Carlton Cooley
Encyclopedia
Samuel Carlton Cooley was an American
violist
and composer
.
with Frederick Hahn and Camille Zeckwer
, and later studied with Percy Goetschius
and Louis Svečenski
at the Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard School)
in New York City.
In 1919, Cooley joined the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra
for one year before he was appointed Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra
in 1922, a position in which he remained until 1937. He was Principal Violist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra
from 1937 to 1954 during the years of Arturo Toscanini
's tenure. In 1954, upon Toscanini's retirement, Cooley joined the Philadelphia Orchestra viola section under Eugene Ormandy
and was appointed Principal Violist in 1956, succeeding Harry Zaratzian. He remained with the Philadelphia Orchestra until his retirement in 1963. Cooley was also violist with the Cleveland String Quartet and NBC String Quartet.
Cooley is particularly remembered for his recordings under Toscanini and Ormandy. He also recorded his own composition, Aria and Dance for viola and orchestra, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy's baton.
Cooley was married to Ada Eleanor Strother (b. Liverpool UK 1886, d. Flemington NJ 1986) from 1920 until his death in 1981. They had one child, Richard Strother Cooley (b. Cleveland OH 1924). He is the grandfather of fiction writer Martha Cooley (b. NJ 1955), whose novels include "The Archivist" and "Thirty Three Swoons".
Concertante
Chamber and instrumental music
Chamber music
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
violist
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Cooley studied at the Philadelphia Musical AcademyUniversity of the Arts (Philadelphia)
The University of the Arts is one of the United States' oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia...
with Frederick Hahn and Camille Zeckwer
Camille Zeckwer
Camille W. Zeckwer was an American composer. Son of Richard Zeckwer, he was born in Philadelphia, and was educated at that city's Musical Academy. Further study followed with Antonín Dvořák in New York City before he traveled to Berlin to study with Xavier Scharwenka. He then returned to...
, and later studied with Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius won international fame in the teaching of the theory of composition.-Life:Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Goetschius was the piano pupil of Robert E. H. Gehring, a prominent teacher of that era. Goetschius was the organist of the Second Presbyterian Church from 1868–1870 and of the...
and Louis Svečenski
Louis Svečenski
Louis Svečenski was an American violist, violinist, and music educator of Croatian birth.Born in Osijek, Svečenski studied the viola at the Vienna Conservatory before moving to Boston, Massachusetts in 1885...
at the Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard School)
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
in New York City.
In 1919, Cooley joined the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
for one year before he was appointed Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
in 1922, a position in which he remained until 1937. He was Principal Violist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
from 1937 to 1954 during the years of Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
's tenure. In 1954, upon Toscanini's retirement, Cooley joined the Philadelphia Orchestra viola section under Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
and was appointed Principal Violist in 1956, succeeding Harry Zaratzian. He remained with the Philadelphia Orchestra until his retirement in 1963. Cooley was also violist with the Cleveland String Quartet and NBC String Quartet.
Cooley is particularly remembered for his recordings under Toscanini and Ormandy. He also recorded his own composition, Aria and Dance for viola and orchestra, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy's baton.
Cooley was married to Ada Eleanor Strother (b. Liverpool UK 1886, d. Flemington NJ 1986) from 1920 until his death in 1981. They had one child, Richard Strother Cooley (b. Cleveland OH 1924). He is the grandfather of fiction writer Martha Cooley (b. NJ 1955), whose novels include "The Archivist" and "Thirty Three Swoons".
Selected works
Orchestral- Eastbourne Sketches for string orchestra (1925–1926, orchestrated 1941)
-
- Promenade
- The Downs
- The Punch and Judy Show
Concertante
- Concertino for viola and orchestra (1937)
- Aria and Dance for viola and orchestra (1965?)
Chamber and instrumental music
- Eastbourne Sketches for string quartet (1925–1926)
- A Song and Dance for viola and piano (1927)
- Prelude and Gigue by Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
arranged for viola and piano (1938); original for cello solo - "Vexations" on a Well-known Theme (with Apology to SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
), Comic Sketch for string quartet (1940s) - Etude Suite for viola solo (1962)
-
- Prelude
- Scherzo
- Thème Russe
- Rondino Spiccato
- Scale Studies for Viola (1964)
Recordings
Viola- Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
: Don QuixoteDon Quixote (Strauss)Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a composition by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters , the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897...
– Emanuel FeuermannEmanuel FeuermannEmanuel Feuermann was an internationally celebrated cellist in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
(cello); Carlton Cooley (viola); Arturo ToscaniniArturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
(conductor); NBC Symphony OrchestraNBC Symphony OrchestraThe NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
(1938) - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra, K. 364 – Mischa MischakoffMischa MischakoffMischa Mischakoff was an outstanding violinist and concertmaster for 70 years, from the age of ten until the age of eighty....
(violin); Carlton Cooley (viola); Arturo Toscanini (conductor); NBC Symphony Orchestra (1941) - Richard Strauss: Don Quixote – Frank MillerFrank Miller (cellist)Frank Miller was a principal cellist and music director whose professional career spanned over a half century. Miller studied at Curtis Institute of Music, under Felix Salmond and at age 18, joined the Philadelphia Orchestra...
