Ralph Leopold (14 February 188410 July 1955) was an American pianist and piano teacher.

Biography

Ralph Herman Leopold was born in 1884 in

Pottstown, Pennsylvania Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the incorporation as a borough in 1815. In 1888 ...

, the son of Howard Leopold. His sister Elizabeth Leopold married

Newton D. Baker Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. w ...

, who in 1912 was considered a possible vice-presidential running mate to

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

, and from 1916 to 1921 was

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Se ...

. By 1911, he was teaching in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In World War I he was attached to the Army Bandmaster's School at Governors Island,New York Times, 27 October 1919
/ref> Here he met and became a close friend of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n-born pianist and composer Percy Grainger, who had become an American citizen in June 1918. Leopold and Grainger gave the first performance of the piano duet version of Grainger's " Children's March: Over the Hills and Far Away". Leopold was also the solo pianist in the first performance of the version for band and piano, with Grainger conducting the Goldman Band (6 June 1919). After the war, Leopold played again in America and Europe, where he appeared with several orchestras. On return to the United States he taught in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Land of the Buckeye
/ref> and a period at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

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 ...

.Yiddish Music
/ref> His students included

Richard Franko Goldman Richard Franko Goldman (December 7, 1910 – January 19, 1980) was a conductor, educator, author, music critic, and composer. Born Richard Henry Maibrunn Goldman (Maibrunn being his mother's family name), he adopted the same middle name as his ...

, Hugh Hodgson and Max Helfman. On 9 November 1925 in a recital in New York he played Ernst von Dohnányi's ''Four Rhapsodies'', Op. 11, and a review credited him with "rediscovering Dohnányi". Ralph Leopold died on 10 July 1955, aged 71.Ancestry.com
/ref>

Recordings

Ralph Leopold is now remembered mainly for a series of piano roll recordings he made, either in four-hand works with Percy Grainger, or as a solo pianist. The four-hand recordings include: * Grainger's arrangement of

Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

's Rhapsody '' Brigg Fair'' and ''North Country Sketches'' * Tchaikovsky's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' Fantasy-Overture, arr. Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova *

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

's '' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. The solo recordings include: * various selections from

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1 ...

'',Duo-Art Music, January 1928
/ref> '' Lohengrin'', '' Tristan und Isolde'', and the four '' Ring of the Nibelung'' operasDuo-Art Catalog
*

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 ...

's Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31/1. He also made a small number of 78 rpm acoustic recordings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold, Ralph 1884 births 1955 deaths American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Piano pedagogues American music educators Curtis Institute of Music faculty 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists