Anthony Galla-Rini
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Anthony Galla-Rini (January 18, 1904 – July 30, 2006) was a celebrated American
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
ist, arranger, composer, conductor, author, and teacher, and is considered by many to be the first American accordionist to promote the accordion as a "legitimate" concert instrument.


Early life

Galla-Rini was born in
Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester census-designated place, with a population of 36,379 at the 202 ...
, the third of seven children to John and Angela Galla-Rini, an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
immigrant family. His father started teaching Galla-Rini the
cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
at the age of four. In the same year, he made his debut on the
Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
circuit with the family band, and an encore performance of "Casey Jones" on the cornet. It was at this time that Galla-Rini also learned to play the accordion, a three-row button instrument. Galla-Rini performed on the Vaudeville circuit for twenty years, in that time learning to play 11
woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...
and
brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
instruments in addition to the accordion, as well as theory in harmony and counterpoint, and operatic and symphonic conducting. He toured the United States with his family, playing with such Vaudeville stars as
Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
,
The Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
,
Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
,
Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
, and
Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...
. After his sisters dropped out of the family's act when he was twelve, Galla-Rini's accordion playing became more important to the act as his father John played a more diverse range of instruments. It was at this time Galla-Rini realized the accordion was a complete musical instrument in itself, devoting more time and attention to the accordion and eventually abandoning all other musical instruments in favor of the accordion.


Career

In 1924 Galla-Rini dropped out of his father's Vaudeville act due to disputes over salary, and joined his sisters, forming a separate act that lasted until 1932. Their salary peaked at around $600 per week. The Vaudeville ended with the advent of
motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s with sound, forcing Galla-Rini's family to find other forms of work. Galla-Rini decided to open an accordion studio in
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 established himself as a teacher, writing both accordion instruction books and also various music for the instrument. In 1933, Galla-Rini married Dina Petromilli, and their son Ronald Pascal was born three years later. Eventually Galla-Rini moved from
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to
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 ...
, to be closer to various music publishers, Galla-Rini eventually writing music for more than 30 publishing houses. Galla-Rini was one of the founding members of the American Accordionists' Association (AAA) in 1938 in New York City, and is in fact their first member. He also founded the International Accordion Teachers' Guild (ATG), in 1941 in Chicago serving as President Emeritus of that society throughout his career. In addition, Galla-Rini also served as a Vice-President of the
Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes The Confédération internationale des accordéonistes (CIA) is an international music association of accordion players. It was originally founded in Paris in 1935 as the Association Internationale des Accordéonistes by the countries of France, ...
(CIA), a member of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
'
International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, where it functions as an independent international non-governmental organization. Its p ...
(IMC). In 1941 Galla-Rini also composed his ''Accordion Concerto in G Minor'' (no. 1), and premiered it with the Oklahoma City University Symphony Orchestra on November 15, 1941. Since then there have been more than 39 performances of this concerto in the United States as well as additional performances in England, Finland, Norway and Canada. This concerto was recorded by Swedish accordionist and Galla-Rini protégé Jörgen Sundeqvist with organist Håkan Dahlen and released in 2005 on a CD by Courthourse Music of Sweden. Galla-Rini returned to California in 1942, and began teaching accordion again. He joined a rumba band playing at the Trocadero on
Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
, leading to invitations to record soundtracks for the
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, ...
film industry, playing in many films, including
Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...
,
High Noon ''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of ...
, and
The Gunfighter ''The Gunfighter'' is a 1950 American Western film directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden. It was written by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers, with an uncredited rewr ...
. During the next decade, he performed on concert tours in various theaters across the United States. He also toured
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in 1950, taking his family with him. In 1951 he represented the ATG at the CIA General Assembly and Coupe Mondiale in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, resulting in the CIA accepting the ATG as a member organization. In 1958 and 1959, he performed as a guest artist in Carnegie Hall. In 1968, Dina Galla-Rini died. Three years later, Anthony married Dolly Cortella. He was married to her until she died at the age of 101. In 1975, the President of Italy conferred on him the title of "Cavalier of the Star of Solidarity" in recognition of his efforts towards strengthening the cultural bonds between Italian and American people and for his interest in the development of the Italian accordion in America. Galla-Rini was also the first person to be inducted in the ATG Hall of Fame on his 99th birthday in 2003. In 1976 he composed "Accordion Concerto No. 2 in E minor" (in three movements) for the free-bass system. And in 1983 he composed "Sonata in D minor" for accordion (also in three movements).


Death and legacy

Galla-Rini died of a heart attack in a hospital in Corona, CA at the age of 102 after a nurse reported problems at the nursing home where he lived. Galla-Rini's career spanned 98 years as a professional accordionist, and more than 74 years as an accordion teacher. He has arranged literally hundreds of transcriptions for accordion ensembles, orchestras and soloists. He has also played a major part in pioneering the development of the modern accordion, developing the treble and bass registers, as well as standardizing the
stradella bass system The Stradella Bass System (sometimes called ''standard bass'') is a buttonboard layout equipped on the bass side of many accordions, which uses columns of buttons arranged in a circle of fifths; this places the principal major chords of a key (I, ...
on the accordion.Anthony Galla-Rini, ''A Collection of Lectures for Accordionists'' (Music Graphics Press, San Diego: 1981)


References


Bibliography

''A Collection of Lectures for Accordionists'' (Music Graphics Press, San Diego: 1981)


External links

*
Galla-Rini discography by Petosa Accordions

Galla-Rini biography by Petosa Accordions

Galla-Rini memorial at Accordions Worldwide



Galla-Rini with harpist Charlotte Laughton Tinsley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galla-Rini, Anthony American accordionists American classical accordionists Vaudeville performers American people of Italian descent American centenarians Men centenarians 1904 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century accordionists