Victor Aller (March 26, 1905,

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– May 1977, in the area of

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) was an American pianist. He had a successful career behind the scenes in the film industry, and he taught piano in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, where his students sometimes included actors preparing to depict musicians on screen, such as Dirk Bogarde and Cornel Wilde. His present fame, however, rests primarily on his performances in acclaimed 1950s-vintage

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

recordings with the

Hollywood String Quartet The Hollywood String Quartet (HSQ) was an American string quartet founded by violinist/conductor Felix Slatkin and his wife cellist Eleanor Aller. The Hollywood String Quartet is considered to be the first American-born and trained classical music ...

, including accounts of piano quintets by

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

, and

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

, and the Brahms piano quartets. Aller had family and professional ties to the quartet. His sister,

Eleanor Aller Eleanor Aller (Slatkin) (May 20, 1917 – October 12, 1995) was an American cellist and founding member, with her husband, Felix Slatkin, of the Hollywood String Quartet. Life and career Born in New York City, she was the daughter of cellist Gre ...

, was its cellist, and her husband,

Felix Slatkin Felix Slatkin (December 22, 1915 – February 8, 1963) was an American violinist and conductor. Biography Slatkin was born in St. Louis, Missouri to a Jewish family originally named Zlotkin (though it is not certain) from areas of the Russian Empi ...

, was its first violinist. They and the other quartet members were all musicians with the Hollywood studios of the era, and Victor Aller was the orchestra manager at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

during the 1940s; by 1949, his hourly earnings amounted to $19.95 according to company records. Aller was married to violinist Ester Heller whom he met while both were attending

Juilliard 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 elit ...

. A Warner film in which Victor Aller had direct input was ''

The Beast with Five Fingers ''The Beast with Five Fingers'' is a 1946 mystery horror film directed by Robert Florey from a screenplay by Curt Siodmak, based on a short story written by W. F. Harvey and first published in 1919 in ''The New Decameron''. The film stars Robert ...

''. Mr. Aller made a piano arrangement for the left hand of the Chaconne from J. S Bach's Violin Partita in D minor, and, according to a press release, he spent 200 hours training actor

Victor Francen Victor Francen (born Victor Franssens, 5 August 1888 – 18 November 1977) was a Belgian-born actor with a long career in French cinema and in Hollywood. Biography Francen was born in 1888 in Tienen, the son of a chief of police. According ...

in proper technique. Victor Aller's hand was used when the hand plays the piano in the film. Victor sat underneath the piano, wearing black velvet on his arm, so that the hand appeared disembodied. For ''

Song Without End ''Song Without End'', subtitled ''The Story of Franz Liszt'', is a 1960 biographical film romance made by Columbia Pictures. It was directed by Charles Vidor, who died during the shooting of the film and was replaced by George Cukor. It was produ ...

'' Victor provided technical instruction to

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Organ ...

, who played the leading role of ''

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

''. Aller's musical heritage lives on with relatives in succeeding generations. His daughter is concert violinist

Judith Aller Judith Aller is an American-born violinist, the daughter of pianist Victor Aller. Aller started taking lessons on the violin at seven, and as a teenager, she began her studies with Jascha Heifetz in his master class at the University of Southern C ...

, and son Richard Aller a student of

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

; his nephew, son of Felix Slatkin and Eleanor Aller, is noted American orchestra conductor

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

. Leonard's brother, Frederick Zlotkin, an outstanding cellist, is the principal solo cello of the New York City Ballet, and a member of the Lyric Piano Quartet.

References

Library of Congress authority record citing birth and death date

Neil Lerner, ''Music’s Role in Hollywood’s Social Erasure of the Disabled Body'': ''Two Case Studies'' ( Kings Row ''and'' The Beast with Five Fingers ) Judith Aller biographical Web sit

Chicago Quarterly Review: Vol 15 ''The Beast with Five Fingers'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aller, Victor 1905 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 20th-century classical pianists American classical pianists American male classical pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) Musicians from New York City