Oldberg, Arne

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Oldberg, Arne

Oldberg, Arne , American composer; b. Young-stown, Ohio, July 12, 1874; d. Evanston, Ill, Feb. 17, 1962. He studied composition with Middelschulte, then went to Vienna, where he was a piano pupil of Leschetizky (1893–95); also took courses with Rheinberger in Munich. Returning to America in 1899, he became head of the piano dept. at Northwestern Univ. He retired in 1941. Most of his orch. works were performed by the Chicago Sym. Orch., among them Paolo and Francesca (Jan. 17, 1908), At Night (April 13, 1917), Sym. No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1942), Sym. No. 5 (Jan. 19, 1950), and St. Francis of Assisi for Baritone and Orch. (Ravinia Festival, July 16, 1954). Other works are Academic Overture (1909), The Sea, symphonic poem (1934), two piano concertos, of which the second won the Hollywood Bowl prize and was performed there (Aug. 16, 1932), Violin Concerto (1933; Chicago, Nov. 7, 1946), two rhapsodies for Orch., chamber music, and piano pieces.

—Nicolas Slominsky/Laura Kaun/Dennis McIntire