(cello); Carlton Cooley (viola); Arturo Toscanini (conductor); NBC Symphony Orchestra (1948) - Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
: Harold en Italie – Carlton Cooley (viola); Arturo Toscanini (conductor); NBC Symphony Orchestra (1949) - Giorgio Federico GhediniGiorgio Federico GhediniGiorgio Federico Ghedini was an Italian composer.-Life:Ghedini was born in Cuneo in 1892. He studied organ, piano and composition in Turin, then graduated in composition in Bologna under Marco Enrico Bossi in 1911...
: Pezzo Concertante for 2 violins, viola and orchestra (1931) – Mischa MischakoffMischa MischakoffMischa Mischakoff was an outstanding violinist and concertmaster for 70 years, from the age of ten until the age of eighty....
, Max Hollander (violins); Carlton Cooley (viola); Guido CantelliGuido CantelliGuido Cantelli was an Italian orchestral conductor.-Biography:Born in Novara, Italy, Cantelli was named Musical Director of La Scala, Milan on 16 November 1956 but his promising career was cut short only one week later by his death at the age of 36 in an aircraft crash in Paris, France.Cantelli...
(conductor); NBC Symphony Orchestra (1949–1952) - Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
: Don QuixoteDon Quixote (Strauss)Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a composition by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters , the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897...
– Lorne MunroeLorne MunroeLorne Munroe is a cellist. He was principal cellist for the Philadelphia Orchestra between 1951 and 1964 and principal cellist for the New York Philharmonic from 1964 through 1996. He was a featured soloist more than 150 times during the thirty-two seasons he played for the New York Philharmonic...
(cello); Carlton Cooley (viola); Eugene OrmandyEugene OrmandyEugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
(conductor); Philadelphia OrchestraPhiladelphia OrchestraThe Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
(1963) - Carlton Cooley: Aria and Dance for viola and orchestra – Carlton Cooley (viola); Eugene Ormandy (conductor); Philadelphia Orchestra; First Chair Encores (1965)
Chamber music
- Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Concerts, Library of Congress – Coolidge Quartet; Carlton Cooley (viola)
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: String Quintet in F major, Op. 88 (1882); recorded in 1943 - Johannes Brahms: String Quintet in G major, Op. 111 (1890); recorded in 1943
- Johannes Brahms: String Sextet in B major, Op. 18 (1860); recorded in 1943
- Johannes Brahms: String Sextet in G major, Op. 36 (1864–1865); recorded in 1943
- Gertrude Clarke Whittall Foundation Concerts, Library of Congress – Budapest String Quartet; Carlton Cooley (viola); Benar Heifetz (cello); Daniel Saidenberg (cello)
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: String Quintet in F major, Op. 88 (1882); recorded in 1952 - Johannes Brahms: String Sextet in B major, Op. 18 (1860); recorded in 1948 and 1951
- Johannes Brahms: String Sextet in G major, Op. 36 (1864–1865); recorded in 1948 and 1952
- Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
: String Sextet in A major, Op. 48 (1878); recorded in 1948 and 1951 - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: String Quintet in C major, K. 515 (1787); recorded in 1948 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet in D major, K. 593 (1790); recorded in 1948
- Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
: Verklärte NachtVerklärte NachtVerklärte Nacht , Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899 and his earliest important work...
, Op. 4 (1899)- Boris KoutzenBoris KoutzenBoris Koutzen was a Russian-American violinist composer and music educator.-Biography:Koutzen was born in Uman, Southern Russia. He began composing at the age of six and studied violin with his father. In 1918 his family moved to Moscow, where Boris entered the Moscow Conservatory to study violin...
: String Quartet No. 2 (1945) – Boris Koutzen, Bernard Robbins (violins); Carlton Cooley (viola); Harvey ShapiroHarvey ShapiroHarvey Shapiro was a New York-born American cellist of world renown.-Childhood and early career:Harvey Shapiro, of Russian parentage, was born in New York City. His first cello teacher was Willem Willeke , who was both a medical doctor and a well-known cellist of the early 20th century...
(cello) - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Kegelstatt TrioKegelstatt TrioThe Kegelstatt Trio , also referred to as the Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E-flat, is a classical chamber music composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-History:...
, K. 498 – Sidney Forrest (clarinet), Carlton Cooley (viola); Ernő BaloghErno BaloghErnő Balogh was a Hungarian pianist, composer, editor, and teacher. He was born on April 4, 1897 in Budapest, Hungary and died on June 2, 1989 in Mitchellville, Maryland, USA.-Biography:...
(piano) - Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
: Souvenir de FlorenceSouvenir de FlorenceThe String Sextet in D minor "Souvenir de Florence", Op. 70, is a string sextet scored for 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos composed in the European summer of 1890 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society in response to his becoming an...
, Op. 70 (1890) – Guilet String QuartetDaniel GuiletDaniel Guilet was a French, and later, American, classical violinist, best known for founding the Beaux Arts Trio....
; Carlton Cooley (viola); Naoum Benditzky (cello)
- Boris Koutzen
Sources
- Riley, Maurice W. (1980), "Brief Biographies of Violists", The History of the Viola, Volume I, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Braun-Brumfield, p. 324.
- Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians: A Chronological Listing Retrieved 5 February 2011.