Frank Glazer (February 19, 1915 – January 13, 2015) was an American pianist, composer, and teacher of music.

Career details

Glazer was born in

Chester, Wisconsin Chester is a town in Dodge County, Wisconsin. The population was 960 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Atwater and East Waupun are located in the town. History A post office called Chester was established in 1847, and rema ...

on February 19, 1915, the sixth child of Benjamin and Clara Glazer, Jewish emigrants from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The family moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

in 1919. His first piano lessons were given by his sister Blanche (1907–1920); later he was taught by several local musicians. Frank Glazer was educated in Milwaukee Public Schools, and graduated the city's North Division High School in 1932. In his teenage years, he played in his brothers' dance band, his high school band and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

. Alfred Strelsin, a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

signage manufacturer and arts patron, provided the funds for Glazer to travel to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1932 to study with

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...

; he also studied with

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

. Glazer then taught piano in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. Strelsin urged Glazer to make his New York debut, telling him, "If you don't start by the time you're 21, forget it". Glazer made his debut at

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

in New York City on October 20, 1936, with a program of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

and Chopin. He played this program again in 2006, to celebrate his seventieth anniversary of public performance. In 1939 Glazer performed with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

under

Sergei Koussevitzky Serge Koussevitzky (born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky;Koussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his sig ...

. Glazer served in the United States Army as an interpreter from 1943 to 1945 in Germany and France. In the early 1950s, Glazer had his own television show called ''Playhouse 15'' in Milwaukee. On September 6, 1952, he married classical singer Ruth Gevalt (1910–2006). (1) With his wife, Ruth, he founded in the 1970s the Saco River Festival in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, a summer chamber series. From 1965 until 1980 Glazer taught at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

; among his students

Myriam Avalos Myriam Avalos (Avalos-Teie) (born Lima, Peru) is a classical pianist. Life She began to study the piano at age two. She gave her first public performance at age three, and shortly after that was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music i ...

and

Martin Amlin Martin Amlin (born June 12, 1953) is an American composer and pianist. He was born in Dallas, Texas.Martin Aml ...

. In 1980 Glazer left Eastman and became artist in residence at

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

in Maine. Glazer has been called "the greatest interpreter of the piano music of

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

". In the 1960s he recorded the complete piano music of Satie for the Vox label. Glazer died at the age of 99 on January 13, 2015. His brother David was a clarinetist who performed with the

New York Woodwind Quintet The New York Woodwind Quintet has been an ensemble-in-residence at the Juilliard School in New York City since 1987. At Juilliard, the members of the New York Woodwind Quintet present seminars each year for student woodwind ensembles, regularly coa ...

for more than 35 years.

References

Notes

(1) ''The Fountain of Youth: The Artistry of Frank Glazer'', by Duncan J Cumming (

VDM Verlag Omniscriptum Publishing Group, formerly known as VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, is a German publishing group headquartered in Riga, Latvia. Founded in 2002 in Düsseldorf, its book production is based on print-to-order technology. The company pub ...

, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2009).

External links

Frank Glazer's official website (www.FrankGlazer.in)

Time in His Hands: Frank Glazer's musical light shines undimmed 70 years after his New York debut
, Doug Hubley, Bates Magazine Online, Fall 2006 edition.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...

, published October 9, 2010.
Frank Glazer's Long Road

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, published March 2, 2012.
Maine Pianist Frank Glazer Dies at 99

Portland Press Herald The ''Portland Press Herald'' (abbreviated as ''PPH''; Sunday edition ''Maine Sunday Telegram'') is a daily newspaper based in South Portland, Maine, with a statewide readership. The ''Press Herald'' mainly serves southern Maine and is focused ...

, published January 13, 2015, updated January 14, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Glazer, Frank 1915 births 2015 deaths American male classical pianists American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Bates College faculty Jewish American musicians People from Dodge County, Wisconsin Musicians from Milwaukee Pupils of Maria Curcio American vaudeville performers People from Topsham, Maine 20th-century American classical pianists Classical musicians from Wisconsin 20th-century American male musicians North Division High School (Milwaukee) alumni 21st-century American Jews