Albert Spalding (violinist)
| Albert Spalding | |
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Spalding in 1915
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| Born |
August 15, 1888 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | May 26, 1953 (aged 64) Manhattan, New York City |
Albert Spalding (August 15, 1888 – May 26, 1953) was an American violinist and composer.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 15, 1888. His mother, Marie Boardman, was a contralto and pianist. His father, James Walter Spalding, and uncle, Hall-of-Fame baseball pitcher Albert Spalding, created the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.
Spalding studied the violin privately in Manhattan, New York City and Florence, Italy, 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. During World War I, Spalding served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (at one point as aide-de-camp to Major Fiorello La Guardia) and would eventually be awarded the Cross of the Crown of Italy.
Not long after his return to the United States, he married Mary Vanderhoef Pyle on July 19, 1919, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. French violinist Jacques Thibaud and Andre Benoist, Spalding's accompanist, provided the music for the ceremony. In 1920, Spalding 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. In February 1941, he premiered the violin concerto of Samuel Barber.
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