Indian Themed Quartet
Two Sketches for String Quartet Based on Indian themes was premiered by the Flonzaley Quartet in April 1919 for the Modern Music Society of New York. The work was not published until 1922, after Griffes' death, edited by Adolfo Betti, the first violinist of the Flonzaley. It was at the premiere performance that critics began to hail Griffes as the new voice of American music. The Musical Leader, April 10, 1919, wrote that Griffes was the "… manifestation of a school of American composition with the courage of its convictions, sincere and of high ideals." The first sketch, titled "Lento e mesto" is based on a "Farewell Song of the Chippewa Indians. It is not known how Griffes would have heard the music of the tribes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, or how he would have known music of such a private ceremony, but it was memorable enough for him to create this hauntingly beautiful movement. At one point in the piece, he instructs the lower instruments to make their pizzicato notes sound "like Indian drums." The second movement, "Allegro giocoso," is his impression of a Native American dance.