Samuel Gardner (August 25, 1891,
Elizavetgrad – January 23, 1984) was an American composer and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
origin. He won a Pulitzer prize with a
string quartet
The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
in 1918. He was a student of Franz Kneisel and
Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius (August 10, 1853 – October 29, 1943) was an American music theorist and teacher who won international fame in the teaching of composition.
Career
Goetschius was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was encouraged by Ureli Corelli ...
, and began his career as a concert violinist; among his compositions is a violin concerto. He wrote a number of other
chamber works, and a handful of things for orchestra, including ''Broadway'', which was performed by the
Boston Symphony in the 1929-30 season.
Biography
Samuel Gardner was born August 25, 1891, in
Elizavethgrad,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, and was brought to the United States at the age of one.
His family settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where Gardner attended elementary and high school. From the age of seven, he studied violin with Felix Wendelschaefer.
He continued his studies in Boston with
Charles Martin Loeffler and Felix Winternitz from 1902 to 1908. At the
New York Institute of Musical Art
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most e ...
(1908-1913), Gardner studied violin with
Franz Kneisel Franz Kneisel (born January 26, 1865, Bucharest - died March 26, 1926, New York) was a violinist and music teacher. He completed early musical training at the Bucharest Conservatory and moved to Vienna in 1879, where he studied under Jakob Grün. ...
and composition with
Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius (August 10, 1853 – October 29, 1943) was an American music theorist and teacher who won international fame in the teaching of composition.
Career
Goetschius was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was encouraged by Ureli Corelli ...
.
Gardner made his New York debut in 1913, played 2nd violin in the
Kneisel Quartet
The Kneisel Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1885 by violinist Franz Kneisel, then concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It continued to perform until 1917, and was generally considered the leading string quartet of its time in t ...
from 1914 to 1915, performed with the Chicago Symphony (several times as soloist) in 1915, and toured with the Elshuco Trio in 1916 and 1917.
In addition to solo recitals, Gardner appeared as soloist with the
New York Philharmonic under
Josef Stránský
Josef Stránský (September 9, 1872 – March 6, 1936) was a Czech conductor, composer, and art collector/dealer who moved to the United States and conducted the New York Philharmonic from 1911 to 1923.
Biography
He was born on September ...
and
Willem Mengelberg, with the
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription ...
under
Leopold Stokowski, with the
St. Louis,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, 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 world' ...
Symphonies, and in Germany and Holland.
He premiered his own Violin Concerto in 1918 with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...
under
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
.
As a violin teacher, Gardner held appointments at the Institute of Musical Art (now the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
) from 1924 to 1941. He also taught at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, the
Hartt School of Music
The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, that offers degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and ...
, and the Atlanta School of music.
Gardner published a number of pedagogical works which include a method for violin and his Harmonic Thinking school of string playing.
Gardner's conducting appearances included the premiere of his symphonic poem New Russia in 1921 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the first performance of his Broadway (1924) with the Boston Symphony in 1930. From 1938 to 1939, Gardner conducted for the
Federal Music Project in New York, and in 1946 he became the first Conductor and Music Director of the Staten Island Symphony.
Gardner received a prize from the
Pulitzer Foundation
Pulitzer Arts Foundation is an art museum in St. Louis, Missouri, that presents special exhibitions and public programs. Known informally as the Pulitzer, the museum is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The b ...
for his Second String Quartet (1918), the Loeb Prize for a symphonic poem (1918), and an honorary doctorate from the
New York College of Music
The New York College of Music was an American conservatory of music located in Manhattan that flourished from 1878 to 1968. The college was incorporated under the laws of New York and was empowered to confer diplomas and degrees ranging from a Bac ...
(1939).
The composer of many violin works, Gardner was especially renowned for "From the Canebrake," which is still a standard encore piece for violinists.
He died in New York on January 23, 1984.
References
Sources
*
External links
Samuel Gardner Music Collectionat th
University of South FloridaThe Samuel Gardner Collectionat th
Archives at Yale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Samuel
1891 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American composers
20th-century American violinists
American male composers
American male violinists
Pupils of Percy Goetschius
20th-century American male musicians