Eleanor Aller (Slatkin) (May 20, 1917 – October 12, 1995) was an American

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

and founding member, with her husband, Felix Slatkin, of 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 ...

Life and career

Born in

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 ...

, she was the daughter of cellist Gregory Aller (né Grisha Altschuler), a Jewish emigre from the

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. ...

. Her mother Fannie had studied piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. Eleanor attended Juilliard where she studied with Felix Salmond. Eleanor Aller became principal cellist in the

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 ...

Studio Orchestra in 1939, in which her brother, pianist Victor Aller, later became orchestra manager and in which their father also played for a time. She was the first woman to hold a principal chair in a Hollywood studio orchestra. The same year she met and married Felix Slatkin. Shortly after their marriage, the couple founded the

. Aller also continued working as a Hollywood studio musician. She performed the ''Cello Concerto'' by Erich Korngold for the soundtrack of the movie ''

Deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

'' starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

and

Paul Henreid Paul Henreid (November 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian-British-American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles; Victor Laszlo in ''Casablanca'' and Jerry Durrance in ''Now, Voyager'', bo ...

. Eleanor also performed the concert premiere of the ''Concerto'' with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

in 1946. Aller won a Grammy Award in 1958 as a member of the

for Beethoven's Op. 130. After Slatkin's death in 1963, in addition to her work with orchestras for movies, Aller played in orchestras for recordings done by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, who had become a family friend over the years. Aller continued to work as principal cellist for movie soundtracks, including a solo specially written for her by composer/conductor

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

for the soundtrack to the 1977

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

movie '' Close Encounters of the Third Kind''. Her two sons are the conductor Leonard Slatkin and the cellist

Frederick Zlotkin Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederi ...

. She has three grandchildren, including film composer

Daniel Slatkin Daniel Alexander Slatkin (born May 16, 1994) is an American composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and music producer known for his film scores, television scores and concert works. At the age of 23, Slatkin's feature film debut was premiered ...

References

External links

Eleanor Aller Slatkin data at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aller, Eleanor 1917 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American musicians American classical cellists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish American classical musicians Musicians from New York City 20th-century classical musicians Classical musicians from New York (state) American women classical cellists 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American Jews 20th-century cellists

Life and career

See also

References

External links