Stefans Grové was a South African composer and pedagogue. Grové was born in the small town of Bethlehem in the heart of the Orange Free State. Growing up in Bloemfontein, his mother – a music teacher by profession – gave him his first music lessons. He learnt to play piano, organ and the flute, receiving lessons from well-known South African musician (and his uncle), D.J. Roode.

In 1945 he began his tuition in Cape Town at the South African College of Music where he was taught by William Henry Bell, Cameron Taylor and Erik Chisholm. From 1950 -1952 he worked as an accompanist for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Cape Town and wrote occasional reviews for the leading Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger. 

In 1953, Grové won the Fullbright Scholarship. A historic moment as he was the first South African to achieve this prestigious award. Moving to the USA, he began his studies at Harvard University and the Longy Music School where he was taught by Walton Piston and Aaron Copland (after receiving the coveted Margaret Croft Scholarship).

From 1957-1972, Grové lectured music theory and composition at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. He then returned to South Africa, where he began lecturing at the University of Pretoria. Some of his students include Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, Alexander Johnson and Herman Jordaan.

Grové can be considered to be one of the most prominent composers to have emerged from South Africa.

Source:

Grové, Stefans. 2001. Taken from an interview with Stefanus Muller. SA Composers. University of Pretoria [Online]. Available: https://www.up.ac.za/sacomposers/article/2755778/grov-stefans [2023, 31 August]