- Albert Spalding (violinist)
Albert Spalding (
August 15 ,1888 -May 26 ,1953 ) was a renowned Americanviolin ist and composer. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/557964/Albert-Spalding Albert Spalding - Britannica Online Encyclopedia ] ]Biography
Spalding was born in
Chicago ,Illinois in 1888. His mother, Marie Boardman, was a contralto and pianist.The Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics] His father, James Walter Spalding, and uncle, Hall-of-Fame baseball pitcherAlbert Spalding , created the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.Spalding studied the violin privately in
New York City andFlorence , and at the conservatories inParis andBologna ; the latter graduated him with honors when he was fourteen. Following his debut inParis on June 6, 1906, he appeared successfully inLondon andVienna . His first American appearance as soloist came with theNew York Symphony on November 8, 1908. A year later he soloed with theDresden Philharmonic Orchestra when thatorchestra toured the United States. In 1916, he was recognized as a national honorary member ofPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia , the national fraternity for men in music. DuringWorld War I , Spalding served in theU.S. Army Air Corps and would eventually be awarded the Cross of the Crown of Italy. [cite web|title=No Silver Spoon |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740971,00.html|accessdate=2008-06-25]Not long after his return to the United States, he married
Mary Vanderhoef Pyle on July 19, 1919, in Ridgefield,Connecticut . French violinistJacques Thibaud and Andre Benoist, Spalding's accompanist, provided the music for the ceremony. [cite web|title=Miss Pyle Married to Albert Spalding|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E04E0DD1638E13ABC4851DFB1668382609EDE&oref=slogin|accessdate=2008-06-26] In 1920, Spalding appeared on the European tour of theNew York Symphony . In 1922, he became the first American violinist to appear with the Paris Conservatory Orchestra; a year later he was the first American to serve on ajury at the Paris Conservatory, helping to award prizes to the graduating class of violinists. In February 1941, he premiered the violin concerto ofSamuel Barber . [ [http://www.meetthemusic.org/mtm.pl?id=8780&p=feature Meet the Music - Featured Work ] ]Upon the United States' involvement in
World War II , Assistant Secretary of StateAdolf Berle urged Spalding to accept an assignment with theOffice of Strategic Services (which he did). He was posted to London, for six weeks, and then served in North Africa, until he was ordered toNaples where he was attached to thePsychological Warfare Division ofSHAEF . [ [http://www.chelmhist.org/spaldingmemorial2008/Albert_Spalding.htm Albert Spalding ] ] In 1944, Spalding gave a legendary concert to thousands of terrified refugees stranded in a cave nearNaples during a bombing raid.Following a concert in New York on May 26, 1950, Spalding announced his retirement from the concert stage. Thereafter, he taught master classes at
Boston University College of Music and, in winter months, atFlorida State University inTallahassee . He died in New York in 1953, at the age of 64.Works
Spalding wrote several musical compositions including a suite for orchestra, two violin concerti, and a String Quartet in E Minor. He also wrote an autobiography, "Rise to Follow", published in 1946. His novel about
Giuseppe Tartini , "A Fiddle, a Sword, and a Lady", appeared in 1953.Recordings
Individual 78 RPM Sides and Album Sets
During the 78 era, when the maximum capacity of a single ordinary record side or cylinder was less than five minutes, Spalding recorded extensively for
Edison Records , with some issues on cylinders and many more on diamond discs. Most featured short works or encore pieces that could fit on a single record side. Spalding's recordings were all by the acoustical process, as well as vertically-cut, through 1925, but he made his first electrical recordings in 1926 forBrunswick Records using that company's problematic "Light-Ray" system. After his unsatisfactory experience with Brunswick, Spalding went back to Edison and made a very few electrical Edison "Needle Cut" lateral recordings in late 1928. These were much better recorded than Spalding's Brunswicks, but were issued only for a very short time -- from August to November 1929 -- and are exceedingly rare today. Following the Edison company's demise in November 1929, he recorded a handful of more extended works broken across multiple sides forRCA Victor Records .Long Playing Records
Spalding's role as a leading Edison artist secured him representation on the first long-playing records: Edison's commercially ill-fated long-playing diamond discs, introduced in 1926, which were capable of playing up to 20 minutes per side at 80 RPM. Because, like all material on these pioneering records, his selections were dubbed from standard diamond disc masters, they represented the same short pieces in his standard catalogue.
At the end of his life, Spalding again appeared on LP records, this time budget issues by small labels, but performing more substantial fare. Particularly of note are his accounts of the Beethoven and Brahms violin concerti recorded for
Remington Records inVienna ,Austria 's Brahms Hall in 1952, his last recording sessions. In both,Wilhelm Loibner conducted an ensemble billed as the Austrian Symphony Orchestra. For the same company Spalding earlier recorded the three Brahms violin sonatas with pianistErnő Dohnányi ; selected Brahms Hungarian Dances with pianists Dohnányi andAnthony Kooiker , who toured with Spalding for four years; and a collection of music by Tartini, Corelli, and J.S. Bach, some in his own arrangements, with Kooiker. A recital of short pieces issued on the Halo label, with accompanistJules Wolffers , captures Spalding's voice as he announces two of the works.Notes
References
*David Ewen, "Encyclopedia of Concert Music". New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
*Biographical sketch and LP discography on The Remington Site, http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remspalding.html.
*Biographical sketch, reprinting album liner notes from Allegro record 1675, at http://www.4music.net/spalding.html.
*The Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, at http://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/edison/exhibit/exhibit-1.html
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