Albert Israel Elkus (April 30, 1884 – February 19, 1962) was an American composer, pianist, and educator.

Biography

Elkus came from a family with a background in music and commerce and received early music training from his mother, Bertha Kahn Elkus. His father, also Albert Elkus, was a business owner and

Mayor of Sacramento This is a list of mayors of Sacramento, California. The Sacramento City Council met for the first time on August 1, 1849 and the citizens approved the city charter on October 13, 1849. The City Charter was recognized by the State of California o ...

. He then went on to study with Hugo Mansfeld in Sacramento and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, earning the BLitt and MLitt in 1906 and 1907. While attending the university he gave many public piano recitals throughout the Bay area and northern California, most notably with the Saturday Club of Sacramento. After completing academic studies at UC Berkeley, he went to

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to study music theory and composition with

Hugo Kaun Hugo Wilhelm Ludwig Kaun (21 March 1863 – 2 April 1932) was a German composer, conductor, and music teacher. Biography Kaun was born in Berlin, Germany and completed his musical training in his native city. In 1886 (or 1887), he left Germany fo ...

. He then returned to the Bay area and continued his studies with Oscar Weil. From 1912 to 1914 he went abroad again; in

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he studied piano with

Harold Bauer Harold Victor Bauer (28 April 1873 – 12 March 1951) was a noted pianist of Jewish heritage who began his musical career as a violinist. Biography Harold Bauer was born in Kingston upon Thames; his father was a German violinist and his mot ...

, in Berlin, he studied piano and composition with

Josef Lhévinne Josef Lhévinne (13 December 18742 December 1944) was a Russian pianist and piano teacher. Lhévinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: ''Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing''. Asked how to say his name, he told ''The Li ...

and Georg Schumann, and in

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he studied composition with Carl Prohaska and conducting with

Franz Schalk Franz Schalk (27 May 18633 September 1931) was an Austrian conductor. From 1918 to 1929 he was director of the Vienna State Opera, a post he held jointly with Richard Strauss from 1919 to 1924. He was later involved in the establishment of the ...

Professional career

On returning to the United States in 1915, Elkus taught at the Jenkins School of Music in Oakland. From 1916 to 1928 he conducted several choral societies in San Francisco and Sacramento. He was the head of the Theory Department at the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgh ...

from 1923 to 1925, then again from 1930 to 1937, and finally returned there as the director from 1951 to 1957. He also taught at Dominican College and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

. Elkus had an extensive association with the music department at UC Berkeley, lasting from 1931 to 1959. He became the conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra in 1934. He was chairman there from 1937 to 1951 and brought in distinguished musicians such as

Randall Thompson Randall Thompson (April 21, 1899 – July 9, 1984) was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works. Career Randall attended The Lawrenceville School, where his father was an English teacher. He then attended Harvard University, ...

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. As well as producing music ...

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

Manfred Bukofzer Manfred Fritz Bukofzer (27 March 1910 – 7 December 1955) was a German-born American musicologist. Life and career He studied at Heidelberg University and the Stern conservatory in Berlin, but left Germany in 1933 for Switzerland, where he obt ...

, and the

Griller Quartet The Griller String Quartet was a British musical ensemble particularly active from 1931 to c.1961 or 1963, when it was disbanded. The quartet was in residence at the University of California at Berkeley from 1949 to 1961. It performed a wide repert ...

. In 1959 UC Berkeley conferred on Elkus the honorary degree Doctor of Laws. He continued to teach at the conservatory and give lectures at the university until his death. In honor of Elkus, UC Berkeley annually bestows the Albert Elkus Award to four or five outstanding students from the class that Elkus taught most often, Music 27: Introduction to Music (for non-music majors).

Works

Elkus was prolific as a composer, writing in a post-Brahmsian style, tending towards conservatism but with an emphasis on chromatic harmonics tinged with a dash of Impressionism. He revered

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and remained firmly entrenched in the music of the Romantics. He also had a great love of the music of the Baroque and Renaissance eras, and took a vigorous part in furthering the music of his own time. His 1917 piece Impression from a Greek Tragedy won the Juilliard Award in 1935 and found its way into many orchestra repertoires. He virtually stopped composing once he became chair of the UC Berkeley music department. He was performed by symphonies around the world, including

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Paris, and London. Elkus was one of the editors of Oscar Weil Letters and Papers (1923), with Flora Arnstein and Stewart Young.

References

External links

Opus 1 Piano PiecesSubito MusicJean Gray Hargrove Music Library of the University of California, Berkeley
(musical scores and papers)
Fleisher Collection, Philadelphia Free Library
(musical scores) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elkus, Albert 20th-century composers 1884 births 1962 deaths American composers University of California, Berkeley alumni