Stoessel, Albert (Frederic)

Stoessel, Albert (Frederic) , distinguished American violinist, conductor, teacher, and composer; b. St. Louis, Oct. 11, 1894; d. (fatally stricken while conducting the premiere of Walter Damrosch’s Dunkirk) N.Y., May 12, 1943. He began his musical studies in St. Louis, then received training in violin with Willy Hess and in theory with Kretzschmar at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where he also studied conducting. In 1914 he appeared as a violin soloist in Berlin; after touring in Europe, he returned to St. Louis and performed as a soloist there. During World War I he was a military bandmaster in the U.S. Army (1917–19), serving as director of the school for bandmasters of the American Expeditionary Force in France. Returning to the U.S., he appeared as a violin soloist with the Boston Sym. Orch. and toured with Caruso in 1920. He settled in N.Y. in 1921 as Walter Damrosch’s successor as conductor of the Oratorio Soc; also was named director of music at the Chautauqua Institution (1923) and conductor of the Worcester (Mass.) Music Festival (1925); likewise appeared widely as a guest conductor. In 1923 he founded the music dept. at N.Y.U., which he headed until 1930; was director of the opera and orch. depts. at the Juilliard Graduate School (from 1927), where he conducted a number of premieres of American works. He was elected a member of the National Inst. of Arts and Letters in 1931. He publ. The Technic of the Baton (N.Y, 1920; second ed., rev. and enl, 1928).

Works

5 Miniatures for Violin and Piano (1917); Suite antique for 2 Violins and Piano (1917; arranged for 2 Violins and Chamber Orch.); Violin Sonata (1919); Hispania Suite for Piano (1920; arranged for Orch., 1927); Cyrano de Bergerac, symphonic portrait (1922); Flitting Bats for Violin and Piano (1925); Concerto Grosso for Piano obbligato and Strings (1935); Early Americana, orch. suite (1935); Garrick, opera (1936; N.Y., Feb. 24, 1937); choral works; songs; piano pieces; transcriptions.

Biblography

C. McNaughton, A. S., American Musician (diss., N.Y.U., 1957).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire