interested there are some quotes about why he wished he had a daughter,
all very disturbing...
And all of this is quite tough to fathom when I hear the innocent, bouncy
melody in "Over the Hills and Far Away" or the sensitive folk-settings and
treatments in "Lincolnshire Posy". It is amazing that such a strange,
misguided man could (IMO) be one of the 20th centuries only "melodists"
(I'm opening myself up here).
In any event he's a personal fave despite his views.
There's a Grainger society in Australia, they helped me with Grainger
listings once. You can mail them at
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Bob K.