- This article is about the American violinist. For the baseball player and manager, see Albert Spalding.
Albert Spalding (August 15, 1888-May 26, 1953) was an American violinist.
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Biography
A native of Chicago, Spalding studied the violin privately in New York City and Florence, and at the conservatories in Paris and Bologna; the latter graduated him with honors when he was fourteen. Following his debut in Paris on June 6, 1906, he appeared successfully in London and Vienna. His first American appearance as soloist came with the New York Symphony on November 8, 1908. A year later he soloed with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra when that orchestra toured the United States. In 1916, he was recognized as a national honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music. In 1920 he appeared on the European tour of the New 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 a jury at the Paris Conservatory, helping to award prizes to the graduating class of violinists. During both World Wars, Spalding interrupted his career to volunteer for service with the US armed forces. His duties included intelligence work. Following a concert in New York on May 26, 1950, Spalding announced his retirement. Thereafter, he taught master classes at Boston University College of Music and, in winter months, at the University of Florida at Tallahassee. He died in New York in 1953.
Publications
Spalding wrote an autobiography, Rise to Follow, published in 1946. His novel about Giuseppe Tartini, A Fiddle, a Sword, and a Lady, appeared in 1953. He also composed two violin concerti, a string quartet, and character pieces and made numerous transcriptions for his instrument.
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. Following the Edison company's demise in 1929, he made a handful of electric recordings, performing more extended works broken across multiple sides, for RCA 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 in Vienna, 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 pianist Ernő Dohnányi; selected Brahms Hungarian Dances with pianists Dohnányi and Anthony 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 accompanist Jules Wolffers, captures Spalding's voice as he announces two of the works.
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.
