Zygmunt Stojowski and Ernest Schelling in 1917

Ernest Henry Schelling (July 26, 1876 – December 8, 1939) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

, composer, and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

, and

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

. He was the conductor of the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...

from 1935 to 1937.

Biography

He was born in

Belvidere, New Jersey Belvidere is a town in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the town's population was 2,681,child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

. His first teacher was his father. He made his debut at the Academy of Music in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

at age 4. At age 7, Schelling traveled to Europe to study. He was admitted to the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

. While in Europe he worked with many great masters including Percy Goetschius, Hans Huber,

Richard Barth Richard Barth (5 June 1850 in Grosswanzleben, Saxony – 25 December 1923 in Marburg) was a left-handed German violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher and composer in the circle of Johannes Brahms. His ''Ciacona in B minor,'' Op. 21, compos ...

Moritz Moszkowski Moritz Moszkowski (23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German composer, pianist, and teacher of Polish-Jewish descent.

and Theodor Leschetizky. At the age of 20 in 1896, he began studying with Ignace Paderewski and was his only pupil for three years. He toured Europe and North and South America, gaining a reputation as a remarkable pianist. His first wife was Lucie Howe Draper, whom he married on May 3, 1905 in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. stat ...

. She died on February 4, 1938 at their summer home in Lausanne, Switzerland. He married his second wife, Helen Huntington "Peggy" Marshall, on August 11, 1939, when she was 21 and he was 63. She was the stepdaughter of the philanthropist Brooke Astor, and a niece of

Vincent Astor William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family. Early life Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. Astor was the el ...

. He died of a

cerebral embolism An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot ( thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas ( gas embolism), amniotic fluid ( ...

at his home in

on December 8, 1939. His bride of four months was at his deathbed side.

Composer

Schelling wrote numerous works for piano, orchestra and chamber groups which were often performed during his lifetime, but have since fallen from the repertoire. His most popular work was ''A Victory Ball'', a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

for orchestra based on an anti-war poem by Alfred Noyes. Willem Mengelberg and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra made an early electrical recording of the music for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

Honours

He was elected an honorary member of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...

fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music, in 1917 by the fraternity's Alpha chapter at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. Schelling was the first conductor of the Young People's Concerts of the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. The first concert was held March 27, 1924. The concerts were designed to encourage the love of music in children. They combined the orchestra's performance with a lecture about one aspect or another of the orchestra or the music itself with a picture or demonstration, so that children were exposed to a variety of stimuli. The concerts were highly appreciated by children, as well as their parents. Schelling held these concerts in New York, and also took them on the road. Such cities as

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

and

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 wor ...

hosted them.

References

External links

Piano Lessons with Master Teachers: Ernest Schelling
from Harriet Brower, ''Piano Mastery: Talks with Master Pianists and Teachers'', 1915. - Project Gutenberg *
Learning a New Piece
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelling, Ernest 1876 births 1939 deaths 19th-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists American male classical composers American male conductors (music) Deaths from cerebral embolism People from Warren County, New Jersey American Romantic composers People from Belvidere, New Jersey 19th-century American composers American people of Swiss descent 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from New Jersey 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 19th-century American male musicians