Adolph Baller (July 30, 1909 – January 23, 1994) was an Austrian-American pianist who played classical and romantic music. He performed with

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

for several years and was a teacher of

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

and

Jerome Rose JEROME ROSE, hailed as "the Last Romantic of our own age" is an American pianist and educator, (born 12 August 1938 in Los Angeles). JEROME ROSE is one of America's most distinguished pianists, has been heard in major concert halls across five c ...

Early years

Baller was born July 30, 1909, in

Brody Brody ( uk, Броди; russian: Броды, Brodï; pl, Brody; german: Brody; yi, בראָד, Brod) is a city in Zolochiv Raion of Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately ...

, Galicia and Lodomeria,

Cisleithania Cisleithania, also ''Zisleithanien'' sl, Cislajtanija hu, Ciszlajtánia cs, Předlitavsko sk, Predlitavsko pl, Przedlitawia sh-Cyrl-Latn, Цислајтанија, Cislajtanija ro, Cisleithania uk, Цислейтанія, Tsysleitaniia it, Cislei ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

). At age 8, he went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to study piano with a former student 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 ...

. When he was 13 he gave his first solo performance, with the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

, following it with performances in all major European capitals. In March 1938, Nazi soldiers learned that he was a pianist and a Jew, and arrested him, beat him and crushed his hands. Baller's fiancée, Edith Strauss-Neustadt, interceded on his behalf with the Polish Consul in Vienna and helped to restore his hands through a long treatment so that he could resume his career. The couple escaped to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, where they were married before coming to the United States in 1938.

Career

While Baller worked as a pianist for the WQXR radio station in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, he met violinist

and cellist Gabor Rejto. Beginning in 1941, the Ballers lived with their daughter, Nina, at Menuhin's Alma Estate in

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. For several years Baller accompanied Menuhin in performances throughout the world and performed in chamber concerts, being particularly active during World War II with performances for troops deployed overseas. Under

's patronage, Baller, Gabor Rejto and

Roman Totenberg Roman Totenberg (1 January 1911 – 8 May 2012) was a Polish-American violinist and educator. A child prodigy, he lived in Poland, Moscow, Berlin, and Paris, before formally immigrating to the U.S. in 1938, at age 27. He performed and taught nat ...

formed the

Alma Trio The Alma Trio was a classical piano trio established in 1942 at the ''Alma Estate'' of Yehudi Menuhin in Los Gatos, California. Original members The original founding members of the Alma Trio were Roman Totenberg, violin; Gabor Rejto, cello; a ...

in 1942-1943 at Menuhin's Alma estate in

. Violinist Maurice Wilk joined the Alma Trio after Totenberg retired. Following Wilk's sudden death in 1963, violinist

Andor Toth Andor John Toth (June 16, 1925 – November 28, 2006) was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performe ...

joined the Alma Trio and remained their violinist for the next 15 years, before the trio winded down their touring in the mid-1980s.

Later years

Baller served as a faculty member at Stanford University for over 30 years. Among his most notable students were pianists

, William Corbett Jones, Xenia Boodberg Lee and

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

pioneer

. Another pupil was

Nohema Fernández Nohema Fernández (born May 23, 1944) is a Cuban-born American pianist. Early life and education Born in Havana, Fernández began her formal musical studies with famed teacher César Pérez Sentenat, continuing later with María Jones de Castro at ...

. In 1984, the Music Guild at Stanford created an endowment fund in his honor, providing scholarship assistance to piano students at Stanford. He died at his home in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

on January 23, 1994, aged 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baller, Adolph Austrian classical pianists Male classical pianists San Francisco Conservatory of Music alumni People from Brody 1909 births 1994 deaths 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American pianists Jewish classical pianists American male pianists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss 20th-century American male musicians