Richard Ellsasser

Last updated
Richard Ellsasser R Ellsasser.jpg
Richard Ellsasser

Richard Ellsasser (September 14, 1926 - August 9, 1972) was an American concert organist, composer, and conductor who was primarily active during the 1940s to 1960s.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 14, 1926, he was a musical prodigy who studied piano and organ, first with his father Frederick Ellsasser, a musician in the Cleveland Orchestra, [1] and later with Winslow Cheney and Albert Riemenschneider. Ellsasser also studied with Joseph Bonnet. At the age of seven, he toured the eastern United States as an organist with various symphony orchestras. He made his New York organ debut in 1937. He graduated high school with high honors at the age of 14. He attended Oberlin College briefly and later Baldwin-Wallace College (from which he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree), and graduated at age 17. At the age of 19, he became the youngest person in history to have played, from memory, all 200+ organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. [1]

In 1946, he embarked on a transcontinental tour of the United States that visited 27 states in two months. In the middle of the tour, on his 20th birthday, his airplane crashed near Stockton, California. Ellsasser and others were unharmed, but the tour's secretary William Akers died. [2] He went on to complete the tour, having performed for over 40,000 people.

Ellsasser later went on to study at the School of Theology at Boston University, and the School of Religion at the University of Southern California (where he earned a Master's Degree in Theology). Ellsasser also earned a Doctorate from Boston University.

For many years, Ellsasser was Minister of Music at Wilshire United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California, where he later created and directed a series of music festivals. In later years, he became Minister of Recitals at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. NBC featured the young organist on the air with the production of "The Ellsasser Show." He had perfect pitch, and was also gifted in the art of improvisation and often included an improvisation as part of his concerts. This was typically in the form of a submitted theme in a sealed envelope.

Additionally, he was founder and, for several seasons, director of the Bach Circle of Boston.

A prolific recording artist, Ellsasser made numerous "private label" recordings during the 1950s for MGM Records, primarily at the Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He also recorded several albums for Kapp Records.

During the 1960s, Ellsasser became a faculty member at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan.

In 1967, Ellsasser recorded two albums for Nonesuch Records at the Hammond Castle Museum. Shortly after completing these recordings, he suffered a stroke, which forced him into retirement. [3] He came out of retirement in January 1972 when he accepted a position as Minister of Music at the United Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (Boston); this was his last church position. He continued to conduct workshops, accompany musicals and perform in a few concerts during the last year of his life. He died on August 9, 1972, in New York City, some six weeks prior to what would have been his 46th birthday.

Ellsasser "freely arranged for the modern organ" a lively Rondo in G that he attributed to John Bull centuries earlier. The Rondo is "not known to have existed at all" before Ellsasser published his arrangement in 1951, and he is generally presumed to have been the composer. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcel Dupré</span> French organist, composer and pedagogue (1886–1971)

Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Power Biggs</span> British-born American concert organist and recording artist

Edward George Power Biggs was a British-born American concert organist and recording artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgil Fox</span> American organist

Virgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his years as organist at Riverside Church in New York City, from 1946 to 1965, and his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach in the 1970s, staged complete with light shows. His many recordings made on the RCA Victor and Capitol labels, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s, have been remastered and re-released on compact disc in recent years. They continue to be widely available in mainstream music stores.

Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Scott Whiteley</span> English organist and composer

John Scott Whiteley is an English organist and composer. He has performed extensively around the world and since 1985 has undertaken an annual tour of the US. He has performed in most major UK cathedrals and concert halls, and was Assistant Organist and later Organist and Director of the Girls' Choir at York Minster between 1976 and 2010. He is currently Organist Emeritus of York Minster.

Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanne Demessieux</span> Musical artist

Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux was a French organist, pianist, composer, and teacher. She was the chief organist at Saint-Esprit for 29 years and at La Madeleine in Paris starting in 1962. She performed internationally as a concert organist and was the first female organist to sign a record contract. She went on to record many organ works, including her own compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masaaki Suzuki</span>

Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also an artist-in-residence at Yale University and the principal guest conductor of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world.

David John Briggs is an English organist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Swann</span> American organist and choral conductor (1931–2022)

Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists. His extensive discography includes both solo organ works and choral ensembles he has conducted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Herrick</span> English concert organist and conductor

Christopher Herrick is an English concert organist best known for his interpretation of J.S. Bach’s organ music and for his many recordings on the finest pipe organs from around the world.

Joseph Payne was a British/Swiss German harpsichordist, clavichordist, organist and musicologist, whose worldwide reputation was based on his performances of music of all periods, though best known for his pioneering recordings of early keyboard music accompanied by his meticulously informative liner notes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Purvis</span> American musician

Richard (Irven) Purvis was an American organist, composer, conductor and teacher. He is especially remembered for his expressive recordings of the organ classics and his own lighter compositions for the instrument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haig Mardirosian</span> American musician

Haig Mardirosian is Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Tampa, Professor Emeritus at American University in Washington, DC, a concert organist, composer, and conductor. He has performed in many of the most important concert venues throughout North America and Europe. He has over a dozen commercial recordings to his credit including well known and respected performances of the organ works of Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Petr Eben, and Jean Langlais.

Christopher Mark Houlihan is an American concert organist noted for his clarity, flexibility of rhythm, and technical achievement. His Vierne 2012 tour in which he performed Louis Vierne's complete organ symphonies in six cities across North America was met with high critical acclaim.

Carl Weinrich was an American organist, choral conductor, and teacher. He was particularly known for his recitals and recordings of Bach's organ music and as a leader in the revival of Baroque organ music in the United States during the 1930s.

Anthony W. Hammond is a British concert organist and author.

James Kibbie is an American concert organist, recording artist and pedagogue.

Scott Dettra is an American concert organist and church musician. He tours in North America and Europe, and is former Director of Music and Organist at the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas. He is also Organist of The Crossing, a professional chamber choir based in Philadelphia. From 2007 to 2012, he was Organist of Washington National Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Churchill Hammond</span>

William Churchill Hammond was an American organist, choirmaster, and music educator. He is noted for being one of the founding members of the American Guild of Organists, and for a lengthy tenure on the faculty of Mount Holyoke College.

References

  1. 1 2 Straus, Noel (April 5, 1947). "Ellsasser Plays Bach Composition; Organist Presents Memorized 'Klavieruebung' in Entirety in Recital at Town Hall". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Ellsasser, Despite Plane Accident, Plays to 40,000" (PDF). The Diapason. 38 (2): 1. January 1947. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Nunc Dimittis: Richard Elsasser" (PDF). The Diapason. 63 (12): 15. November 1972. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  4. ↑ Johnstone, Andrew (August 9, 2010). "Carlo Curley, organ". The Irish Times. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.