Albert Spalding

Albert Spalding (August 15, 1888 – May 26, 1953) was an internationally recognized American violinist and composer.

Biography Spalding 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 Goodwill "Al" Spalding, created the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.

Spalding studied the violin privately in Manhattan, New York City and Florence, Italy, before later moving on to the conservatories in Paris and Bologna, graduating from the latter with honors at fourteen years old. Following his debut at the Nouveau Théâtre in Paris on June 6, 1906, he played in the principal towns of France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and England. His first American appearance as soloist came with the New York Symphony on November 8, 1908. Spalding received strongly opposing critical responses to his debut playing of the Violin Concerto No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns. Although the New-York Tribune accused him of "rasping, raucous, snarling, unmusical sounds," Walter Damrosch (who conducted the performance) announced him as "the first great instrumentalist this country has produced." 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. Thomas Edison analyzed Spalding’s tone with electronic equipment and found it to be the purest of any living violinist he had heard; this led to a twenty-year ‘contract’ during which Spalding made over a hundred records. His burgeoning career was soon interrupted by World War I.

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.

Upon the United States' involvement in World War II, Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle successfully urged Spalding to accept an assignment with the Office of Strategic Services. He was posted to London, for six weeks, and then served in North Africa until he was ordered to Naples where he was attached to the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF. In 1944, Spalding gave a legendary concert to thousands of terrified refugees stranded in a cave near Naples during a bombing raid.

Works Spalding wrote several musical compositions including a suite for orchestra, two violin concerti and a String Quartet in E Minor. 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.